Son of Godzilla 1967 Movies Review

The second of Godzilla's "south seas" pictures (after Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, available on DVD under its US title Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster), this 1967 series entry concerns the adventures of a group of scientists trying to control weather conditions on tropical Solgell Island. While preparing their latest top-secret test, reporter Goro Masaki (Akira Kubo) drops out of the sky. Talk about strange weather! Having no way of disposing of the intruder, they let him work for them as a cook.

Their deep freeze experiment goes haywire, frying the island with a radioactive storm. The radioactivity mutates and grows the already huge mantises and a nasty giant spider. It also mutates and hatches a big egg, releasing an infant monster that resembles Godzilla. Apparently of the same species, the baby’s cries of distress when the mantises attack bring Godzilla (no doubt already drawn to the area to soak up some radiation) to his rescue. Goro finds a girl named Saeko Matsumiya (Australian actor Bibari “Beverly” Maeda) living on the island, too – she was orphaned when her scientist father died on the island, and survived the storm in a deep cave. With the monsters trashing their compound, the group is relieved to be able to move into the cave, and Saeko (“Reiko” in the English dub) provides “red water” that cures their radiation fever. However, the battling beasts above threaten to bury them in the cave. The scientists make a last desperate effort to bring winter to the island, putting the monsters into hibernation so they can escape.