The Kaiju Transmissions Podcast

Byrd, Lux and Matt reach back down into the bottom of the barrell to discuss three obscure recent King Kong knock-offs from China, made to cash in on the recent Monsterverse films.  In recent years, China has been churning out dozens and dozens of low budget straight to TV/streaming cheapie creature features.  For this episode we'll discuss 2021's Monster Island, 2023's King Kong vs Giant Serpent (aka Battle of Snakes), and 2024's ...

Back from the holiday break, Byrd and Matt set their sights on Ray Harryhausen's classic series of Sinbad films; the 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1957), the Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) are still among the most celebrated fantasy films of all time.  After getting tired of monsters tearing down landmarks, stop motion animator Ray Harryhausen decided to make a different kind of monster movie by d...

Byrd sits down with author Joseph Palinkas to discuss his new book, the History of Carnosaur.  The book covers the history of the  franchise, which was launched by Roger Corman to cash in on Jurassic Park.  We talk about the conception of the book, the background of the Carnosaur films, living through the post-Jurassic Park dino-boom of the 90s, the complicated rights issues keeping the films from rediscovery, differences between t...

Byrd, Lux, and Kevin nurse their Halloween hangover with another episode covering everyone's favorite yokai boy-hero Kitaro!  The long running franchise created by Shigeru Mizuki catapulted Japan's folkloric creatures into pop culture and still runs strong to this day.  We look at another sampling of GeGeGe No Kitaro material from over the years.  We discuss the first two episodes of the 1970s anime series, 2008's film Japan Explod...

Byrd, Trev, Lux and Kevin take a deep dive into Sadako's well to discuss the first four Japanese theatrical films in the Ring franchise: Ring (1998), Spiral (1998), Ring 2 (1999) and Ring 0: Birthday (2000).  In addition to a lively talk about all four films and the film makers involved, we discuss the origins of the series as a series of novels by Koji Suzuki, the birth of the J-Horror boom at the turn of the century, and how the ...

Our October horror shows roll on as Byrd, Tom, and Kevin are joined by Chris Marti (musician alias "Cosmic Monster" and co-writer of The Author vs. the Werewolf) to discuss the fantasy/horror of Wicked City!  Based on a series of novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi (Vampire Hunter D), Wicked City is about the rift between humanity and a secret society of interdimensional demons.  We start with 1987's cult classic anime film from Yoshiaki Ka...

Byrd, Tom and Lux are back to take a look at the 1982 semi-obscurity The House Where Evil Dwells. This haunted house shocker is a co-production made with assistance from the legendary Toei studios. It was directed by Kevin Connor (The Land that Time Forgot) and stars Edward Albert, Susan George, and the incomparable Doug McClure. Based on an unpublished novel of the same name, it tells the story of an American family that moves to ...

Byrd, Tom and Trev kick off our annual October horror series with the Italian creature feature Alien From the Deep, directed by Antonio Margheriti (Cannibal Apocalypse).  Although seemingly made to cash-in on both Aliens and the Abyss, the actual plot is anything but.  It tells the story of some Greenpeace activists who attempt to expose a corporation for illegally dumping radioactive waste into a nearby volcano.  But the radiation...

Byrd and Lux sit down with guitarist/vocalist Lord Kaiju, founder of the kaiju themed heavy metal band Oxygen Destroyer.  We discuss his roots as both a kaiju and metal fan, how he came up with his brand of death-thrash, the strength of the Seattle rock music scene, how the Gamera trilogy helped him, and of course their new album Guardian of the Universe (out now!).

Check out Oxygen Destroyer's music and merch here: https://oxyge...

Byrd, Kevin, Lux and Tom go back to 1996 to talk about Godzilla Returns by Marc Cerasini, the first novel in a short lived series of books by Random House.  In the mid-90s, Random House signed a deal with Toho and released books for different age groups.  This would include children's picture books, children's novels by Scott Ciencin, and young adult novels by Marc Cerasini.  Long out of print, these books have become almost a thin...

Byrd, Matt, Lux and Jared discuss four British sci-fi adventure films featuring b-movie actor Doug McClure fighting all sorts of giant rubber beasts!  We discuss three Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations from Amicus Productions- This includes the lost world dinosaur escapades The Land that Time Forgot (1974), its sequel The People That Time Forgot At the Earth's Core (1977), and the hollow earth adventure At The Earth's Core (1976).  ...

Byrd, Tom, Trev and Kevin discuss the recent DC/Legendary Comics' crossover.  The mini-series, written by Brian Buccalatto (Injustice, The Flash) and drawn by Christian Duce (Detective Comics, the Flash) sees the Justice League do battle with Godzilla, King Kong, and other titans ofthe Monsterverse after some multiverse tampering from the Legion of Doom.  What happens when Superman goes up against Godzilla?  What happens when Kong ...

Byrd, Matt, Kevin and Lux discuss the recent anime adaptation, Kaiju No. 8, based on the best selling manga by Naoya Matsumoto.  The show is a co production between heavy hitters like Khara, Toho, and Production I.G., and directed by Shigeyuki Miya and Tomomi Kamiya.  It tells the story of a world where giant monster attacks are a regular occurance.  One evening a small creature flies into the mouth of a kaiju cleanup crew member n...

Byrd, Kevin and Justin interview author Zack Davisson (Yurei: The Japanese Ghost, Ultimate X-Men) about his new book The Ultimate Guide to Japanese Yokai.  We get into his research method and fascination with Japanese folklore, as well as how the book came about.  We also topics such as his translation work translating Japanese manga (most notably the work of Shigeru Mizuki), his work for Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm, and his previo...

Byrd, Matt, Kevin and Lux discuss the recent Netflix animated film, Ultraman Rising!  The first American Ultraman production in nearly 30 years follows a baseball player named Kenji who moonlights as everyone's favorite silver giant Ultraman to defend the planet from giant monsters.  One day he comes in possession of a baby monster and has to adjust his life to being the creature's parent, while the KDF science team try to hunt it ...

Byrd, Lux and Kevin discuss the recent Netflix series, Parasyte: The Grey, (directed by Train to Busan's Yeon Sang-ho). This Korean spin-off of Hitoshi Iwaaki's classic Japanese story follows a supermarket clerk named Su-in, who is partially possessed by a parasite named Heidi, as she teams with a gangster named Kang-woo to evade the rest of the alien body snatchers, as well as The Grey, a special ops unit tasked with exterminating...

Byrd and Matt discuss the Asylum's latest monster mockbuster, Ape X Mecha Ape: New World Order.  The third film in the "Ape vs." series sees the giant ape Abraham and his mechanical doppelganger Mecha Ape go up against Kulalu, a Cthulhu knockoff summoned by a doomsday cult to wipe out humanity.  How does this compare to other Asylum efforts?  Listen and find out!  But first Matt gets us caught up with his thoughts on Godzilla x Kon...

With a new Planet of the Apes movie in theaters, Byrd, Tom and Kevin decide to take a look at Japan's attempt to cash-in on the franchise.  This Sandy Frank Entertainment-produced compilation film was made up of footage from Tsuburaya Productions 1974-1975 series, Time of the Apes, about a group of children and a scientist who find themselves shot forward in time to a future taken over by apes.  We'll discuss this forgotten oddity ...

Byrd is joined by Lux, Tom (of the Final Forum Dragonball Podcast), and Trev (of the Failure to Franchise Podcast) to talk about the new film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire!  This new entry in Legendary Pictures' Monsterverse is another crossover between the two monster icons, as they go up against the threat of the evil ape Skar King and his army of apes and the frost monster Shimo.  Along the way, Kong forms a bond with the youn...