G Watch: Godzilla Minus Zero (2026)

Watched:  11/05/2026

Format:  AMC Imax

Viewing:  First

Director:  Takashi Yamazaki

So, readers of this here site will know I'm not just a Godzilla stan, I'm particularly an evangelist for Godzilla Minus One, that first film.  So, how did I feel about Godzilla Minus Zero (2026)?  Right?  That's what we're asking?  Maybe?

SPOILERS

Last Horror Watch: The Cycle (2026)

Watched:  11/04/2026

Format:  Shudder

Viewing:  First

Director:  Jordan Downey

More than one person reached out to let me know I should watch this movie, so thanks if you were are one of those two people!

I wasn't really given any heads up as to what the movie was about going in, so I'll do you a favor and drop this here:

SPOILERS

G Watch: Godzilla Minus One (2023)

seriously considering this as a tattoo on my right leg

Watched:  11/03/2026

Format:  4K disc

Viewing:  Fifth?  Sixth?

Director:  Takashi Yamazaki

Well, that was a delight.  Again.  

Jamie and I have each seen the movie four times in the theater, and I think we saw it at home at least once, but I can't find the write-up.  Anyway, there is plenty about this movie elsewhere on the site.

Godzilla Minus One (2023) wound up winning the Oscar for FX in 2024.  And, in many ways, the movie likely earned the award for making what looks like a $200 million Hollywood movie on something like $15 million.  But I think we all know - that movie really received an award for being a successful popular-style movie in the mode of a Steven Spielberg spectacular, and people who saw it mostly really liked it.

G-Watch: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Watched:  11/02/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  Ishiro Honda

This movie I may have seen too many times.  

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) is 90 minutes that feels three times longer than that.  I always forget that when I put it on.  

Ostensibly the movie is about how King Ghidorah comes to Earth after devastating Venus, but the movie is 80% about a princess of a country where people dress like they raided a Shakespeare festival getting possessed by the ghost of a Venusian and the problems it causes.  There's a cop who is supposed to help her and his goofy sister who works for a publication that is basically In Search of....

Godzilla doesn't make an appearance until about the 39th minute.  And then disappears again for way too long.  He is goofy and does a "my butt!" jump when Ghidorah stings his butt with Ghidorah-lightning.  I am fine with this, but that's the sort of Godzilla we've got here.

Eventually we get Rodan, Godzilla, Mothra the Faeries, etc...  but holy god is it a long walk to get there.  I did enjoy this movie at one point, but I've seen it too many times, I guess.

We don't even really get how much fun King Ghidorah is as a boo-able villain until Invasion of Astro Monster, a plainly better and more entertaining movie.  

G-Watch: Godzilla (1954)

Watched:  11/01/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  Not sure

Director:  Ishiro Honda

Well, it's Sunday and on Thursday, we're going to see Godzilla Minus Zero.  To prepare, we're watching this movie, Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster, and then Godzilla: Minus One.  It shall be a mini-Godzilla Gauntlet.  

It's been a while since I last watched this one.  In fact, I am unclear on when I last saw it.  It may have been in the 2010's.  Give me some grace, there's a lot of Godzilla I've seen over the past few years.

Hallo-Watch: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Watched:  10/31/2026

Format:  4K disc

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  James Whale

Well, we managed to get in a viewing.  It wasn't easy, but we did it. 

Still top-tier for me, not as a sequel, but as a movie on its own.  

I've been watching this movie for Halloween every year since at least 2015.   Maybe earlier.  I've lost track, and in ye olden days, this blog wasn't exactly a film-watching journal.  So.  I don't know beyond 2015.  I do suspect I've seen this movie at least 20 times.  More likely, something like 25-30 times.  I don't believe I saw it until 2003 when Universal put out a crate of horror movies, so it's been a lot of catch-up.

As mentioned whilst discussing this year's viewing of Frankenstein, it felt like that movie left a lot of gaps in the conversation.  Bride of Frankenstein picks up saying directly to the audience "oh, we weren't done.  That's only half the story," and starts addressing those questions artfully and with pathos and a huge helping of humor.

Hallo-Watch: Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

Watched:  10/30/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing: First.  Ha.  Just kidding.

Director:  Frank Oz

James F. watched this and we had a bit of a convo about it in his comments, so I found myself watching Little Shop of Horrors (1986).  Again.  

I highly recommend checking out James' blog.  Dude is crushing it over there, and had some interesting thoughts on this film.  I don't always line up exactly (that would be boring), but I always get his point.  Get over there and check him out.  

So, read his post.  My comments I'll limit.  We've all seen the movie.

