io9: Kaiju

The 10 Most Unnecessary Giant Monster Movies Of All Time

Cyriaque Lamar — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:50:00 PST

Not every scifi film can star a Brobdingnagian shark or lizard. Some movies must make due with giant livestock, vermin, and apes who aren't named King Kong. Here are 10 of the most superfluous creature features ever made.

Concept Art Writing Prompt: Gentleman Godzilla goes out for a stroll

Lauren Davis — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:00:00 PST

Fire up your keyboards, kids; it's time for another Concept Art Writing Prompt. This week's writing prompt features a familiar character: the one, the only Godzilla. Will your flash fiction piece star the famed Japanese monster? Or will you give this parasol-wielding lizard man an entirely different identity? Post your story in comments More »

This is the greatest photo of Godzilla ever taken

Cyriaque Lamar — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:00:00 PST

It's unclear who snapped this, but we can affirm without apprehension that this set shot is the most dignified photo of a kaiju in the history of photography. Now I want to see Hedorah in a debonair tuxedo, quaffing a gin gimlet. More »

Check out rejected concept art for the brand new Godzilla movie

Meredith Woerner — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:05:00 PST

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We've been following Legendary Pictures' Godzilla movie since the first new monster design blew the doors off Comic-Con 2010. But since then, the giant kaiju has been waiting under the sea, ready to strike with more news. And more news we have! A batch of rejected Godzilla concept art has been leaked, giving us a better idea of what kind of monster the studio is building.

Behold, the Justice League of Japan that never was

Cyriaque Lamar — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:35:00 PST

Sure, we've seen a Japanese version of Spider-Man, but Wonder Woman artist Cliff Chiang has now created a Justice League straight out of 1970s anime and kaiju. More »

Kaiju Santa Claus Christmas cards are the most insane thing you'll see all day

Cyriaque Lamar — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:30:00 PST

We love those crazy old kaiju anatomy diagrams (see here and here), and so does comic artist Brad McGinty. In fact, the Minnesota-based illustrator recently "discovered" a box of old Christmas cards his drunk dead grandfather tried to sell decades ago. According to his family lore, Grandpa McGinty collaborated with a Japanese soldier he ~~met~~ shot during World War II for an ill-conceived X-Mas card venture:

And now, G.I. Joe and the Rocketeer versus Godzilla and Cobra

Cyriaque Lamar — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:00:00 PDT

Well, here's the most unexpected bad-ass fan art you'll see all day. Artist Ulises Farinas — who you may remember from these previous illustrations — has now pitted the Rocketeer and G.I. Joe versus Cobra and Godzilla's kaiju army. More »

In the webcomic Monster Pulse, a government conspiracy turns human body parts into kooky kaiju

Lauren Davis — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 09:00:00 PDT

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Bina's a little girl with a big heart – literally. After a mysterious encounter, Bina's heart has popped out of her chest and transformed into a walking, punching monster. Now Bina and her heart are on the run from government agents. More »

Is this what the new Godzilla will look like?

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:16:29 PDT

Will Legendary Pictures' new Godzilla be a return to awesomeness for the O.G. kaiju, or another disappointment like the Emmerich fiasco? We saw a smidgen of concept art back at Comic Con 2010, but nothing since then. More »

The weirdest kaiju dance number ever committed to celluloid

Cyriaque Lamar — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 10:10:02 PDT

In the 1967 South Korean Godzilla rip-off Yongary, The Monster of the Deep, the film's plucky boy protagonist catches the beast napping. Upon waking up, the monster begins swaying groovy to the spontaneous sounds of surf rock. He's not a great dancer, but he's got better moves than Pulgasari. More »

Remember when Dr. Who fought King Kong?

Cyriaque Lamar — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 10:25:00 PDT

Yesterday, we met the world's most viscuous Dr. Who, a.k.a. a Singaporean brand of bottled water. Today we're looking at yet another Doctor Who...and this one had a bone to pick with King Kong. More »

Postcards and maps from America's olden days, filled with monsters and alien dictators

Cyriaque Lamar — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 07:30:00 PDT

In his "Alternate Histories" series of prints, Matthew Bucholz takes the bygone years of American history and peppers them with marauding kaiju, alien conquerors, and frontier dinosaurs. Here are some of his more amusingly rejiggered ephemera, and you can see more examples over at his Etsy page. More »

