[HorrorScience] Varan The Unbelievable (1958)

Reading time: 6 minutes

Qualification

Daikaiju Varan

Year

1989

Duration

87 minutes

Director

Ishiro Honda

Distribution

Kozo Nomura, Ayumi Sonoda, Fumindo Matsuo, Hisaya Ito, Nadao Kirino, Korenari Senda, Fuyuki Murakami, Akihiko Hirata, Minosuke Yamada, Akio Kusama, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Yoshifumi Tajima, Kin Sugai, Haruo Nakajima, Katsumi Tezuka

Script

Ken Kuronuma, Shinichi Sekizawa

Horrorscience returns, the Japanese monsters return and Ishiro Honda (director of whom I have commented on quite a few movies of gender). This time I'm going to talk about one of Honda's lesser-known giant monster movies: Daikaiju Varan what would it mean The giant monster beaches.

As with other Japanese films of the time, Varan suffered brutal manipulation upon arriving in the West, since the company that bought the rights (Crown International Pictures) recorded its own scenes, removed the scenes with the Japanese actors and made its own film with a rather bad result. That version was called Varan The Unbelievable and it was released in the 60s, the curious thing is that when the original Japanese version on DVD was released in the United States, it was given that same name, which is somewhat confusing, especially if you are looking for a specific version.

In any case, This article focuses on the original Japanese version, which is much superior to the American version and is the one I recommend you see.

A university professor tells his students about an incredible discovery: two butterflies common in Siberia that have recently been found in Japan. To investigate this fact, two boys will travel to the Japanese mountains in search of more butterflies.

arrived at the place They are received by a superstitious, closed and unsociable people., who does not look favorably on those who come from outside their lands. The town elder tells them that They cannot go to the mountains, because that will bother the God Baradagi, which would be dangerous for everyone. Ignoring the old man's advice, both young people head into the mountains, where they will find more Siberian butterflies and a horrible, sudden death, shortly after hearing a deafening noise.

[HorrorScience] Varan The Unbelievable (1958) — The typical old man who warns you that your presence bothers his God

A friend and the sister of one of the victims decide to make a second group to clarify the causes of death, since apparently the state in which the bodies and their vehicle were left shows that they did not die because of the collapse, but rather that they were crushed by something enormous. Once again, the villagers are against the presence of strangers but the uncomfortable situation is interrupted by a strange noise coming from the mountains, which they attribute to their God, who seems to be very angry.

The dog of one of the town's children escapes, which causes the boy to go after him, abandoning the relative safety of his town. The protagonists follow him to save him and that is when it is discovered that The person responsible for the noises and tremors is a giant monster, which they will name as Varan.

The giant monster devastates everything it finds, causing chaos that is reported throughout Japan thanks to the press, so the army decides to take matters into its own hands and attack the lake where the monster lives to cause it to come out of the water and kill it. Unfortunately Varan is a box of surprises, as he not only supports all the Japanese artillery, but also has the ability to fly, which he will use to escape from his confinement in the mountains and spread his terror over Japan. Can they prevent it from devastating the entire country?

Varan the Unbelievable It is a film that has given me a feeling of constant repetition, since many of the scenes reminded me of other films like godzilla (1954), Godzilla Strikes Back (1955), Mothra (1961), Rodan (1956) or Half Human (1955) all of them by Ishiro Honda, a director who does not mind constantly recycling ideas and concepts. However, this verdict of labeling Varan as something repeated is not entirely fair, since some of the films I have mentioned are later, what happens is that this film is less popular than others with which it shares similarities, so it is usually the one that many fans of this genre see last, increasing the feeling of repetition.

One thing that catches my attention about this film is that it is in black and white, mainly because Ishiro Honda had already filmed some color monster films in the same company. Why go back to black and white? Well, I have no idea, but it is very possible that it was to reduce costs and reuse the maximum number of images from other films, which they do in Varan with mixed results. Some scenes fit together quite well, but others are extremely forced and it is too noticeable that they are archive or stock images. In any case, black and white suits the film well, at least for my taste.

In conclusion Varan The Unbelievable It is a good movie, it is made quite enjoyable and is very enjoyable, even if you are not a fan of Japanese monster movies. It could be classified as a “light” version of godzilla, with some elements similar to what was seen in films such as Mothra (1961) or king kong (1933).

Curiosities about the film:

Varan the Unbelievable It was Toho's last giant monster movie shot in black and white.
The American version modified the film so much that despite having filmed extra footage with American actors, it lasted less than the original, they also changed Varan's name to Obaki.
Varan, like Mothra or Rodan, ended up being included in the “Godzilla universe” so it is common to see him in Godzilla products such as video games, comics, and toys.