Editorials
‘Shin Godzilla’ – The Lovecraftian Horrors of the Cosmic Monster Movie
Monsters have been representing primal fears since time immemorial, and the best of them are capable of adapting to evolving societal fears. From werewolves occasionally becoming metaphors for puberty to zombies going from supernatural slaves to viral consumerism, there’s plenty of multifaceted creatures to choose from. That’s why it’s fitting that the King of the Monsters himself has seen so many wildly different variations over the years.
Originally a physical manifestation of the fear of the atomic bomb, with the first film being produced a mere 7 years after the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Godzilla would end up spawning a multimedia franchise as the radioactive dinosaur accidentally became a national icon. Over time, toys, games and countless toned-down sequels ended up diluting the character’s original purpose: to terrify audiences as a giant monster inspired by real-world horrors.
While several of these sequels would attempt to return Godzilla to his previous glory as a horrific antagonist, such as Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (where the original monster’s bones are used to construct an undead cyborg with PTSD) or GMK: Monsters All-Out Attack (where he’s literally possessed by victims of the Japanese Imperial Army), none of these films managed to escape the merchandise-friendly tropes of a traditional kaiju film. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as Godzilla is versatile enough to be an interesting character whether he represents natural balance or atomic energy gone wrong, but it was a shame that Toho mostly refused to fully embrace the scary side of their iconic property.
That is, until the company partnered with Shinji Higuchi (director of the highly successful Attack on Titan adaptations) and Hideaki Anno (creator of the iconic anime Neon Genesis Evangelion) to produce a genuinely frightening throwback to the monster movie that started it all. Titled Shin Godzilla, with the prefix “Shin” meaning “new”, “true” and “God”, this 2016 remake was a colossal success, going so far as to win the Japanese Academy Award for Best Picture as well as several international prizes.
Since its release, there have been plenty of think-pieces about how the movie touches on serious themes like the inherent evils of bureaucracy and the real-world mishandling of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, and while these are all notable parts of what makes this such a compelling cinematic experience, what I love the most about the film is how it’s probably the closest we’ll ever get to seeing a Lovecraftian Kaiju flick – and I think that’s worth discussing.
I don’t think Kong has a chance against this version.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a God-like entity rises out of the sea and proceeds to show humanity just how tiny we are in the cosmic scheme of things, with our protagonists woefully unprepared to deal with the existence of a creature that defies everything we think we know about the world. From The Beast From 20 000 Fathoms (which actually inspired the 1952 Godzilla) to numerous post-Godzilla creature features, this could be the synopsis to any number of giant monster movies, but it’s also a brief summary of H.P. Lovecraft’s first entry in the Cthulhu Mythos, 1919’s Dagon.
Lovecraft obviously doesn’t hold a monopoly on sea-dwelling abominations, and it’s more likely that these monster movies were simply inspired by the same legends that informed his imagination, but the American writer did pioneer the idea of scary stories where primitive beasts actually represent the fear of an uncaring universe. In these stories, the real terror comes from the existential implications of realizing that the antagonists exist in the first place – not from a simple fear of death or destruction. And when you get down to it, I don’t think any monster movie encapsulates this better than Shin Godzilla.
The titular monster is much more than just a radioactive dinosaur in this incarnation, with the creature taking on the added dimension of an otherworldly force meant to punish the world (and more specifically Japan) for its sins. His coming is even foretold by the prophetic scientist Goro Maki, an enigmatic character that sets off the main mystery of the movie but never actually appears onscreen other than a photograph which is actually of the legendary director Kihachi Okamoto.
While a traditional Kaiju flick would have made Goro a central character meant to provide sci-fi exposition rationalizing the monster, Anno’s decision to have the character commit suicide at the beginning of the flick rather than face what was about to happen gives this story yet another similarity with Lovecraft’s dreary yarns and their ill-fated protagonists. And without a source of ancient knowledge to demystify our monster, the film becomes free to explore the fear of the unknown.
