Gigan is an awesome kaiju from outer space. Along with the ubiquitous King Ghidorah, each is sent hermetically sealed in red and blue space crystals to assist a race of alien space-cockroaches in defeating Earth. The space-cockroaches have reel-to-reel tapes containing some of Professor Emeritus Tim Sullivan's noodlings on the old Putney 2000.
The signals from the tape instruct Gigan and King Ghidorah. Apparently Godzilla and Anguirus are supposed to be effected by the sounds as well. But they are not because they belong to earth. In this film, Godzilla and Anguirus talk to each other telepathically in dubbed English, which caused outrage among die hard fans of kaiju and the supposed rules that govern their Toho universe.
There's a lot of rumbling among the four titans as well as a group of hippies (dude!) who lend their peace and love sensibilities to Godzilla and Anguirus. Some people believed initially that this film actually featured Jerry Garcia's debut as an actor but close scrutiny discloses a Japanese Jerry look-alike. I seem to recall the Jerry Garcia character eating lots of bananas in the movie. Many fans believed this to be a hidden message about the psychedelic potential of smoking banana peels, much as Donovan's hit "Mellow Yellow" was a few years prior.
Aside from all that, Gigan is absolutely the coolest kaiju to come down the pike with his pointed claws, pointed mandibles and, best of all, a rotating buzzsaw protruding from his belly. You can't find anything like that in Texas chainsaw Massacre! By the film's end, our monster heroes have sent our monster villains packing with an invitation never to set foot on our cool blue orb again. At least until the next Toho production is cranked out.
Directed by Jun Fukuda, a sorry successor to the venerable Ishiro Honda, I give this less-than-classic kaiju-fest a sample pack of roach motels.
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