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| The time is now…. |
The introduction of DVD heralded a golden age of cinematic curiosities finding their way into American video stores; from an uncut, special edition release of Cannibal Holocaust to widescreen editions of Sonny Chiba classics, it was like ten years of Christmas morning for cult movie fans.
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| Thriller: A Cruel Picture… the gift that keeps on giving. |
Godzilla fans made out like bandits during this era, with practically ALL of his films seeing uncut, widescreen releases (with decent subtitles no less!). The pinnacle of these releases was the Classic Media edition of the original Gojira; released in its original, haunting glory for the first time in the U.S. (a feat that only took 50 years!). This special (ultimate?) edition included both the original Japanese version and its American counterpart, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, As if that weren’t enough, Classic Media threw in lots of special features with an audio commentary by Godzilla film historians serving as the cherry on top. This would be the first of a series that would set the gold standard for Goji releases. But in all the excitement, one film was conspicuously missing, Godzilla 1985 (a.k.a. The Return Of Godzilla).
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| Fifty FREAKIN years!?!? |
The film was originally released in the U.S. by none other than Roger Corman, a filmmaker/man-god who was legendary in the schlock market. Where the Japanese version was a direct sequel to the original Gojira from 1954 (ignoring all other sequels), Godzilla 1985 was to be treated as a direct sequel to King Of The Monsters complete with copious amounts of Raymond Burr added into the film. But in the 20 years since its modest theatrical run, it’s fallen into a legality nightmare with one company owning rights to the U.S. version, another company owning rights to its soundtrack, and Toho owning the rights to Godzilla himself. Even with the devil-may-care attitude of cult movie distributors, nobody wanted to stick their hand into that legal bear-trap…. until now.
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| Unbreakable. |
via FandomPost
You can’t keep a good giant monster down, especially when he’s being very, very bad! Kraken Releasing is proud to continue the tradition of releasing the very best in kaiju (giant monster) entertainment with the first U.S. release of the complete and uncut THE RETURN OF GODZILLA® (aka GODZILLA™ (1984))! Available on both Blu-ray and DVD, and featuring both the original Japanese version with English subtitles, as well as an English dubbed version, this special release is the Godzilla® epic that fans and collectors have been waiting for.
With a higher budget and more advanced special effects than any previous film in the series, THE RETURN OF GODZILLA® returns Japan’s greatest monster to his intended role as an epic force of destruction and the film’s spectacular success re-launched the Godzilla® franchise after nearly a decade in suspended animation. Unfortunately for North American audiences, this direct sequel to the original 1954 feature film has previously only been available in a highly edited version that cut over twenty minutes of original footage and effects, changed key plot points and altered the dark dramatic tone and narrative by inserting additional scenes and humor in an attempt to “Americanize” the film. But now, at long last, the acclaimed kaiju masterpiece finally hits American shores in all its uncut original glory! Get ready for the biggest Godzilla® epic that you’ve never seen as Kraken Releasing unleashes the complete and unedited THE RETURN OF GODZILLA®!
THE RETURN OF GODZILLA® will be released on September 13th.