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Destroy All Monsters

Destroy All Monsters

Movie · 1968 · 8 people

Ishirō Honda directed Destroy All Monsters, a 1968 Japanese kaiju film that mixes science fiction with fantasy and is the ninth entry in Toho's Godzilla series; the studio both made and distributed it. Its Japanese title, Kaijū Sōshingeki, means "Monster All-Out Attack". It runs about 89 minutes; in Germany it was titled Frankenstein und die Monster aus dem All and in France Les envahisseurs attaquent.

The story begins when a malevolent alien race called the Kilaaks seizes the world's giant monsters and sets them loose on cities across the planet. Officials look for the aliens' weak points in order to regain control of the creatures. Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki, Yukiko Kobayashi and Yoshio Tsuchiya lead the cast, with Kenji Sahara also appearing. Alongside Godzilla appear Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, Anguirus, Varan, Manda, Gorosaurus, Baragon, Minilla and Kumonga. Varan and Anguirus are shown in colour here for the first time.

Special effects were directed by Sadamasa Arikawa and supervised by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film opened in Japan on 1 August 1968, and an English-dubbed version reached the United States through American International Pictures on 23 May 1969. Contemporary American reviews were mixed, with praise going mainly to the climactic monster battle; later assessments have been warmer. It was followed by All Monsters Attack on 20 December 1969.

DirectorIshirō Honda
Production companyToho

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Cast

Only cast members with a profile on this site are listed.

Andrew Hughes Actor · 1908 – 1996 Haruo Nakajima Jun Tazaki Kenji Sahara Akira Kubo Yukiko Kobayashi Yoshio Tsuchiya Hal Linden

Through different eyes

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah and more in a single film: for a kaiju fan it is hard to imagine a bigger get-together. Even critics at the time saved most of their praise for the climactic monster battle, so you know where the film's trump card is. The problem is the stretches without monsters; when the humans are hunting for the aliens' weak spot, the pace risks sagging. The finale is worth the wait.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

The ninth entry in the series, Destroy All Monsters is less a story than a gathering: bringing together on one screen every monster Toho had created so far seems to be the script's real job. That makes the true star the special-effects work Sadamasa Arikawa directed under Eiji Tsuburaya's supervision. The weak spot is structure: the human characters searching for the aliens' weaknesses rarely become more than a bridge between monster scenes, in my view. It makes sense that the mixed reviews of the day softened over time; the film earns its value not as a tight narrative but as a showcase in which a studio parades its own mythology. Ishirō Honda's task is to keep that showcase from falling apart.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

It looks like a film you can watch with children who love giant monsters; the mood is more adventure than fright. Still, the scenes of cities under attack may unsettle very young kids, so it helps to sit with them. Because it is an old production, the effects may look odd to children today, which is a nice chance to laugh and chat about it together.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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