See also: Zombies are so yesterday: Six candidates for America's next top monster
Once you've seen the original classic and the latest, greatest model, I have no doubt you'll come to love kaiju (Japanese term for "strange creature") movies as much as I do (okay, maybe not quite as much, unless you also spent your childhood watching shitty dubs of Gamera and Mothra movies on late-night TV) and if that happens, you're going to need a few pointers on where to look for your next kaiju fix. To help guide you on your magical journey of kaiju love, I offer a few of my favorites as humble suggestions. (Note to kaiju purists: I take a pretty lose definition of what qualifies as a kaiju film: if it has a giant monster, it's good enough for me. Feel free to tell me what a moron I am for this in the comments section.)
Cloverfield Not all aliens are little green/gray men. Sometimes they're giant, city-crushing beasts, like in Cloverfield. This one's also a found-footage film, which can be a turn-off for some, but on the plus side, it serves up one-time Denver resident TJ Miller in one of the lead roles, plus one of the biggest, baddest most terrifying kaiju this side of the international date line.
Shark Attack 3: Megalodon Can a killer shark movie also be a kaiju film? It can be when the shark is the size of a city bus. This one is for the so-bad-it's-good crowd, because this movie is seriously fucking awful. It's also seriously awesome at the same time, thanks to the generous use of terrible CGI and a loopy, nonsensical plot. Plus, both John Barrowman (Torchwood) and Ryan Cutrona (Grandpa Gene on Mad Men) are in it, which makes it one of the best casts you'll ever see in a direct-to-DVD movie about a plus-sized shark.
Destroy All Monsters
If you're only going to see one classic Japanese kaiju film (besides the original
Reign of Fire How did a post-apocalyptic movie about dragons laying waste to Earth, starring Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale and Gerard Butler, not become the biggest blockbuster of all time? It is a true mystery. Perhaps because the whole thing is kind of dumb? Maybe, but that didn't prevent plenty of other less dragon-filled films find huge success, and this one is actually pretty fun if you can shut your brain off for ninety minutes (pro tip: pot is legal in Colorado).
Tremors Kevin Bacon and worm-style kaiju mix it up in one of the greatest Saturday afternoon matinee movies of all time. Usually giant monsters choose bustling cities to stomp, crush and mangle, but the weird sandworm critters of Tremors prefer the laidback, rural charms of friendly Perfection, Nevada to wreak their havoc upon, which makes for a nice change of pace. Plus, it has the dad from Family Ties as a redneck gun nut and Reba McEntire as his wife, which is like the triple-word score equivalent of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game.
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