Sunday, November 25, 2018 at 7:30 PM, Rosy Buçu Davis, Podcast Co-Host at Crypt Kids invites you out to Rain Dogs for a FREE showing of Cozzilla (Psychedelic Godzilla)
Gojira (Godzilla) is a black and white Kaiju Film directed by Ishiro Honda in 1954 and the first film of the Godzilla franchise.Released in November 1954, the story was written by Shigeru Kayama. The film is loosely based on Honda’s wartime experiences and his seeing the aftermath of the atomic bombing on Hiroshima.
Godzilla symbolized nuclear holocaust from Japan’s perspective.
Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka is quoted as saying; The theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind
Gojira was recut, re-edited, and Americanized into Godzilla: King of the Monsters!, and seen by American audiences for the first time in 1956. Godzilla was a huge success and claimed the title “King of the Monsters”
An Italian filmmaker by the name of Luigi Cozzi, encourage by the box office success of the 1976 King Kong remake, wanted to bring Gojira to Italy. However there were issues in obtaining the rights. Undeterred, Cozzi decided to release the American Godzilla: King of the Monsters!, instead.
He was concerned about the film being black and white and didn’t think dubbing it into Italian would be enough to sell out Italy’s theaters, so he decided he would colorize the film. He cut out pieces of translucent gel and placed them over areas of each frame.
He removed some frames to speed up the pace of the film and inserted stock footage from other Kaiju movies , including the sequel to Gojira, Gojira no Gyakushu (Godzilla Strikes Back), the first sequel in the Godzilla franchise. He also added real wartime newsreel footage, making the monster movie all the more monstrous.
And still Cozzi wasn’t satisfied. The new sequences needed new music, new electronic music. He brought in Fabio Frizzi, who would later compose music for the horror classic Zombi 2., a film which would “borrow” music from Cozzilla. With color and new music as well as all sound effects remixed and enhanced Cozzi gave Italy and the world a psychedelic Godzilla that was more disturbing than the original.
The film was a grand success in Italy and many consider it superior to the American version. It’s also rather rare, as it was originally only released in Italy and parts of Turkey. Don’t miss this opportunity to see a true classic of the genera.
A teaser of sorts