stevensloss.bsky.social
Leading Austin Powers in Goldmember appreciator. BFI Film Classics: Godzilla coming from Bloomsbury in 2027 ✍️
165 posts
445 followers
270 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
I’m not familiar but it looks like it!
comment in response to
post
It'll come
comment in response to
post
Handy-dandy @letterboxd.social version of the list (with detailed notes!) is here: boxd.it/okHww
comment in response to
post
Addendum: the VICE special is actually titled AOKIGAHARA: SUICIDE FOREST, and is from 2012, not 2010. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FDS...
comment in response to
post
Handy-dandy Letterboxd version of this list (minus the VICE special) is here: boxd.it/okHww/detail
comment in response to
post
GODZILLA (1998)
A fun one to end the thread on! Kaneko teases, but there's a playful reverence for Roland Emmerich's much-maligned '98 GODZILLA throughout GMK, including some strikingly similar imagery and a particularly cheeky opening reference.
Happy viewing! 🪨 🐉 🦋 🦖
comment in response to
post
VICE SPECIALS: SUICIDE FOREST IN JAPAN (2010)
Kaneko regular Yukijirō Hotaru cameos in GMK as a man attempting suicide in Aokigahara Forest. A 2010 video from VICE explores Aokigahara – Japan’s most common suicide site – with the viewer guided by geologist Azusa Hayano.
comment in response to
post
Trigger warning: the next post contains references to suicide.
comment in response to
post
FAREWELL, RABAUL and LATE CHRYSANTHEMUMS (both 1954)
Two Japanese dramas (directed by Ishiro Honda and Mikio Naruse, respectively), posters for which briefly feature in GMK’s flashback to Godzilla’s 1954 attack.
comment in response to
post
LEGEND OF DINOSAURS AND MONSTER BIRDS (1977)
Lake Ikeda was also the site of a press flurry in the late ‘70s due to reported sightings of the monster “Issie”. While it predates the sightings, Toei’s brooding, JAWS-esque LEGEND OF DINOSAURS AND MONSTER BIRDS is essential kaiju cryptid viewing.
comment in response to
post
TABARUZAKA (1987) and THE LAST SAMURAI (2004)
In one of GMK's many historical deep cuts, Admiral Tachibana (Ryudo Uzaki) mentions Saigo Takamori retreating to Lake Ikeda after surrendering office. Takamori's life is depicted in both these titles, with varying degrees of historical accuracy.
comment in response to
post
THE STONE TAPE (1972)
On the subject of analogue horror, GMK flirts with the parapsychological theory of inanimate objects containing “recordings” of past events. This school of thought – Stone Tape theory – traces its origins to this BBC TV film, written by Nigel Kneale of QUATERMASS fame.
comment in response to
post
PYROKINESIS (2000) and NOROI: THE CURSE (2005)
PYROKINESIS sees Kaneko explore the supernatural a year before GMK, while Kōji Shiraishi’s NOROI represents a milestone in analogue J-horror. Both bridge the gap between GMK and its Japanese and Western horror influences.
comment in response to
post
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)
In the same scene, Yuri Tachibana (Chiharu Niiyama) indirectly references Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez’s found footage phenomenon as an example of a “monster” bringing lucrative tourism to a rural town.
comment in response to
post
It’s also worth noting that a young Shinji Higuchi directed OROCHI STRIKES BACK’s special effects, and would go on to direct the jet fighter attack sequence in GMK.
comment in response to
post
In both scenes, the film crew is interrupted by objecting authorities – and yes (RE: previous post), that’s a young Hideaki Anno in front of the camera in 1985!
comment in response to
post
OROCHI STRIKES AGAIN (1985)
Speaking of Yamata no Orochi, this independent kaiju epic from Daicon Film (later, Gainax) features a sequence in which a tabloid film crew fakes a monster appearance on sacred ground – a scene restaged almost beat-for-beat in GMK.
comment in response to
post
THE BIRTH OF JAPAN (1959)
Hiroshi Inagaki’s epic, all-star staging of the Yamato Takeru legend features an earlier Toho take on the fabled Yamata no Orochi (brought to life by Eiji Tsuburaya), the mythological basis of GMK’s version of King Ghidorah.
comment in response to
post
Jissoji and Kaneko would both go on to direct episodes of ULTRA Q: DARK FANTASY (2004) and ULTRAMAN MAX (2005).
comment in response to
post
ULTRA Q: THE MOVIE (1990)
The late auteur Akio Jissoji proved a huge influence on Kaneko, and ULTRA Q: THE MOVIE – a highly cerebral kaiju feature that, like GMK, leans heavily on Japanese mythology, folklore, and spiritualism – is a perfect companion piece.
comment in response to
post
THE GAMERA TRILOGY (1995-1999)
Obviously – and what more is there to say? If you’re reading this and have somehow never experienced Kaneko’s three-part kaiju opus that got him the GMK job, log off and fire ‘em up!
comment in response to
post
Food of the Gods!
comment in response to
post
Terrific scene about haggis in the underrated AMERICAN COUSINS from 2003. Wish it was online somewhere!
comment in response to
post
Thanks gang! 🦕
comment in response to
post
In both scenes, the crew is even interrupted by objecting authorities!
comment in response to
post
OROCHI also features a sequence replicated almost beat-for-beat in GMK, with a tabloid film crew faking the appearance of a monster
comment in response to
post
Also a development of his very early work on OROCHI STRIKES AGAIN!
comment in response to
post
Not London and not today, but the Elgiva has two showings on Wednesday: elgiva.com/zone-of-inte...