This movie would mark one of the most dramatic turning points in the Godzilla series of movies, in that it would be the first movie from director Jun Fukuda, who was brought in to give the series an influx of action, which was his background, but to bring it in at a lower cost.

You see, irony had struck the King of the Monsters quite a serious blow. One of the men responsible for bringing him to life, Eiji Tsuburaya, had since started his own production company, Tsuburaya Productions, which put TV shows such as Ultra Q and Ultraman on Japanese TV. This hit Toho's income hard, as kids were now visiting cinemas less, because with Ultraman, they were getting roughly the same thing as a Godzilla movie, but at none of the cost. Tsuburaya still took the 'effects supervisor' credit in several of the Godzilla movies, but hands-on contact from the man was now sparse, as he spent more time with his silver and red heroes.

I would just like to clear up what I'm going to be calling this movie now, because this is one of the Godzilla movies that has numerous, pretty varying titles. While in the US it's known as Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster, I grew up with it under it's UK title of Ebirah: Horror of the Deep, which is what I'm going to call it, because it's kinda cool, and as I mentioned in my review of the last Godzilla movie, if possible I'm going to avoid using it's Godzilla Vs. ... title (for the Showa era movies anyway), because typing that is gonna get older than having to put the nickname in Don 'The Dragon' Wilson, which I can't believe I just brought myself to type in a review of a movie he doesn't even have an relationship with. Anyway, if I had my way, every copy of this movie would go under it's rather brilliant International title of Big Duel in the South Seas, but seeing as I've never seen a copy of it called such, Ebirah it will have to be.

As I said, costs were being cut, so not only does Godzilla use the exact same suit as the last movie, but lord only knows how old the Mothra puppet used here is. The loss in funds also meant a shift in location, so instead of downtown Tokyo, Godzilla is now parading around the uncharted South Seas island, dubbed 'Devil's Island', by the folks of nearby Infant Island(Mothra's home).

Anyhow, our first main human character is a young man named Ryota(Toru Watanabe - Actress). His fisherman brother Yata(Toru Ibuki - Terror of Mechagodzilla) went missing a while back, but a psychic tells his family that Yata's soul is not in the land of the dead, so he must still be alive. Ryota swears to find a boat and find Yata, but naturally not everyone is willing to just hand the kid a boat, it's here that he notices a flyer for a dancing competition, where the prize is a luxury yacht. He sets off to try and join in, but discovers he is 3 days late for this test of dancing endurance.

He does, however, befriend two close dropouts, named Nita(Hideo Sunazuka - Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo) and Ichiro(Chotaro Togin - Godzilla's Revenge). They agree to take him down to the docks to look at the boats, and for some, completely unexplained reason, they decide to have a look inside one of them, which is completely stocked with food.

Here they are confronted by the 'owner' of the boat, Yoshimura(Akira Takarada - Gojira), who tells them they can stay the night, but when they awake, Ryota, under the influence that this is a 'gift from god' has set sail to find his brother. It turns out that Yoshimura isn't the owner at all, and is actually a bank robber on the run from the cops, who was hiding in the boat.

Anyway, as they sail deep into the South Seas, the boat gets sunk by a giant claw that emerges from the water. They awake, washed ashore on what appears to be an uninhabited island, which turns out to be something completely different, and it's actually run by a group of terrorists known as the Red Bamboo, who are using the island to make nukes.

The Red Bamboo, as it turns out, can sail their boats to and from the island, due to the fact that they spray a mysterious yellow liquid, made of fruit, from their boat. This is the only thing that can keep away the owner of the giant claw, a ruddy great lobster/shrimp with a taste for humans named Ebirah.
To produce this liquid, they have been kidnapping people from nearby Infant Island, home of Mothra, to crush the fruits for them. On one of their boats of prisoners, a girl named Dayo(Kumi Mizuno - Matango) escapes, and finds herself in cahoots with the Fantastic Four ship-wreckers, and reveals that Yata is actually on Infant Island as they speak. It's also decided that they should attack the Red Bamboo, and set up base in a seaside cave, which also happens to be home to a KOed Godzilla.