First, my crush on Audrey (if not Ellen Greene) continues on uninterrupted since a screening in 1986.  Well done.  We wrote about our crush 18 years ago at the old blog.

Frank Watch: Frankenstein (1931)

Watched:  10/30/2026

Format:  4K Disc, kids.  Yes, I bought a 4K disc so I could see film grain, I guess.

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  James Whale

Uh...  I have watched this movie a lot, and written about it a lot.  We do watch this movie every Halloween, which happens almost every year, from what I'm told.

Think, me, think.  What's our angle this time?

So, I think it's worth talking about the movie in non-poetic terms and just what actually happens.  

Henry Frankenstein creates his human, and clearly shows why he should never be asked to raise a puppy.  One, he mostly leaves his creation in the care of his helper, Fritz (you think his name is Igor.  It's Fritz.) who is a malicious bastard and tortures the monster.   Two, rather than initially being horrified, it seems Henry Frankenstein just gives up on the creature because he's too much work.

Frank Watch: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

Watched:  10/24/2026

Viewing:  Third?

Format:  Disc

Director:  Terence Fisher

One of the fun things about having Peter Cushing in so many Hammer and horror movies is that you can see how Hammer had specific ideas and Cushing absolutely crushes it when he plays both the absolutely vile Victor Frankenstein versus the obsessive but good Van Helsing. 

Yes, of course, Christopher Lee shows his range as The Creature and Dracula - two *very* different roles.  But Cushing goes from one of the most well-crafted concepts for a villain in cinema in the Frankenstein movies to one of the most driven/ obsessed heroes in Van Helsing.   Good stuff.

Vamp Watch: Interview with the Vampire - The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

Watched:  10/22/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  Second

Director:  Neil Jordan

Credit where it's due.  We don't get the last 30 years of vampire media without, first, Anne Rice's vampire novels and probably not without Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994).  It's also hard to explain what a huge deal Anne Rice was in an era of B. Dalton book stores and a lack of access to somewhat transgressive fiction for suburban kids.  You want quasi-queer fiction you can read at the lunch table?  This was it.  And, there is a line somewhere from Anne Rice's novels to Twilight to stuff like Vampire Academy and, absolutely, the current popularity of supernatural romance.  

I should be clear - I'm more of a Bela Lugosi / Nosferatu / Sinners / Near Dark kind of vampire guy.  I've never read any of Rice's books.  And in 1994, I took a pass on the movie in the theaters, in part because I was busy with college, and in part because I thought Tom Cruise was a chode who had weaseled his way into the movie.

I finally watched Interview with the Vampire on VHS by myself at some point shortly after it hit the Blockbuster - but I couldn't tell you when.  All I can tell you is that I was really, really bored.  

Well, I have news about re-watching this movie in 2026.

Bug Watch: Tarantula (1955)

Watched:  09/25/2026

Format:  YouTube

Viewing:  First

Director:  Jack Arnold

The only issue with this movie is John Agar.  

I mean, there's the general issue of John Agar being John Agar and I'm still mad about how he was to Shirley Temple.  But he's also a terrible actor.  He has  exactly one line delivery, whether he's inappropriately abandoning his medical practice to hit on Mara Corday or a tarantula the size of a battleship is walking toward him.

And it's a shame, because the movie has a few other actors - Leo G. Carroll who is dialing it in, and is still acting circles around him - and Mara Corday, who is doing her best to get Agar to do something other than just stare straight ahead and speak in a clipped, 1950's manly voice.

Monsterpiece Literature: Frankenstein

illustration via the great Bernie Wrightson, available via Nakatomi Inc.*

Back in fall of 2025, when the Guillermo del Toro movie of Frankenstein, I decided to give Mary Shelley's novel a spin one more time before the movie arrived.  I've read it probably four times previously, but with so much Frankenstein media out there, it's easy to get details confused or forgotten.

Rather than look at paper, I picked an audiobook narrated by Dan Stevens, a favored actor, and decided I'd listen while walking Emmylou.  But mid-way through the book - and I cannot remember the circumstances -  it disappeared from my audible library.  I shrugged, gave up, and moved on.  I know the book, I was prepped for the movie in any case.

I certainly had *opinions* about del Toro's film.and spoke about how it confused me that we've never actually seen the book interpreted as it is on page.  Large chunks always get reimagined and changed.  I'm not really sure why that is, as every change seems to morph what author Mary Shelley was doing and saying.  And while I didn't find del Toro's version *offensive*, I found it was changing the course of events in a way that never added up for me.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, the audiobook of Frankenstein re-appeared in my Audible library, and I decided to finish it up before I select a new book for Hallow-read.