Hell, even the soundtrack hints at the idea that this version of Godzilla is not just a simple mutated animal, with the melancholy Who Will Know track featuring chorus lines spoken from the monster’s point of view. The ominous chanting here seems to describe Godzilla’s internal struggle with his own freakish existence, with lyrics suggesting that the beast is in fact a conscious being in an incredible amount of pain.
“A shaft of light is all I need to cease the darkness killing me.”
The soundtrack also features plenty of repurposed music, both from Evangelion as well as the original Godzilla. While the 1952 tracks serve to showcase how Shin is meant to be a return to form for the franchise, the references to Evangelion seem to reflect the common themes between the film and anime. Appropriately enough, Evangelion was an existential deconstruction of the Mecha genre which used giant monster battles as an excuse to dive into the psychological struggles of its main characters while appropriating religious iconography to explore metaphysical concepts. That’s why it makes sense that a film about a newborn God wreaking havoc upon humanity would share some common ground with the iconic anime (which even referred to its monsters as “Angels”).
While these preternatural elements of the movie are fascinating, the truly terrifying moments of Shin Godzilla are the ones closest to reality. Revisiting the film after a global pandemic reframes the entire experience, as watching bumbling government officials tragically mishandle a deadly crisis as deaths continue to mount makes for a decidedly uncomfortable viewing experience after Covid-19. While this clearly wasn’t Anno or Higuchi’s intention, it’s hard not to remember the race for vaccines when characters are forced to negotiate raw materials with factories in order to produce an absurd amount of coagulant to stop Godzilla in his tracks, much like real-world governments had to negotiate with companies to produce and distribute vaccines on an unprecedented scale.
These real-world horrors contribute to the movie’s scare-factor, as unlike a typical monster movie where protagonists are often finding themselves into ridiculous situations in order to justify them being near the main attraction, you’re never afraid for a single character here – you’re afraid for the world. Our heroes never even get close to the radioactive monster, and the final battle is truly won by committees and blue-collar workers, not giant robots or gun-toting action heroes. But even then, the movie makes it clear that it’s only a matter of time before Godzilla may rise again.
In all fairness, for Shin Godzilla to be truly a Lovecraftian piece of fiction, the mere sight of the monster should have been enough to drive the residents of Tokyo to madness and destabilize the entire world (though his cancerous redesign comes close to doing that to viewers). However, while Lovecraftian creations like the tentacled Cthulhu were never meant to be seen as physical beings, with that entire story hinging on how the Old One’s true form and intentions couldn’t be grasped by the human mind, film is a visual medium, and Shin Godzilla is likely as close as we’ll ever get to a big-screen representation of that particular kind of cataclysmic story.
There’s no way of knowing if these Lovecraftian elements were intentional, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Shin Godzilla remains an excellent example of cinematic Cosmic Horror done right. If you need further proof, I’d suggest taking another look at that hauntingly beautiful final shot of the creature’s mutated tail. It works as a horrific visual in and of itself, but the existential implications of that image are what make the ending truly horrifying, and that specific kind of apocalyptic dread is why Shin Godzilla remains my absolute favorite Kaiju flick.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on October 24, 2022.
“That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.”
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Evil Dead Burn.
Fans of The Evil Dead franchise have become accustomed to an excess of gore. From the low-fi horror of Sam Raimi’s 1981 original and the slapstick comedy of Army of Darkness to Fede Álvarez’s 2013 remake, which literally ends in a rain of blood, grotesque dismemberment and comedic violence are as important to an Evil Dead film as the outline of Bruce Campbell’s iconic jaw.
Sébastien Vaniček‘s franchise installment, Evil Dead Burn, follows suit with wall-to-wall violence and set pieces built around extreme carnage. As the Deadites rise once again, Alice (Souheila Yacoub) must fight to the death against her possessed in-laws hell-bent on punishing her for their family’s sins.
