Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)

It's an All You Can Eat Lobsterfest courtesy of Godzilla!

This era of Godzilla movies can be hit or miss with me as Big G became more anthropomorphized. In the case of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep-it was a solid base hit. The movie had plenty of cheese and camp, but not too much as to spoil the fun.

Two rejects from a local dance competition and a safecracker end up on a sailboat commandeered by a young man who was told by a shaman his brother, thought lost in a boating accident is alive. He's determined to search for him, even with his grudging passengers. Long story short a giant lobster crashes the boat and the four young men end up washing ashore on a mostly deserted island. They find bad guys have kidnapped people off of Infant Island to work as slaves to make the yellow liquid needed to keep Ebirah at bay as they come and go. The bad guys are also developing nuclear weapons. You know they are bad because long time Godzilla star, Hirata Akihiko, shows up wearing an eye-patch and carrying a gun.

Another long time Godzilla star, Takarada Akira, plays Yoshimura, the safecracker, and does a good job as always completely selling the role. As it turns out, Yoshimura is the key to the young men's and Dayo's (an escaped islander) survival with his particular skill set and savvy. Yoshimura won a place on my favorite Godzilla character list with this role, which sadly, isn't very long.

Though the humans receive a lot of screen time at least they were interesting and fighting a more dangerous enemy than Godzilla or Ebirah--greedy men. Ultimately, they wake Godzilla up, who happens to be napping in a cave, to have him deal with the bad guys and Ebirah. Both Godzilla and Mothra were taking their hibernation vacations when all the action started. The kidnapped islanders and the ones back home sing until Mosura wakes up. She's obviously old and near the end of her life cycle but as always, she answers the call and comes to the aid of her people. She also smacks Godzilla around to remind him who's boss.

The miniatures weren't quite as accomplished as they usually are which was a disappointment. Ebirah's costume was very nice, for a giant lobster. There were several underwater battle scenes that came off well. The camp came through with funky 60's music playing while the two giants battled or when they swatted a boulder back and forth.

The movie never takes itself too seriously nor does it abandon all logic. Around 80 minutes long, "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep" was a fun ride on a tropical island filled with danger, courageous misfits, and a few Kaiju whose naps were interrupted.

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