GODZILLA & THE MONSTERS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Copyright 1954 Toho Co., Ltd.

“GODZILLA & THE MONSTERS OF MASS DESTRUCTION”

Japanese Monster Film Festival in San Francisco Celebrates the Man Who Played Godzilla on August 21-23, 2009.

San Francisco (March 23, 2009): Stomping into San Francisco’s historic Castro Theatre this summer, GODZILLA & THE MONSTERS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, is a weekend celebration of Japan’s monster cinema, featuring ten classic films, presented in glorious 35mm, from the producers of the annual SHOCK IT TO ME! Horror Film Festival. Our special guest will be in the man in the Godzilla suit himself, Haruo Nakajima.

Above, Haruo Nakajima. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Starting his film career in the late 1940s, Mr. Nakajima appeared as one of the bandits in Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954). After volunteering for the first Japanese fire stunt in the war film Eagle of the Pacific (1953), the team making Godzilla (1954) knew that he was the man for the job. From 1954 through 1972, Mr. Nakajima played Godzilla and various monsters on screen and television.

Mr. Nakajima will be in attendance throughout the weekend to meet with fans and sign autographs in the Castro Theatre’s 200-capacity Mezzanine. He will also take to the stage to speak about his first-hand experiences in making these films, during our evening screenings. This is Mr. Nakajima’s first-ever visit to San Francisco.

Japanese film historian and author, August Ragone (Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters, Chronicle Books), who is organizing the event, will be on hand to illustrate how the visual effects for the films were achieved. The San Francisco native will also sign copies of his book all weekend.

All ten of the films screened during GODZILLA & THE MONSTERS OF MASS DESTRUCTION will be presented in five double features. All films are 35mm and projected on the Castro’s gigantic screen—the last large single-screen theater in San Francisco.

Tickets for all of the screenings will be available at the Castro Theatre box office or through ticketweb.com. Prices for each Double Feature are only $10.00 (Adults) and $7.00 (Children/Seniors). A special Event Pass will also be made available to the public in the near future.