Originally published in two parts, October 2009) Kairyu Daikessen was a 1966 Toei fusion of ninja revenge and giant monster magic. It delivered in spades on both fronts and was a fantastic movie. Then it was picked up by American … Continued
Surely the apex of shinobi-kaiju cinema, Magic Serpent (for the Sandy Frank/AIP-exposed) or Kairyu Dai-Kessen, is a no brainer to start of Monsters and Masks 2010! This is a staged publicity shot, you rarely if ever get that clear a … Continued
Damned if this isn’t the greatest drawing of a monster horny toad EVER! This is just one ‘plate’ from a 19th century scroll of yokai and human oddities featured over at the superb Pink Tentacle blog.
The Red Shadow kid’s TV series ran 52 episodes over two years. Six of those episodes were later cut together into movies released under titles like Ninjascope (The Magical World of the Ninjas) in Australia and Latin America. They were … Continued
Seems Japan has been beset by giant monsters forever, and luckily for us today heroes like Ultraman are around to fend them off. But in the fuedal era, centuries before any space-faring monster fighters, laser-weilding science patrols or little kids … Continued
The 1961 Satomi Kotaro adventure vehichle Kaiju Jaguma no Moshu (aka “Strike of the Jaguma”) is an absolute miracle of bizarre villains and over-the-top costuming. This has become cliche around here, but if the picture above isn’t enough to get … Continued
The main-event of Kairyu Daikessen is an extended kaiju beatdown between dragon and toad, with a castle destroyed in the process. Kairyu Daikessen is actually more available now than it ever was back in the day. Beautiful widescreen subtitled editions … Continued
Kairyu Daikessen was a 1966 Toei fusion of ninja revenge and giant monster magic. It delivered in spades on both fronts and was a fantastic movie. Then it was picked up by American International Pictures for English-language distribution, and has … Continued