Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster, or Godzilla vs. Hedorah, is a psychedelic acid trip that remains one of the strangest entries in the franchise. Much like 1977's House, the film has strange editing and camera-work, all backed up by a very un-Godzillaesque soundtrack by Richiro Manabe (Godzilla's leitmotif in this movie, for example, always makes it sound like he's about to sneeze). Occasionally, the cinematography can be surprisingly effective, seen in the shot before the final battle with Hedorah emerging from the darkness with his ominous, pseudo-baby mobile leitmotif accompanying him; but other times the cinematography can be
strange? There are a couple instances where a wide-angle lens is used and I'm not sure what Yoshimitsu Banno was going for other than making the film even weirder. There's a less-than-subtle environmental message present throughout the entire film too, but it's all drowned out by the film's strange, occasionally dark tone. It's honestly kinda hard to talk about this movie in a basic "this is positive, this is negative" template because the film is all over the place in terms of quality; but I can still safely say that I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Even after all these years of regularly viewing it, I still find the film completely baffling, and that combined with the always-entertaining monster battles make this film a blast from start to finish.
Six "things you don't see every day" out of ten.
Six "things you don't see every day" out of ten.