Godzilla vs. Hedorah

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Director: Yoshimitsu Banno Year: 1972 Runtime: 85 min IMDb: ⭐ 6.1
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Synopsis

An ever evolving alien life-form arrives on a comet from the Dark Gaseous Nebula and proceeds to consume pollution. Spewing mists of sulfuric acid and corrosive sludge, neither humanity nor Godzilla may be able to defeat this toxic menace.

Plot[edit | edit source] Hedorah, an individual of a species of amorphous extraterrestrial alien from the Horsehead Nebula, is transported to Earth by a comet. Upon arrival, it feeds on Earth's pollutants and grows into a poisonous sea monster with the ability to produce sulfuric acid. After it sinks an oil tanker and attacks Dr. Toru Yano and his young son Ken, scarring the doctor, Hedorah's toxic existence is revealed to the public. Ken has visions of Godzilla fighting the world's pollution and insists Godzilla will come to mankind's aid against Hedorah. Hedorah metamorphoses into an amphibious form, allowing it to move onto land to feed on additional sources of pollution. As Hedorah makes its way to a power station to consume the smoke from its chimneys, it is confronted by Godzilla. Hedorah is easily overpowered by Godzilla and retreats into the ocean. However, during the fight, several pieces of Hedorah's body are flung off, which then crawl back into the sea to grow anew and allow Hedorah to become even more powerful. It returns shortly afterwards in its flying form, then assuming its full form, which demonstrates some of the strongest powers it has access to yet. Thousands of people across Japan are killed in Hedorah's raids. As hope fades, a party is thrown on Mount Fuji to celebrate one last day of life before the country—and then, the rest of the world—succumbs to Hedorah's unstoppable power. Ken, Yukio Keuchi, Miki Fujinomiya, and the other partygoers realize that Godzilla and Hedorah have also converged on Mount Fuji for a decisive confrontation. During the battle, Godzilla is quickly outmatched by Hedorah's impressive durability and fearsome strength, losing an eye and sustaining a full thickness chemical burn to a hand - right down to the bone - from contact with Hedorah's acidic body and blood, which corrodes anything that comes into contact with it. Finally, Godzilla is almost killed by Hedorah after the alien throws Godzilla into a pit, then attempts to drown Godzilla with a deluge of chemical sludge. Dr. Toru and his wife Toshie have determined that drying out Hedorah's body may destroy the otherwise unkillable monster. While Godzilla and Hedorah fought, the JSDF swiftly constructed two gigantic electrodes for this purpose and switch them on in an effort to give Godzilla a chance to escape the pit and return to the fight. Suddenly, the electrodes short out, the power cut off by Godzilla and Hedorah's violent battle. Godzilla reactivates and energizes the electrodes with its atomic breath, which dehydrates Hedorah's exterior. Hedorah's body splits open, and the alien tries to escape using its flying form, but Godzilla propels itself through the air using its atomic breath as a jet to give chase. Godzilla drags Hedorah back to the electrodes and continues to dehydrate it until Hedorah is on the brink of defeat. Godzilla tears open Hedorah's dried-out body and exposes it to the electrodes again, dehydrating pieces of Hedorah's remains until they disintegrate into dust. Godzilla returns to the ocean, but not before pausing to gaze sternly at the surviving humans. Ken bids farewell to Godzilla.

Summary adapted from TMDb and Wikipedia sources.

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Content Warnings

⭐ IMDb Parents Guide 🛡️ Common Sense Media

a child is abandoned by a parent or guardian
Yes
someone uses drugs
spoiler A character takes some unknown substance and begins to hallucinate.
there's addiction
Yes
alcohol abuse
spoiler There is a scene in a dance club where the uncle is drinking and looks quite drunk/tipsy.
an animal dies
spoiler Fish are shown to have been killed by pollution.
a cat dies
spoiler It's not shown dying, but a cat is covered in goop that is shown to be harmful or lethal. The shot can be considered upsetting.
a pet dies
spoiler A tank of fish are putrefied and killed as Hedorah flies overhead.
there are bugs
spoiler There are some incidental insects.
there's finger/toe mutilation
spoiler Godzilla's hand is melted to the bone by Hedorah's acidic sludge
hands are damaged
Yes
someone is drugged
Yes
a kid dies
spoiler There is a shot of baby crying, partially submerged in goop.
a baby cries
spoiler [46:55 to 47:10 and 47:35 to 47:55] There is footage of a baby crying and partially submerged in sludge.
a non-human character dies
Yes
a parent dies
spoiler A parent is attacked by Hedorah and seems like they may have died, but show up later badly injured.
A child's dear toy is destroyed
spoiler A child's toys are outside when Hedorah is spraying acidic mist.
there are jump scares
Yes
there are mannequins
spoiler [2:00 to 2:20 and 1:23:35 to 1:23:45] In the intro of the film, as well as the end, there is a mannequin floating in a pile of pollution.
someone vomits
spoiler Hedorah, as an attack spits out globs of sludge, he does this several times in the film.
There's audio gore
spoiler Kinda. Hedorah's lethal goop makes splatting sounds. There's also nasty sounds when Godzilla is smashing and tearing Hedorah's body.
there's spitting
spoiler Hedorah, as an attack spits out globs of sludge, he does this several times in the film.
there's eye mutilation
spoiler Hedorah, who is made of an acidic substance, throws a sludge from its mass at Godzilla's face, burning out one of Godzilla's eyes.
there are 9/11 depictions
spoiler [42:20] Kinda, there is a worker on top of a building, and before Hedorah can fly into it, he jumps off and dies. The imagery can be triggering.
there is copaganda
Yes
someone has an anxiety attack
spoiler A child is shown terrified and running away at the sight of people's skeletal remains. Another character is shown having a "bad trip" and looking frightened by hallucinations of fish people.
someone struggles to breathe
spoiler People are shown struggling to breathe from Hedorah's toxic gasses.
there's flashing lights or images
spoiler There is a trippy dance club with flashing lights and a giant microwave weapon towards the end that flashes a lot.
shaky cam is used
spoiler [37:00 to 37:40] On the rollercoaster, there is a sequence of shaky cam.
there is a baby or unborn child
spoiler [46:55 to 47:10 and 47:35 to 47:55] There is footage of a baby crying and partially submerged in sludge.
there's suicide
spoiler [42:20] Kinda, there is a worker on top of a building, and before Hedorah can fly into it, he jumps off and dies. The imagery can be triggering.
there is sexual content
spoiler No, but Hedorah's eyes have been mentioned as designed to resemble the vagina.
a car crashes
spoiler Some cars are grabbed by Hedorah.
a plane crashes
spoiler Helicopter's are destroyed by Hedorah.
there's blood/gore
spoiler There are some pretty gruesome deaths compared to the previous Godzilla movies.
someone drowns
spoiler A room full of men are shown drowned in Hedorah's goop.
there's a nuclear explosion
Yes
there's torture
spoiler Godzilla is thrown into a pit and Hedorah tries to drown him in goop in a seemingly sadistic manner.
there's body horror
spoiler Hedorah, a humanoid sludge monster, frequently changes shape and can appear quite grotesque for younger audiences
someone is burned alive
spoiler Several people are melted by acidic mist.
someone is crushed to death
spoiler [1:06:50] There is an army vehicle that gets crushed under Godzilla and Hedorah.
someone falls to their death
spoiler A construction worked falls off a building when Hedorah flies by. He was also melted from Hedorah's pollution during the fall as only his bones hit the ground.

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