Godzilla has been many things over the years: King of the
Monsters; cautionary tale for nuclear powers; hero; villain; wild card; unstoppable
force of nature. But one thing I think most
tend to overlook is that Godzilla can be scary as Hell. Yeah he’s got a ton of abilities that’ll take
you out before you can really take it in but that’s a face that puts fear into
the hearts of all as much as excitement.
Continuing with our Godzilla Month III Exclusive Top 5 Wednesdays,
todays list is looking at the Top 5 Scariest Versions of Godzilla. And while I considered jokingly adding the Showa
Era suits that were used far beyond their usage, I’ve decided to stick with the
ones genuinely designed to be the stuff of nightmares.
#5-Godzilla 1984 (84Goji) Like I said above, the latter half of the Showa Era had a
couple of Godzilla suits that had seen better days and this was also during the
time when Godzilla was a Kaiju superhero.
Well for his big reboot at the start of the Hesei Era, Godzilla went
back to his darker roots and got a look to match it.
That first closeup of his face is an iconic
moment showing off the new King of the Monsters not being such a nice guy
anymore.
It’s basically the equivalent
of Batman 89 giving the Dark Knight a more serious overhaul after the campiness
of the Adam West 60’s series.
#4-Godzilla Minus One (MinusGoji)
Godzilla’s latest incarnation is pretty ferocious and at
times pretty feral.
The CG Animation
allows him to move a bit more wildly than ever before like in his introductory
scene on Odo Island.
He’s got shades of
the T-Rex from Jurassic Park with how vicious he is chomping on everything that
moves and swatting away the rest with his tail.
The added regeneration effects give more disfiguration to his body, not
quite body horror but it inches there.
Bonus
points for giving him a Jaws edge in the water too, nice throwback to a movie
that had Godzilla as one of its key inspirations.
#3-Burning Godzilla (MogeGoji/DesuGoji)
What’s worse than Godzilla being the metaphor for the
dangers of Nuclear Power?
How about
Godzilla being made into a rapidly destabilizing Nuclear Reactor.
For his final Hesei Era bow, Godzilla was
made to look like a demon that walked right out of Hell and is taking the rest
of the world with him.
The wide eyes make
you feel for him as much as fear him as those glowing streaks all over his body
have to be hurting him 24/7 at this point.
Despite this, Godzilla’s showing zero concern for anything, going about
his daily business just with the added effect of potential Armageddon too.
#2-Possessed Godzilla (GMKGoji)
As I discussed in my review a couple of weeks back, this
is one of the more unique depictions of Godzilla in the franchise.
It’s not often he gets an almost supernatural
origin, in this case being possessed by the vengeful spirits of all those
killed in the Pacific Campaigns of World War II.
Those blank, white eyes are the stuff of
freaking nightmares, showing Godzilla is a lot more pissed off than usual.
Seriously, every up close shot of the big
guys face is sweat inducing terror.
#1-Shin Godzilla (ShinGoji)
In my opinion, Godzilla has never looked more movie
monster scary than he does in Shin Godzilla.
The fact that he doesn’t move super fast isnt a detriment as he looks
like a slowly approaching tower of death (the drive by shots alongside him are
so epicly awesome).
But like Possessed
Godzilla, it’s the face that gets me.
Godzilla looks so horrific with those soul piercing eyes and sharp
fangs.
The way his mouth opens to fire
its atomic beams kind of reminds me of the Reapers from Blade II.
If Godzilla hadn’t seemed scary in a while
(opinions vary), this version surely reminded us why he can put the fear of God
into anyone (it is in the name after all).
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