Art installation allows you to be a kaiju in the city of the mole people

Cyriaque Lamar — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 08:45:00 PDT

For the upcoming MS Dockville music festival in Hamburg, Germany, designer EVOL transformed an empty field into a weird subterranean cityscape that visitors can tromp through. More »

10 Quotes that Prove Guillermo del Toro is the Most Outrageous Horror Director Alive

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:00:00 PDT

Guillermo del Toro isn't just one of the great directors of horror and fantasy — he's also an uncompromising visionary, who calls it likes he sees it. We've been blown away by del Toro's words of wisdom before. More »

The cutest killer kaiju are no match for the “Battlepug”

Lauren Davis — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 07:00:00 PDT

Battlepug is a revenge webcomic with an adorable twist. A barbarian warrior sees his entire village destroy by a deadly (but super cute) baby seal and sets off on a quest to find his true destiny: rider of the Battlepug. More »

This is how a 32-foot-tall concrete bear holding a pillow is built

Cyriaque Lamar — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 13:30:00 PDT

When Florentijn Hofman decided to build a 10-meter tall pillowing-clutching bear in Slotervaart neighborhood in Amsterdam, he also chose to film its construction. Additionally, the bear is named "Steelman" despite its ursine persuasion. Some things just don't need explaining. More »

Beware the cardboard kaiju of Argentina

Cyriaque Lamar — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 13:15:00 PDT

In August 2006, designer Pablo Curutchet placed a 28-foot-tall, 882-pound cardboard box golem leering at pedestrians in Cordoba, Argentina. Unfortunately for this giant, a steady rain could spell the end of his reign of terror.

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters turns the kaiju loose on an unsuspecting world

Ed Grabianowski — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 08:00:00 PDT

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How do you wrap a cohesive plot around Godzilla? IDW proves your best bet is to not even try – just let the monsters trash the world and see how the humans cope with the carnage. The new Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters comic series is pure monster mayhem. More »

Behold the Piranaconda: Half Piranha Half Anaconda, all awesome!

Meredith Woerner — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:52:43 PDT

Syfy has released its latest monster creation out into the wild — the piranaconda! Get a better look at the fish/snake hybrid beast and answer us this: Could it beat a sharktopus? More »

Painter adds giant monsters to drab yard sale landscape paintings

Lauren Davis — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 12:00:00 PST

You know those dreary landscape paintings that haunt every yard sale and adorn too many a gallery wall? Artist Chris McMahon adds his own touches to such paintings — and proves that giant monsters can improve just about anything. More »

Never pick up sexy hitchhikers; they're probably feline body-snatchers

Cyriaque Lamar — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:00:00 PST

The other day we featured this positively perplexing Japanese monster scene, and the internet seemed to dig it. More »

And now, your 100% context-less kaiju clip of the day

Cyriaque Lamar — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 13:30:20 PST

I have no idea where this clip is from and — truth be told — I don't want to. Knowing its origins would destroy its mystique, its utter inexplicability, the fugitive promise that there's a plot hidden somewhere within this scene. Behold! More »

Fire-breathing Snowzilla shows flagrant disregard for his own well-being

Cyriaque Lamar — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 14:15:00 PST

The Berte family of Bel Air, Maryland is renowned for building fire-breathing snow sculptures, and they've outdone themselves with Snowzilla, an icy kaiju who belches flames. So fearsome, so paradoxical! [Buzzfeed] More »

Kaiju anatomical charts reveal organs that allow monsters to shoot ninja stars out of their eyes

Cyriaque Lamar — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 07:45:00 PST

You're probably familiar with the anatomical illustrations of Godzilla and his pals, but have you ever seen these cross-sections of Gamera and his buddies? Check out eyelids that eject shurikens and dorsal spikes that shoot rainbows. More »

Polish Godzilla movie posters turn kaiju into high art

Cyriaque Lamar — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 07:15:00 PST

20th century Polish movie posters could be highly surrealist, as the placards for these Godzilla films demonstrate. Check out Japan's most famous monster in a series of quirky paintings. More »

Here's one of the most disturbing sea monster stories you'll ever see

Cyriaque Lamar — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 14:20:02 PST

Did the parasites from Cloverfield wig you out? If so, you probably don't want to read Junji Ito's manga tale The Thing That Drifted Ashore. What's worse than a giant rotting oceanic kaiju? Find out here. More »

Ultraman takes on a whole space fleet, with the help of some pirates

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:30:00 PST

Here's the latest trailer for the fantastic new Ultraman movie, in which he faces off against roughly a billion spaceships. The trailer features pirates (in classic 18th-century garb), laser eyes, and a robot hand that crushes an entire planet! More »

Watch a clip from the alien-rampage movie that launched MST3K!

