Saturday Monster Movies

When I was a little kid before we got rid of TV for a few years, I remember Saturdays were great television days. Even though (or perhaps because) you only had 3 or 4 channels, they had great programming. Mornings were devoted to cartoons, but afternoons were for horror. Not the kind of horror people think about these days that are designed to traumatize and would not be suitable for kids, but the kind of 50s and 60s fun stuff. Giant ants and radioactive monsters. As a kid, they creeped me out, but not in a traumatic way. Even those kinds of horror movies, however, had the power to preach. All horror, it is said, is a morality fable.

I am going to try to do a series of brief commentaries on the Godzilla movies this year. Every Saturday a new movie and a short—sometimes extremely short—impression of what the movie has to say…