"Countless stranger things": Rodan
Info Also Known As: Radon, Great Monster of the Skies (Japan); just plain Radon (Japan); Invasion 2034 (Belgium) Director: Honda Ishiro. Screenplay: Kimura Takeshi and Murata Takeo, from a story by Kuronuma Ken. Director of Special Effects: Tsuburaya Eiji. Composer: Ifukube Akira. Runtime: 82 minutes (Japan), 74 minutes (United States), 70 minutes (United States TV prints) Release Date: December 26, 1956 What’s It About? (Note: significant spoilers here) A remote mining community experiences strange accidents that culminate in disappearances and brutal murders. Prehistoric dragonfly larvae are discovered to be the cause, but a missing miner comes back with even worse news; the creatures that eat the insects have hatched from their eggs. Two Rodans, giant mutant Pteranodons (flying prehistoric reptiles), have been awoken by hydrogen bombs, and now they’re soaring around the skies of Japan at supersonic speeds! Also, unlike what Belgium seemed to think, the film ...