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 13:00:00 PDT

When it comes to cheesy science-fiction films, The Green Slime may be the greatest of all. It's so iconic, it featured in the never-aired Mystery Science Theatre 3000 pilot, and now it's coming to DVD. Here's an exclusive monster-rampage clip. More »

Why tiny monsters are scarier than giant ones

Esther Inglis-Arkell — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 10:30:00 PDT

Once, scary monster movies were all about giants. The fifties had giant ants, giant spiders, and the occasional giant octopus. Then something changed: We still get giant monsters, but modern films know that small is scarier than big. More »

Syfy's next hybrid monster should be Bearantula!

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:39:56 PDT

How can Syfy possibly top the awesomeness of Sharktopus? Should they even try? Maybe the answer is to abandon the water, and head onto land, with the unstoppable half-bear, half-spider: BEARANTULA! No, really. Hear us out. More »

Kaiju woman maintains civilian surveillance in Tokyo

Cyriaque Lamar — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 07:00:00 PDT

Tokyo officials have devised a novel approach to crime prevention: a giant unblinking she-golem that discreetly records citizen's activities. Street crime in the Shinjuku has dropped 1000%, as the threat of Big Sister coming to life has scared away ne'er-do-wells. More »

Godzilla is coming back. But not alone.

Esther Inglis-Arkell — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:00:00 PDT

A new Godzilla film, tentatively scheduled for release in 2012, will have Godzilla fighting other monsters. As yet, there's no definite word on whether the other monsters will have wings or fur. Check out the Cinemablend article for more details. More »

Sym-Bionic Titan brings the snazzy big robot space operatics

Cyriaque Lamar — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 17:45:00 PDT

Space royalty, giant robots, alien teens going to high school...these are all standard trappings of science fiction television. But previous shows that mined these scifi conventions lack one big thing that Sym-Bionic Titan has: the animated panache of Genndy Tartakovsky. More »

Kaiju-sized sheep don't stomp Japan, they slowly graze the populace into dust

Cyriaque Lamar — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 11:00:00 PDT

Artist Shuichi Nakano depicts massive animals minding their own business smack dab in the middle of downtown Japan. Nobody seems particularly fazed by the creatures, and I suppose a few giant ewes are more tolerable than a giant radioactive lizard. More »

Korea's man-eating pig masterpiece, Chaw, coming to the U.S.!

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 09:00:00 PDT

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the pig pen... We've been pumped for Chaw, Korea's monster pig movie, for a couple of years. So it's amazing news that Magnet Releasing has bought the U.S. rights. More »

Georges Méliès' ice giant is still cinema's coolest monster, almost 100 years later

Cyriaque Lamar — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:03:44 PDT

In his 1912 silent film La Conquête du Pôle ("The Conquest of the Pole"), pioneering French director Georges Méliès introduced audiences to one of the most underrated monsters in movie history — the man-eating ice giant of the North Pole. More »

It's a big crazy kaiju party and everyone's invited (except Ultraman)

Cyriaque Lamar — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:30:00 PDT

These massive pin-ups of Ultraman's enemies appeared in a 1979 edition of Ultra Kaiju. Artist Toshio Okazaki really knocked this out of the park, and he included the best Ultraman foe of all...the dreaded Dino-Tank! Can you find him? More »

Science fiction dioramas created using recycled ink cartridges

Cyriaque Lamar — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 11:45:00 PDT

Artist Faith Pearson took empty ink cartridges and used them as the building blocks for these wonderfully demented scenes from Star Trek, Godzilla, and King Kong. It's incredible how futuristic our 21st century garbage can appear. More »

Kaiju and Superman enforce common courtesy in surreal Tokyo subway ads

Cyriaque Lamar — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 12:50:12 PDT

These quirky Tokyo subway posters from 1976-1982 encourage public politeness using superheroes, monsters, aliens, and other icons. Pink Tentacle has a huge collection of these oddballs public service posters, but here are some of the best. More »

The most unnecessary giant monster movies of all time

Cyriaque Lamar — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:00:32 PDT