“Kaiju” is a Japanese term that means “strange creature,” but the word has been adopted elsewhere to basically translate to “giant monster.” The kaiju film has been a wildly successful staple of Eastern cinema since the 1950s, but for some reason, it has never been a consistent success to Western audiences.
Many of America’s attempts at the giant monster genre have flopped, while many of the most successful kaiju films in America have just been edits or dubs of the popular films made overseas like the most notable Godzilla franchise. Even though the genre has never cemented itself into American pop culture as it has in Japan and other Eastern countries, there have still been some fantastic additions to the massive creature mythos made in America. Here are the 10 best.
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
Arguably the most important American kaiju film, this tale of a giant reptilian beast coming ashore and wreaking destruction came out one year before Godzilla. The film’s plot even revolved around nuclear testing awakening the creature before it sets its sights on New York City.
While not as impressive technically as many of the films that would follow it, The Beast was clearly a major influence on the most famous monster of all time and deserves at least partial credit for the kaiju boom that would occur in the coming decade.
It Came From Beneath The Sea (1955)
When a giant octopus-like creature is awakened due to, you guessed it, nuclear testing, it makes its way to the coast of San Franciso. The film was designed basically as an excuse to show off new stop motion effects created by SFX legend Ray Harryhausen. The film is a fascinating one as it uses nuclear paranoia as more of a fear-mongering tool than The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms did.
Large stretches of the film feel almost like public service videos or military propaganda. When the creature finally does attack, the scene is a fantastic one. Clearly better effects than the predecessor films make the finale quite the technical feat, with the most notable sequence being when the monster tears down the Golden Gate Bridge.
Rampage (2018)
The biggest mistake American audiences make when it comes to kaiju films is going in with the desire to watch giant monsters hit each other for two hours. The genre has always been loaded with political satire, with the creatures almost always taking a backseat to human melodrama.
Luckily for those that still want their fill of pure monster madness, there’s Rampage. Dwayne Johnson’s action-driven adaptation of the hit arcade game is a schlocky run-of-the-mill blockbuster, but it still belongs on this list because sometimes after a dozen monster movies that take place mostly in board rooms, you just want to see a buff guy fire a grenade launcher into a giant crocodile’s mouth, while his giant gorilla companion punches a flying space wolf.
Colossal (2016)
On the other end of the spectrum from Rampage, is Colossal. A film that understands the root of the kaiju genre is using the monster as a metaphor and does just that to the highest degree. A much calmer take on giant monsters, Colossal is about a struggling young woman learning that she is inexplicably controlling a giant rampaging monster on the other side of the world.
The film deals with adulthood, purpose, and addiction better than most straight dramas and still sneaks in some humor and weirdness throughout. Add in stellar performances by Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudekis, and you have the monster movie on this list that you’ll still be thinking about weeks after watching.
Also worth noting that the film was a joint venture between American, Canadian, and Spanish production companies, making it eligible for the list, but maybe with an asterisk next to it.
Tremors (1990)
The cult classic about giant sandworms is maybe the most inherently American film on the list. While the first half sets up the massive mutant worms as an inescapable threat, the gun-toting natives of this small Nevada town aren’t going to go down without a fight.
With fun performances by Kevin Bacon and the rest of the cast, the film never takes itself too seriously, and it knows just how to play with expectations. Every time it seems like the plot is going one direction or e a character might be done for, the writing surprises you with something else.
Godzilla (2014)
While the movie had the two distinct advantages of featuring the most popular kaiju of all-time, as well as only being able to improve on the 1998 attempt at the character, it still shined as a reintroduction of kaiju films to modern audiences. The movie isn’t perfect and suffers from some weak human characters, but it knew exactly how to portray Godzilla as the behemoth he is.
There are sequences throughout the film that just inspire awe and give the viewer the slightest inkling of what these things would like in real life, and the answer is terrifying. The parachuting scene, in particular, is a brilliant showing of humans trying to find their place amongst these massive beings and it kicks off a finale that showcases some excellent monster on monster carnage.
Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)
King of the B-movie Larry Cohen knew how to do whatever he wanted for almost no money. The fact that he took that mentality and used it to make a kaiju film was a blessing. The film wears its budget on its sleeve, and never tries to do more than it should.
More importantly, it brings with it all of the idiosyncrasies that make Cohen’s films so enjoyable, like humor, satire, heart, and strange characters leading the way. The film is schlock filmmaking of the highest possible order and has deservedly reached cult classic status.
Pacific Rim (2013)
Guillermo Del Toro’s action epic doesn’t try to Americanize the kaiju genre, but instead, it simply copies the things he loves about it. The movie plays out like live-action anime, without fear of being too weird or going over-the-top. The film vyes for over-the-top.
Built around the simple plot of specially trained pilots and their giant robot battle suits being the last line of defense against massive kaiju coming from the Earth’s core, the film feels like a classic monster movie with modern effects. Plus, while Pacific Rim doesn’t ignore the subtext ridden drama that drives the story of most kaiju films, it also takes the time to ask the question “what if a giant robot used a submarine as a sword?”
King Kong
While it may seem like a disservice to put all the films into one slot on this list, without doing so almost half of the list would be King Kong films. The 1933 original film is one of the most remarkable cinematic feats of all-time and probably the most responsible for the rest of this list’s existence. Both of the remakes, and the more recent action-centric reimagining Kong: Skull Island, are all impressive films that stack up with some of the best of the genre in their own ways.
The ultimate American monster movie, King Kong is an epic and is delivered as so. A slow-paced film about exploration, survival, fame, and arrogance, Kong set the standard for what monster films could be and is the reason the genre is still today inherently linked to grandiose metaphors and cultural satire.
Cloverfield (2008)
J.J. Abrams and company’s found-footage monster movie came from a place of wanting to give America a monster it could truly call its own. The team at Bad Robot succeeded, making a film that captures the intensity of massive destruction better than any kaiju film before or since.
With the barebones story of a group crossing an under attack New York to rescue a friend, the movie relies on frantic camera movement, chaotic energy, and brief glimpses of an unexplainable creature to create an experience unlike anything else in the genre. The film never stops to explain itself to the characters or the viewer, leaving nothing left by the end other than a masterfully crafted feeling of anxious wonder.
