![]() A later book by Kalat on J-Horror is of special interest to fans of this website as well. Thankfully Kalat’s Godzilla book is easy to track down being easily available physically and digitally. There are two editions of Kalat’s book and it is an entertaining but thorough read. It may at first appear to just be a series of reviews but I assure you the book is so much more. Next up we have David Kalat who wrote the fantastic A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series. Ryfle has a load of information in his book and does not mince words about movies in the franchise he feels aren’t up to snuff. Unfortunately, Godziszewski’s book is nigh impossible to track down but you can find copies of Ryfle’s long out of print book. Steve Ryle’s Japan’s Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of “The Big G” and Godziszewski’s The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Godzilla. Before releasing that groundbreaking wor,k Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski released two books of their own about the big G. Together they would write the essential biography on director Ishiro Honda called Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa. First and foremost let’s talk about the Kings of Showa Godzilla, Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski. If the label says ‘Classic Media’, hold onto that disc. In fact, their special feature work and their commentaries make those old DVDs essential owning for Kaiju fans. If you were a DVD collector in the early 2000’s, the following names will be familiar to you as they did the majority of the commentaries on the Classic Media releases of many of the older Toho films released in that time. ![]() For now, however, it remains a blindspot. His work has been referenced in many of the other books we’ll talk about today and one day I will track it down. This film is very out of print and very hard to track down. First and foremost, let me detail my personal holy grail: Guy Tucker’s Age of the Gods (1996). ![]() The next few books we will be discussing were all released within the time frame of the 1997 to 1998 hype train for Godzilla’s first American outing. John Lemay is a more contemporary writer with contemporary works. It is a must-listen as it is tremendously entertaining. Recently the Kaijusaurus podcast created a project called Godzilla Unmade where they wrote, edited, and produced some of these unmade scripts. These are outstanding reads and really give some insight into some truly insane ideas pitched for Godzilla movies throughout the years. He has done books on unmade Kaiju movies, unmade tokusatsu movies, unmade King Kong movies, and, most recently, unmade Jaws movies. It is fascinating to look into the world of possibilities for what could have been. Lately, Lemay has been focusing on making a name for himself by exploring the world of unmade movies detailing unmade scripts and unmade treatments. Writing Japanese Monsters: From the Files of the Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies takes a very specific and direct approach at one part of the filmmaking process. For example, he has an entire book solely focused on the screenwriting process for Kaiju movies. While on the subject of Lemay, his work progresses from general overviews to incredibly in-depth nerdery. Lemay is a very easy to read author and I found myself enjoying his insights even for films that I had read up on and seen hundreds of times. These tidbits are not intensely in-depth, however they are very useful for verifying info as there have been many times I’ve been able to use it as a secondary source. He gives a very entertaining array of trivia tidbits for each film, many of which are sourced directly from Japanese publications. He gives entertaining reviews of all the films within his book, however this is not just a mere review compilation. In both volumes of his Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies series he gives an exhaustive list of movies that fall under the purview of the Daikaiju genre. John Lemay is a great resource as his books are really easy to read and filled with information. If you are just getting into the genre then first of all WELCOME, second of all here are a few books that will really help you to flesh out your fandom. They are by no means bad books as they are ripe with new ways to interpret the movies but they deserve an article all their own as they offer a different experience.) (We will be opting out of referencing or recommending Essay books. As such, this article will be about books to read up on if you’re looking for accurate information upon the creation of this genre we all love. There is only one ending to King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) has two endings, which is a lie. There are a lot of voices out there and many of those voices are spouting the same five facts reported on ages ago and of those 5 facts one of them is always King Kong vs. Getting accurate information and history for giant monster films is difficult.
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