Windsor Watch: Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)

Watched:  09/06/2026

Format:  TCM

Viewing:  First

Director:  Charles Lamont

Confession time:  I haven't really enjoyed Bud & Lou since I was a kid.  I remember we'd check out 8mm projectors and film from the library and watch their movies and have a good laugh.  I was six.

Subsequent attempts to watch the classic comedy duo have gone less well.  

But, of the main ingrendients, I do like two other things:  classic movie monsters and Marie Windsor.  And, I figure - two out of three things in this movie?  That ain't bad.

Our plot:  Bud & Lou are semi-stranded in Egypt and get involved with a cult, an ancient mummy, a murder and shady characters looking to make some money.  

I dunno.

Monster Watch: The Black Scorpion (1957)

Watched:  07/31/2026

Format:  TCM on DVR

Viewing:  First

Director:  Edward Ludwig

Y'all...  You're gonna be something less than shocked when I tell you that maybe a 1957 movie about kaiju-sized scorpions rampaging through Mexico is maybe not Oscar material.  But I will say it is entertaining as hell.  

The story is basically lifting Them!, which had just been a big success.   But in this case, the volcanos that erupt throughout Mexico this time crack open the earth.*  A pair of geologists, one handsome Mexican guy (Carlos Rivas) and one lantern jawed American (Richard Denning) race to the location to scout it out.  En route they come across a police car that's been wrecked - like inexplicably shredded - food still cooking and an abandoned baby.  They also find the police officer who is dead, his eyes wide open, and leaning against a wall.

With no idea what's going on, they head to the town with the baby, and everyone is in a panic.  Cowboys are coming in from the local ranches reporting the cattle are turning up dead.  Shit is bad, yo.

Spoilers:  there are giant scorpions running around who escaped their underground layer and seem to want mammal flesh.  

Franken-Watch: The Bride! (2026)

Watched:  07/01/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing;  First

Director:  Maggie Gyllenhaal

I was really looking forward to the release of The Bride! (2026).  

As many know, one of my favorite movies is The Bride of Frankenstein.  This ranking is followed immediately by Frankenstein, and I tend to think of them as a two-part movie as much as a pair of individual movies.  I still re-read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein from time-to-time. In 2018, I celebrated the 200th anniversary of the book's publication by visiting a sort of display at the Lilly Library at Indiana University. 

The Bride! was released with what I'd consider a serious marketing push - a rarity these days.  And then the reviews hit and word was not good.  And then people I know saw it and were unenthused, and so I decided to wait for streaming.

I am sad to report that this was the right call.  

Here's what I think.  

Too Much Title Watch: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah - Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

Watched:  05/23/2026

Format:  DVD

Viewing:  Second

Director:  Shûsuke Kaneko

So, I've only seen this movie once before - and while I've long loved Godzilla, I didn't really do a deep dive into the filmography of our giant pal - mostly because of a lack of availability of affordable Godzilla flicks in the US - until COVID hit.   At that time, affordability wasn't an issue and I picked up mostly every film just prior to lockdown.  With lockdown - we dove in kind of head first, with no plan.  Just grabbing movie based on which monsters were in them.  

When I watched Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001), it was in, like April 2020.  So imagine the headspace we were all in.

Anyway - I think around this time was when I was trying to understand what the hell Toho was even doing in the 90's and 00's.  And the answer is - it gets really confusing after Godzilla Vs. Destroyah.  I have no idea if Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus are  in the prior continuity.  They certainly are not tied to this movie, which came next.  

There's a hard break in continuity with this movie, basically starting us over (again) as a direct sequel to the 1954 movie.  Just as we'd seen in Godzilla Raids Again (1955)  and Godzilla Returns (1984) and as we'd see in the movie following this one - Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla.  

All-Out Attack is trying on Godzilla as a horrifying antagonist again - or at least looking to turning a 15 story radioactive lizrd into something frightening after he'd maybe become a giant luchador.  

G Watch: Mothra Vs. Godzilla (1964)

Watched:  03/12/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  Ishiro Honda

Ten years after the original stomping of Tokyo, Toho had produced only two more Godzilla movies, but in 1961 had introduced Mothra and all of the crazy mythology around our big, buggy friend.  

Worth nothing, one of the two sequels to the original Godzilla was King Kong vs. Godzilla and I would guess Toho looked at the big ol' Mothra puppet they still owned, knew that two monsters were better than one, and said "heck - we don't need to license the ape anymore.  We have... a moth!"  

I've seen this one a few times, but felt the need for some old-school Showa-era action, and so put it on once more.  It's got a lot of things I dig.  