On their attack of the Red Bamboo, all the group really succeeds in doing is stealing some wire, Nita getting kidnapped and convincing the Infant Islanders to trick the Red Bamboo, and Ryota taking off in an air balloon.

Regrouping, but under pressure from the closing in Red Bamboo, the remaining 3 come up with a genius plan to distract the terrorist scum...wake up Godzilla! Making an electrical conductor from the wire and a machete they found earlier, they channel lightning into Godzilla, which wakes him up, and he is pretty angry.

Just in time as well, you see, Ryota, luckily landed on Infant Island, where he met his brother, and Mothra sent them back with orders to liberate the islanders, and tell them to make a large net, but Ebirah caught their boat as it closed in on Devil's Island. However, Godzilla emerges from the cave, basically angry at everyone, and gets stuck right into Ebirah, allowing them to escape and regroup with the others.

The gang decide to storm the Red Bamboo base, but get caught during recon, and are chased by gun-toting soldiers, all of the heroes lose the villains, all apart from Dayo, who looks a certainty to be caught, until the King of the Monsters shows up, develops a liking for her and scares off the soldiers, before sitting down to ogle her.
Out of nowhere, a bloody great bird attacks him, which he quickly kills, and Dayo gets away just in time before the Red Bamboo fighter squadron attacks, but he once again easily disposes of them.

After some planning, the group finally storm the base and cause a revolt with the Islanders, giving in, the Red Bamboo leaders order nuclear self destruct, which will level the island in a matter of hours, before setting off on their boat to try and escape. So what did Mothra want the natives, now in great peril, to make a huge net for? will Godzilla beat Ebirah for good this time? will any of them get off the island?

If there is one thing about the Godzilla series that I forgive it for, that I don't any other series, it's the complete and blazing lack of continuity from film to film. I'm not talking about the minor things, like how the hell Godzilla ended up KOed in a cave, but it's more the fact that after about the third movie, all remnants of character continuity went to hell in a handbag. While I'm the last person to complain about 1960s Kumi Mizuno, especially in a little native outfit, the fact that she played a drastically different character in the last movie is a little funny. Akihiko Hirata also stars in this movie as a Red Bamboo Captain, who sports an eye-patch, basically making him a uniformed, evil version of the first movie's tragic hero Dr. Serizawa! for god's sake guys, this was dumb.
Same goes for Akira Takarada, the sailor from the first Godzilla. Actually, from events we learn never took place after the first movie in 1996's Godzilla Vs. Destroyah, if you really wanted to look into it, you could say he was playing the same character, and Ogata became a bitter old bankrobber after he didn't marry the girl. Or, given the complete lack of resemblance to anything in the original movie, maybe not.

It's worth noting that this movie, under the title Operation Robinson Crusoe, was actually intended as a vehicle for Toho's interpretation of King Kong, which makes sense of a lot of minor plot anomalies, such as why lightning, before thought to hurt Godzilla, now revives him, or his interest in inter-species breeding(granted all he does is admire Miss Mizuno, which is basically what every male actor in the picture does when they share the screen with her. It's actually pretty funny, Godzilla actor Haruo Nakajima is about the only male member of the cast who doesn't seem to cop a gratuitous feel of the gorgeous starlet at some point in the flick(seriously, they can't keep their hands off her, she doesn't even have a love interest in the film). The fact that Toho's Kong was really quite horrendous, only made better by the fact Dino De Laurentis managed to do it worse(and Peter Jackson is about to go one worse than that), really doesn't disappoint me that the big monkey didn't get a starring role here, but what does is the lack of Godzilla.

Despite the fact this is a Godzilla movie, he really only has 4, relatively short scenes. 2 fights with Ebirah, the Mizuno-Ogle and subsequent attacks and finally his dramatic escape as the Island blows up. His lack of screen time does hurt the movie, but then so does Ebirah's. Sure the South-Seas setting was actually quite a pleasant change of pace, but it also gave Ebirah very little to menace, meaning most of the time it just sort of sticks a hand out of the water.