Co-written by Vaniček and Florent Bernard, Evil Dead Burn follows the ill-fated Price family, descendants of Dr. Benjamin Price who discovered an ancient dagger capable of sending Kandarian demons back to hell. Newly uncovered from its protective spell, this dagger has called to the evil dead and led them to the family’s ramshackle home. Keeping plot to a bare minimum, Vaniček fills nearly every scene with powerful Deadites and their dastardly acts as they torture the Prices to find the weapon. Horrific moments like a woman drinking hot wax from a lit candle and a shocking post-credits child murder don’t even crack the top ten of disgusting, painful, and disturbing carnage that floods the film.
In any other franchise, we would be listing the film’s most gruesome kills. But fans of Evil Dead know that when we’re talking about the Necronomicon, mere death is only the beginning.
10 ) Deadites Burn
Though Burn checks off all the Evil Dead boxes, its story is a franchise anomaly. Rather than possessing anyone who crosses their path, Vaniček’s Deadites have set their sights specifically on an unwitting clan, intent on recovering the powerful dagger. Resurrected from a nearby lake, Deadite Jessica (Greta van den Brink) informs us of this plan while murdering the eldest Price son. Will (George Pullar) is speeding down a deserted road when he slams into the malevolent demon standing in the middle of the road. After his car rolls off the deserted road, he awakens to find himself upside down, a strange woman lodged in his cracked windshield.
As he desperately tries to reach his phone, Jessica slowly twists her head, tearing the skin of her distended neck. Completely detached from her shattered body, the demon’s head rolls out the window and begins chanting a Kandarian curse. Will’s car bursts into flames as Jessica vows to seek out the rest of his family. While burning alive, Will learns that he is merely the first on a deadly hitlist filled with the people he loves most.
9) Dinner from Hell
Despite a remarkably streamlined plot, Vaniček hints at the Price family’s extensive dysfunction. An uncomfortable dinner erupts in aggression as they gather for lunch after Will’s funeral. Mother Susan (Tandi Wright) berates her recently widowed daughter-in-law while father Edgar (Erroll Shand) — already under Kandarian influence — blames younger son Joseph (Hunter Doohan) for his eldest son’s death. No one is safe as long-held tensions break through to the surface and family secrets ricochet through the air.
With Edgar behaving erratically, Alice and Thya (Luciane Buchanan), Joseph’s girlfriend, try to move sharp objects out of his reach. But Edgar manages to get a hold of a fork and turns his rage on the family dog. As he stabs Max repeatedly in the face, Joseph tries to pull his father away. Both are injured in the struggle and rush to the hospital, leaving Susan and Alice to deal with the corpse. A horrific moment of animal cruelty, this scene sets up a no-holds-barred film in which anyone can be brutalized. But perhaps most disturbing is the viciousness already lurking in this troubled family, barely concealed resentments that existed long before the Kandarian threat.
8 ) Bathroom Brawl
As Deadites possess the Price family, Alice barricades herself in an upstairs bathroom. She reluctantly shields her mother-in-law, despite Susan’s atrocious behavior. Almost immediately, Alice regrets this decision when the woman reveals the depths of her hatred. She rejects clear evidence of Will’s domestic abuse, continuing to blame Alice for their troubled marriage. Leaning her cheek against a scalding hot radiator, Susan submits to Kandarian possession and becomes a Deadite before our eyes. Though disturbing on its face, she seems to choose possession over an honest reckoning of her family’s dark secrets.
Now a Deadite, Susan attacks Alice with broken shards of the toilet bowl and wraps the shower curtain around her head. Scampering across the ceiling, she hangs her daughter-in-law by the neck with the plastic sheet as Alice desperately gasps for air. With only her hand free, Alice gouges Susan’s face with a safety razor, finally managing to break herself free. As Deadite Susan taunts her from the corner, Alice revs up a brush trimmer and plunges the circular blade into her shoulder and chest. We cheer for Alice as she finally pushes back against Susan’s passive-aggressive disdain.