• Godzilla
• Mothra
• the Faeries
• Infant Island
• a snappy wardrobe for our female lead
• men with absolutely immaculate hair

It's also very suspicious of both venture capitalists and shady businessmen.  And, conniving public officials with an eye for the camera.  The more things change.

When a giant egg shows up in a local bay, it's sold to an amusement park empresario who wants to make it the centerpiece of his newest park (he seems wholly unconcerned that eggs hatch, even four story eggs).  The Faeries arrive from Infant Island and recruit reporter Ichiro Sakai and his photographer sidekick Junko Nakanishi along with scientist Professor Miura to help them get the egg back from the evil businessmen.

In a scene I think is pretty cool, Godzilla emerges from the sand of a reclaimed beach, and starts his stomping across Tokyo, seemingly looking for the egg.  

Turns out Humanity needs the help of the people of Infant Island to convince Mothra to help out, but the island was just used for nuclear testing.

While, yes, this is a movie that ends with a battle between Godzilla and two giant moth larvae, it still has some interesting themes - from the ripples of destruction sewn by naked greed to man's wastefulness and arrogance.  Mothra, who has seen her island nuked by humans, who then stole her agg/ children - is STILL willing to step in and save humanity while the spirit of reckoning in the form of Godzilla is here to wipe the slate clean.

Also, you get treated to a very, very long version of the Mothra carol.

Oscar Nom Re-Watch: Sinners (2025)

Watched:  01/22/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing;  Second

Director:  Ryan Coogler

I guess they announced the Oscar nominees, and Sinners (2025) is up for a record 16 Oscars.  Jamie had already asked to watch this movie a few times, and I figured - hey, tonight's the night.  (I'd delayed because the movie is 2+ hours, and I wanted to do it in one sitting.)

In my 2025 Favorite Movies list, it came in as Honorable Mention, just behind Flow, which I called my Favorite of 2025.  But I'll let you in on a little secret (pssst.  Scoot closer)  Ya see  - it's kinda arbitrary.  I could have picked either movie.  

I will say, Sinners isn't a different movie on a rewatch, but it's really, really good as a rewatch - and is a different experience.  It's very well written and edited (along with everything else, which is why they're throwing award noms at it), so when you know what's coming - things definitely have a different weight to them.  

All that said, I don't actually want to talk too much about the movie again.  I dunno, here's my post from April.  I probably liked it even better on a second viewing.  

Yes, it has received a lot of nominations, and it's kind of wild, but there are a variety of reasons that's true - including the film's overall popularity and watchability while still managing to reflect on the sorts of themes Academy voters tend to like to nominate.  The performances across the board sell the movie, and it's, if nothing else, pretty @#$%ing novel.  

Netflix Watch: Stranger Things - Season 5 Part 2

I don't know how many of you read comic books, especially superhero comics, but from time-to-time Marvel and DC have these absolutely massive, line-wide crossover events.  It's the sort of thing referenced in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.  But I'd argue that those movies represent a best-case scenario for an epic crossover.  The comics are rarely as coherent as those movies.

Most of the time, those mini or maxi-comics-series become a logistical mess as the plot takes over, and to raise the stakes, they keep throwing new angles on top of what we knew to the point of absurdity.  In an effort to deal with the scale, they have too many characters in the mix, and so it's like reading plot by bullet-point, often with those crazy ideas comics often do so well now not offered up just one comic issue or so at a time - the ideas are just tossed at you, one after another, until nothing means anything.  And character beats?  They only happen if they're (a) advancing the overall plot somehow or (b) setting us up for some moment in a book that will debut after the cross-over.  Mostly - the characters just go through the motions until the end.  And that's a function of "wow, there's way too many characters in this".

It's pretty bad writing and never feels particularly fulfilling to read.  

It may not be a mystery why comic book event crossovers are what I was pondering as I watched the back half of the fifth season of Stranger Things.  

Spoiler:  If you love Stranger Things, and don't feel like fighting about how I don't get it, etc... - now is a good time to find another part of the internet to enjoy.

Netflix Watch: Stranger Things - Season 5 Part 1

I am sure my observations are in no way unique, but here we go.

I don't think Stranger Things is for me.

SPOILERS

Three years between seasons is way too long for serial television.  The problem is not unique to this show, and Stranger Things has already taken it on the chops a bit for trying to suggest that the first season to this season took place within 4-5 years when our kid actors are now old enough to run for Congress.

The bigger problem with the delay between seasons is that, at best, I'm a casual viewer.  I'm not a person who often rewatches serialized TV, and with multiple years between seasons I have a very hard time remembering what previously happened unless prompted very specifically.  And even then, it only kind of comes back.  

But, really, the show became something I was less interested in altogether after Season 2.