What saves this almost Kaiju-less Kaiju movie from disaster, is that even though the monster action is sparse, it's still a pretty entertaining, if silly, adventure movie. I have to admit that upon my initial viewings of the film, years ago, I didn't really like it. In hindsight, I was a kid, and was only really interested in seeing giant monsters in my giant monster movies. Now I'm older, I can appreciate that while the film is sparse on monster madness, it isn't necessarily bad, and is actually quite competant and fun. The fact I've learned to appreciate the fairer sex more also helps.

Ironically, when Godzilla does fight Ebirah, the first time it's just silly, as the two play header/claw tennis, with Godzilla tricking him into smashing a Red Bamboo tower, and the second time it's one of Showa Era Godzilla's most brutal fights, and he dismembers the thing. Both battles feature very slow, but fairly stylishly shot underwater scrapping, and are actually rather entertaining.

I've seen the movie dubbed, and subtitled, and both jobs(the former on the UK VHS issued in 1998 and the latter on the recent American DVD) are acceptable, and perfectly enjoyable mediums to watch the movie in. Sadly neither one features the line another reviewer here highlights for it's comedy, and both are well done and not at all unrealistic.

With this said, I can firmly say that the majority of the acting in the picture is sound. While the 3 younger actors, as well as Ibuki, are a bit flaky and OTT at points, the film is held together by the always reliable Takarada and Hirata, as well as Jun Tazaki, another veteran of Toho's Sci Fi pictures, who also cropped up in Akira Kurosawa's Ran. Mizuno also performs well in her limited role, but to be frank, all she was really required to do was be pretty and display her delectable midriff. This is about as sexy as Godzilla movies got, sadly.

Music in the movie, provided by highly acclaimed Japanese composer Masaru Sato, is one of the deciding factors in making it clear that this movie should be taken light-heartedly, although I don't think he intended it to be quite as humerous as it is. Most of it is upbeat and horn driven, but there are some 60s Rock numbers that must be addressed for the comedy of them, 2 in particular.
When the dance contest is being held, and also played during Godzilla and Ebirah's final battle, it is done to the theme of what sounds like a rapid fire cover of the 60s Batman theme tune. Almost like The Jam's version, but faster, and when watching two monsters lamping each other to it, funnier.
The other is played as Ebirah emerges from the sea, and while he fights Godzilla for the first time. I swear to god this is like a bastardised Japanese rock version of the James Bond theme tune.

The effects in the movie, while by no means great, or even convincing, aren't totally terrible. As I said, the Godzilla suit is the same as the last movie, which also means the return of the 'Muppet-mouth', although in a couple of scenes he does look quite menacing, for the most part, his mouth completely ruins any effect. Ebirah is actually pretty well realised, for being no more than a huge shrimp/Lobster/crab hybrid thing. It isn't exactly awe-inspiring, but it's a pretty nifty creation. Mothra on the other hand looks absolutely horrendous, beaten-up, dirty and in need of a haircut, it's little wonder this was the last the Showa era seen of Adult form Mothra.
However, there is one scene I absolutely love, where the camera takes up perspective right behind a fighter jet as it attacks, and is smashed by, Godzilla. It's just a really cool and rather ambitious, for the time and budget, shot that works well.

At the end of the day, while Ebirah: Horror of the Deep may not be a great movie, or even Toho's finest Godzilla flick, it does maintain a sense of light-hearted fun about it, and it's worth a look for Godzilla fans, and even those just looking for some cheesy, brainless entertainment. It may not be asgood as most of the movie's that came before it, but it's better than the one that comes immediately after it, and certainly wouldn't be anywhere near a candidate for the worst Godzilla movie. It's silly 60s fun, with a Godzilla twist.

Year: 1966
Titles: Gojira, Ebirâ, Mosura: Nankai no daiketto
Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster
Ebirah: Horror of the Deep
Big Duel in the South Seas

Related Reviews
Movies
Gojira
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Mothra
Godzilla Vs. Mothra(1964)
Invasion of the Astro Monsters
Godzilla's Revenge
Rebirth of Mothra
Godzilla

Games
Godzilla: Domination for Gameboy Advance
Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee for XBox
Godzilla: Save The Earth for XBox


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV