Godzilla Raids Again (1955) Saturday Monster Movies

Mere months after the success of Godzilla, Toho rushed back into production to make another one. This one is decidedly less thoughtful, concentrating on the spectacle of giant monsters fighting in miniatures. Who can blame them, as that is what drew in the audiences? Not for the last time, there is even a reuse of footage from the previous film to pad out the running time. However, what makes this film interesting is that they still understand that the horror of the monsters is the way that they affect ordinary people and their lives. There is enough human drama here to make the film compelling.

Godzilla ended with technology being used that was so dangerous its creator killed himself so that no one could recreate the devastating weapon. (Nuclear weaponry commentary, clearly.) However, without that technology, people in this film are largely dependent on the monsters in the film to take each other out. A bit of modern fatalism in the face of nature that has become prevalent in much of society today much in the way that ancient societies felt helpless against the gods.