7) The Pen is Mightier
In a sea of blood-splattered dismemberment, one scene is so tense that it makes us squirm despite its lack of visual gore. With the family’s ailing matriarch possessed, Deadite Polly (Maude Davey) attacks Alice in the upstairs hallway, pressing her face against the bush trimmer’s still blade. Insisting that Alice has caused Will’s death, Polly invites the grieving woman to avenge her child by turning on the power tool. An instant before her mother-in-law can send the blade tearing into her cheek, Alice manages to escape by jamming a shard of glass into Polly’s eye. But not before the elderly demon can deliver a cringe-worthy injury.
Though Alice struggles with all her might, Polly slowly drives a fountain pen into the younger woman’s ear canal. Ringing blots out all other sounds as Alice’s face twists in pain. We imagine a tiny object bursting through our own eardrums, puncturing the soft tissue lying beneath. Though Alice tries to extract the pen, she only succeeds in breaking it off, leaving half of the quill buried in her ear. She will eventually use tweezers to remove the tip, sparking another moment of deafening agony.
6) Chekhov’s Dishwasher
As Susan prepares for the aforementioned family meal, Vaniček drops a delicious bit of foreshadowing. While the grieving mother thaws frozen food, she absently fills an old dishwasher whose door has long since busted its latch. Reminiscent of a scene from Final Destination, the faulty appliance falls open, leaving a shelf full of gleaming forks and knives suspended a foot above the floor, just waiting for their moment to strike. After returning from a fatal incident we’ll discuss in a moment, Deadite Thya returns to the Price home, hell-bent on retrieving the powerful knife.
As she advances on Joseph, the frightened son retreats to the kitchen and brandishes a carving knife, subtly nodding to an ultra-violent kitchen scene in Álvarez’s Evil Dead. But Thya will not be deterred. Advancing on her boyfriend, the Deadite startles him into tripping on the outstretched door and impaling himself on the upturned utensils. She presses Joseph further onto the blades while he plunges a corkscrew into her throat. But even this will not stop the maniacal demon, who rips her throat open with the wine tool, dripping her blood over Joseph’s upturned face. Adding insult to injury, she marvels at his willingness to kill the woman he professed to love, casting a pall over their entire relationship. Not only gruesome and excruciatingly tense, but this moment plays into Joseph’s insecurities as the failed son of this disturbed family.
5 ) On the Lake
Evil Dead Burn begins on a seemingly peaceful lake overrun with lurking Kandarian demons. Jared (Keanu Karim) is trying to enjoy a quiet day of fishing but can’t stop his friend Leo (Victory Ndukwe) from answering the phone. Along the dock, Jared notices a bite on Leo’s reel and eventually pulls up a severed head savvy viewers may recognize from Lee Cronin’s 2023 sequel Evil Dead Rise. Moments later, Jared finds himself ensnared by reels, hooks digging into the corner of his mouth and eyelid. As the fishing line wraps around his neck, he’s dragged, screaming, into the lake.
Leo returns in the pouring rain and sees Jared desperately calling for help. He quickly boats out to save his friend, but a mysterious force pulls him down into the depths. Leo finally drags Jared back into the boat, only to see that his body has been cut in half, intestines spilling out of his bisected waist. As he struggles to make sense of this carnage, Deadite Jessica emerges from the lake and capsizes the boat, her clenched demon hands causing the water to boil. Though Leo manages to swim to shore, his skin is a blistered and bubbly mess. Deadite Jessica absently steps on his hand, easily peeling away flesh like overcooked meat. This jaw-dropping opener not only sets the stage for a brutal film, but situates the story in franchise lore while simply explaining the Deadites’ return.
