No Gods, No Monsters

Episode 74: Godzilla vs Biollante (1989)

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A kaiju movie brimming with '80s anxieties, this film splices together fears of genetic engineering, international oil conflicts, environmental destruction, the cold war, psychic powers, and bioweapons into one grotesquely beautiful adversary. 

 

Episode 73: Xtro (1982)

We discuss this practical effects-driven British alien film and how it plays with ideas of identity, parenting, and gender, mostly in ways that involve eggs. 

Things get slimy, things get Oedipal. 

Episode 72: King Kong Lives (1986)

We decide this is probably the least racist Kong movie and Barto tries to make the case that it's also the most biblical. 

Episode 71: Gamera: Rebirth (2023)

We interrupt our scheduled programming to discuss the brand new Gamera anime! We talk QAnon conspiracies, paranormal phenomena and homages to kaiju history, while we attempt to tease out a coherent stance on authority from the show.

Episode 70: Nope (2022)

We discuss the film's portrayal of spectacle and how it relates to capital, entertainment, our views on nature, and the history of paranormal phenomena. And we use a bit of Guy Debord's "The Society of the Spectacle" to do it. 

Episode 69: The Return of Godzilla (1984)

Godzilla is back in his first film of the Heisei era. He's bigger but so is everything else so we'll call it a wash. We talk Star Wars, nuclear proliferation, how the film envisions Japan within the structure of the Cold War, and Godzilla as the ouroboros.

Episode 68: Paranormal Activity (2007)

When they brought Blair Witch to the suburbs, the filmmakers behind Paranormal Activity accidentally gave us a peak into the bubbling anxieties of upper-middle class America before the 2008 housing crisis, as well as the toxic masculinity that was normalized in the era. Scary stuff!

Episode 67: Gamera: Super Monster (1980) + Three Better Gamera Movies (2023)

After a brief discussion of Gamera: Super Monster we each pitch our ideas for new Gamera films. There’s neoliberal greenscapes, bigfoots (big feet?), adrenochrome-eating space aliens, and… Gamera! We hope you enjoy this unique No Gods episode!

Episode 66: Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991)

We discuss Riki-Oh, a kung fu movie set in a dystopian future where all government services—including the prison that’s the film’s centerpiece—are capitalist franchises. There’s a lot of gore, a lot of shirtless buff guys, and a lot to talk about. 

Episode 65: King Kong (1976)

With a budget almost as big as its ape, did this reboot pull off the magic of the original? Listen in as we discuss this as well as the psychosexual anxieties, critique of capital, reactionary racism, and environmentalism in the film.