Ebirah: Horror of the Deep (1966)

"It's too bad Mothra has no alarm clock..."

Wow. I've rather liked every film until now, albeit some more than others, and was somewhat apprehensive abot the change of director. I needn't have worried. Jun Fukuda has given us an example of the B movie at its finest.

From the beginning this film is fast-paced and gripping. We have the mystery of a brother lost at sea, A stolen yacht, and the destruction f said yacht by awesome crab-like sea monster Ebirah within the first twenty minutes. And then things get even more excited.

Our motley and hastily-assembled gang of heroes end up washed up on Infant Island. There's good news and bad news. On the positive side, they're not blacking up the "natives", Unfortunately, there's a mysterious unidentified private army who are enslaving the natives to make a yellow liquid what mollifies Ebirah so that ships can venture to and fro. Oh, and for some reason they're making a nuclear bomb. Plus their leader has a badass eyepatch.

All is not lost, though. Our heroes are well-drawn, fun characters who react in fun ways to their adventures. Oh, and on the other end of the island the natives are singing to wake Mothra, who can always be relied upon to spring into action at moments convenient to the plot.

Plus Godzilla is buried and sleeping, and can conveniently be woken up with lightning- cue Godzilla, Mothra and Ebirah fighting each other as the plot dictates, plus the baddies setting off a nuclear time bomb. We end with goodies triumphant and baddies smashed- but the island is nuked, gone forever. Yet, in a perfect final shot, Godzilla survives.

Gripping and compelling, this is what a B movie should be.