GODZILLA: Son of Godzilla (1967)

Godzilla in the Media

Son of Godzilla, (released in Japan as Monster Island's Decisive Battle: Godzilla's Son (怪獣島の決戦 ゴジラの息子 Kaijū-tō no Kessen Gojira no Musuko[1]?)), is a 1967 Japanese science fiction kaiju film produced by Toho. Directed by Jun Fukuda with special effects by Sadamasa Arikawa (supervised by Eiji Tsuburaya), the film starred Tadao Takashima, Akira Kubo, and Akihiko Hirata. The 8th film in the Godzilla series, it was also the second of two island themed Godzilla adventures that Toho produced with slightly smaller budgets than most of the Godzilla films from this time period. Continuing the trend of shifting the series towards younger audiences, the film introduced an infant Godzilla named Minilla.

PLOT:
A team of scientists are trying to perfect a weather-controlling system. Their efforts are hampered by the arrival of a nosy reporter and by the sudden presence of 2-meter tall giant praying mantises. The first test of the weather control system goes awry when the remote control for a radioactive balloon is jammed by an unexplained signal coming from the center of the island. The balloon detonates prematurely, creating a radioactive storm that causes the giant mantises to grow to enormous sizes. Investigating the mantises, which are named Kamacuras (Gimantis in the English-dubbed version), the scientists find the monstrous insects digging an egg out from under a pile of earth. The egg hatches, revealing a baby Godzilla. The scientists realize that the baby's telepathic cries for help were the cause of the interference that ruined their experiment. Shortly afterwards, Godzilla himself arrives on the island, demolishing the scientist's base as he rushes to defend the baby. Godzilla kills two of the Kamacuras during the battle while one manages to fly away to safety, Godzilla then adopts the baby.XXXThe baby Godzilla, named Minilla, quickly grows to about half the size of his father, and Godzilla instructs him on the important monster skills of roaring and using his atomic ray. At first, Minilla has difficulty producing anything more than atomic smoke rings, but Godzilla discovers that stressful conditions (i.e. stomping on his tail,) or motivation produces a true radioactive blast. Minilla comes to the aid of Reiko when she is attacked by a Kamacuras, but inadvertently awakens Kumonga (Spiga in the English-dubbed version), a giant spider that was sleeping in a valley. Kumonga attacks the caves where the scientists are hiding, and Minilla stumbles into the fray.XXXKumonga traps Minilla and the final Kamacuras with his webbing, but as Kumonga begins to feed on the deceased Kamacuras, Godzilla arrives to save the day. Godzilla saves his son and they work together to defeat Kumonga by using their atomic rays on the giant spider. The scientists finally use their perfected weather altering device on the island and the once tropical island becomes buried in snow and ice. As the scientists are saved by an American submarine, Godzilla and Minilla begin to hibernate as they wait for the island to become tropical again.

CAST:
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