4) Car Trouble
The shocking trailer to Evil Dead Burns shows the aftermath of a vicious attack. As Deadite Thya crosses the family threshold, the camera reveals a car’s headrest still impaling her face. But this devastating sight merely hints at the cruel circumstances of her actual death. Incapacitated in the disastrous family dinner, Edgar slumps in the backseat while Joseph tends to his wounds. Though seemingly incapacitated, the possessed father snaps to attention and wraps his seatbelt around Thya’s neck, pushing against the back of her seat. Joseph holds a gun to his father’s head, but can’t bring himself to pull the trigger.
As Thya tries to escape the car, Edgar viciously slams the door, severing four of her fingers. She manages to trigger a fire extinguisher, filling the car with cloudy white chemicals and giving Joseph a chance to escape. But Thya is not so lucky. Trapped in the car, she screams as Edgar pummels her with a detached headrest, stabbing the poles through her neck and face. Joseph watches from a safe distance as his father beats his girlfriend to death, knowing he was unable to save her life.
3) Head Shots
When Deadite Thya comes stumbling back home, Joseph believes he’s seen the worst. Unfortunately, his misery is only beginning. After fighting off his newly-sadistic undead girlfriend, he tries to flee with his surviving family, only to find Deadite Edgar blocking his path. Flanked by Deadite Max, Edgar taunts his son by insisting that he should be dead in Will’s place and confirming the young man’s greatest fears. Edgar then does what Joseph could not and shoots himself in the head.
The family screams in horror at this devastating sight, then freezes in stunned silence as Edgar does not fall. Grinning, the maniacal father shoots himself twice more, blowing gaping holes in the sides of his head. For the rest of the film, Deadite Edgar will terrorize his family with these unthinkable wounds, even tempting his wife with a bloody kiss. Vaniček mixes emotional devastation with gore as Joseph must watch his father’s suicide while confronting the truth of his own ineptitude.
2) Down Through the Chimney
Along with references to the beloved Ash (Campbell), it’s become tradition for an Evil Dead film to reference the franchise’s signature weapon. But Vaniček subverts our expectations when Edgar’s chainsaw is out of gas. Instead, Alice employs a rusty bush trimmer to fight off her Deadite mother-in-law. Unfortunately, the extended weapon only shreds her flesh, leaving the monstrous woman still able to fight. Trapped in the attic, Alice must clamber out of an upper window with Deadite Susan hot on her heels.
Having dropped the ceremonial knife off the third-story roof, Alice has no choice but to improvise. Toting the bush trimmer, she inches her way down the chimney, pausing to turn halfway down. As Susan follows her daughter-in-law down the chute, Alice turns on the bush trimmer and waits for impact. Vaniček brings us into the living room as buckets of blood and dismembered body parts begin to rain down over the hearth. It’s the kind of moment Evil Dead fans love, gleefully gory carnage via an unexpected power tool.
1 ) Goodbye Stranger
Despite this plethora of grisly gore, Vaniček’s final act tops the list while delivering a poignant beat of empowerment. With the house on fire and the Deadites subdued, we believe that Alice is finally safe. But as she watches the Price home burn to the ground, the corpse of her husband walks out of the flames. He taunts her memories of their abusive marriage, insisting that she stayed because she likes the pain. Demanding the sacred weapon, Deadite Will chases Alice to a construction site and into an open hydraulic press. In the fall, Alice impales her ankle on a massive spike, leaving her trapped as the pit fills with boiling hot tar.
But Alice finds the strength to save herself and pulls her ankle off the bloody spike. She distracts Will with a decoy knife, then pummels his chest with a jackhammer. Exacerbating her emotional pain, Deadite Will reminds her of his love. But it seems that Alice has had enough. She stabs him with the ceremonial blade, then crushes his head as it turns to ash. It’s a well-earned moment of empowerment as our final girl vanquishes her most powerful demon.
Vaniček’s crowd-pleaser continues the Evil Dead trend of gleefully crude massacres. Two extra scenes hint at a continuation of this gruesome massacre, promising more brutality in films to come.
You must be logged in to post a comment.