Son of Godzilla (1967) on Netflix

PG19671h 24mAction Adventure Family

Reporter Goro Maki lands on Solgel Island, where scientists are testing a weather control device among giant mantises. In the jungle he finds a woman, Saeko Matsumiya, living there alone.

Netflix2.9/5
IMDb5.2/106,994 votes
Rotten Tomatoes63%

Plot summary

A team of scientists travels to Solgel Island to test a weather-controlling device. The island already holds giant praying mantises, called Kamacuras, and a castaway named Saeko Matsumiya, whose father was a researcher there before her. A reporter, Goro Maki, reaches the island and is allowed to stay on as a maintenance worker. The first test of the device goes wrong, and the radioactive storm it releases makes the mantises grow far larger. Digging into a mound, the insects uncover a large egg. It hatches into an infant monster, and Godzilla comes to the island in answer to its cries.

Cast

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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Son of Godzilla (1967)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

The much larger Seji Onaka played Godzilla in Son of Godzilla, but he was replaced midway through filming by Hiroshi Sekita after Onaka broke his fingers.
Scenes of Godzilla being mean or harsh to Minilla were cut, including one taken from the film's ending in which Godzilla leaves Minilla behind on the freezing Sollgel Island; part of it survives in the trailer and an outtake reel on the Godzilla Final Box DVD set.
The giant mantises Kamacuras and the spider Kumonga were portrayed with marionettes and puppets; Arikawa usually had 20 puppeteers working at once, and the massive Kumonga puppet needed two to three people to operate each leg.
The Godzilla suit built for Son of Godzilla was the biggest in size and girth, made to give Godzilla a paternal stature beside Minilla; it was so large that veteran suit actor Haruo Nakajima was hired for only two scenes.
Son of Godzilla was the first film where Sadamasa Arikawa was officially listed as director of special effects, though he still received some supervision from Tsuburaya when Tsuburaya was available.
Minilla was designed with features of both a baby Godzilla and a human baby, and his face was patterned after the character Chibita from the manga Osomatsu-kun, published by Shogakukan in Weekly Shonen Saturday.
Marchan the Dwarf was hired to play Minilla because of his ability to play-act and to give the character a childlike ambiance, and because he could perform athletic rolls and flips inside the thick rubber suit.