ALL MONSTERS ATTACK

All Day Entertainment have quickly filled the void of trailer compilations available on DVD. Many companies have compiled their horror and cult film trailers for VHS, but few companies have made their trailer tapes available on DVD. Perhaps it is because these companies believe that a disc with no actual feature presentation may not sell enough copies. That all changed a couple years ago when All Day Entertainment released the first true genre trailer compilation, THE HOUSE OF HAMMER, dedicated to all those gothic horror classics from England’s Hammer Studios. That disc was such a success that All Day swiftly followed it up with TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE PULP CINEMA TRAILER COLLECTION, two DVDs spotlighting the Frankenstein movies and Film Noir thrillers, respectively. Now, All Day comes up with literally their biggest trailer compilation yet, guaranteed to please Kaiju fans, Dinosaur buffs, and Drive-In enthusiasts everywhere. With over 60 classic trailers tracing the evolution of the giant monster-on-the-loose genre, All Day presents the spectacle filled experience they could only call ALL MONSTERS ATTACK!

The 60 trailers here span the gamut of the genre and include the most fearsome beasts in filmdom, including King Kong, Godzilla, The Colossal Man, The 50 Foot Woman, Reptilicus and many more. The effects include stop motion animation, man-in-a-suit techniques, crumbling cityscapes, and ultra-cheap dinosaur prosthetics glued to the back of lizards. In addition to the great special effects of Willis O’Brien, Ray Harryhausen, Eiji Tsurubaya, Irwin Allen, etc, you get to marvel at the most astoundingly overstated hyperbole ever to grace the silver screen all on one DVD. The trailers themselves all come from various film and video sources and the quality varies. Some are letterboxed, crisp, and clear, (like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS) and a few are so grainy and fuzzy that they are unwatchable (such as EARTH VS. THE SPIDER). That being said, the majority of the trailers are in fairly good shape considering their origins. Here is the rundown of these titanic terror films guaranteed to send you to giant monster heaven (all trailers are full frame unless specified otherwise):

KING KONG (1933) GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE (1.66.1) MOTHRA (b&w teaser) MOTHRA (color 1.66.1) RODAN GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (1.85.1) GODZILLA VS. THE THING (1.85.1) GHIDRAH, THE 3 HEADED MONSTER (1.85.1) ATRAGON (1.85.1) KING KONG ESCAPES (1.85.1) DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1.66.1) GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER (1.66.1) YOG, MONSTER FROM SPACE (1.85.1) THE MYSTERIANS (1.66.1) DINOSAURUS (2.35.1) CALTIKI THE IMMORTAL MONSTER SON OF KONG GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON (2.35.1) BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN (1.85.1) THE AMAZING COLLOSSAL MAN MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1948) THEM GORGO KRONOS (1.66.1) THE BLOB (1958) ATLANTIS THE LOST CONTINENT THE GIANT GILA MONSTER TARANTULA WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN THE DEADLY MANTIS THE GIANT BEHEMOTH THE 30 FOOT BRIDE OF CANDY ROCK NIGHT OF THE LEPUS THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (2 trailers) THE COLLOSSUS OF NEW YORK BEWARE THE BLOB THE KILLER SHREWS THE CYCLOPS THE SPIDER THE GIANT BEHEMOTH THE LOST WORLD (1961) IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA BEWARE THE BLOB THE BEGINNING OF THE END IT CONQUERED THE WORLD REPTILICUS ROBOT MONSTER VALLEY OF THE GWANGI KONGA THE BEAST FROM 20 THOUSAND FATHOMS Extras include a 6 minute black & white animated short entitled MEGA-MORPHOSIS which is sure to appeal to fans of SOUTH PARK. Also included is a documentary, OPERATION PLUMBBOB, which details the dangers of radioactive fall-out, complete with genuine footage of mushroom cloud explosions. This featurette is full frame, color, and runs 7 minutes. There is a short feature called THE MAKING OF THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD; this 3 minute, full frame presentation originally played in theaters in the late 1950s to hype the premiere of Ray Harryhausen’s fantasy epic. The highlight of the extras section is a well produced making-of documentary of the 1974 hit, THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT. This 12 minute featurette traces he evolution of this prehistoric tale, beginning with the original story by Edgar Rice Burroughs to Derek Medding’s dinosaur creations and fantastic special effects.

ALL MONSTERS ATTACK is an awesome display of runaway robots, monsters, and dinosaurs guaranteed to please those who enjoy such entertainment. If you enjoy viewing the destruction of mankind’s greatest cities from towering super monsters, then this disc is a real nostalgic treat for you. I like how All Day grouped the trailers together—they showcase all the giant ape movies, then all the Kaiju films, followed by big bug movies, to oversized humans. My only complaint is that even though ALL MONSTERS ATTACK contains 60 trailers, there are many genre classics All Day left out such as ONE MILLION YEARS BC., AT THE EARTH’S CORE, and WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH. Heck, where is WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS? All Day put a Gargantua on the cover, but don’t even put on the trailer for this Japanese monster battle spectacular. And they did not include any trailers from the 1970s and up. No KING KONG remake, no CLASH OF THE TITANS, no GODZILLA 1985, no MIGHTY PEKING MAN. Let’s hope that this disc is profitable for All Day so we can see the sequel, DESTROY ALL MONSTER TRAILERS!!!