Giant movie monsters

Toho

The giant Godzilla has leveled cities, spewed fiery breath, and charmed audiences worldwide for six decades, as he battled other giant monsters in one of the more enjoyably cheesy genres of cinema.

The character is now starring in a Hollywood remake, though not (as in the original) played by an actor in a rubber suit.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan

King Kong

RKO

Animator Willis O'Brien created stop-motion dinosaurs for the 1925 film, "The Lost World," in which a brontosaurus wreaks havoc in London. But the art of Willis' stop-motion was perfectly merged with drama in the 1933 classic, "King Kong," in which a giant ape is captured on a mysterious island and brought to the concrete canyons of New York City.

Gojira (Godzilla)

Toho

In "Gojira" (1954) - released in the United States as "Godzilla," with scenes added featuring Raymond Burr - an amphibious, reptilean creature is awakened and empowered by the radiation produced by nuclear bomb tests. It proceeds to destroy much of Tokyo as scientists try to find a way to stop it.

It was the first of a long series of kaiju films - movies that feature sueprnatural, mythical or alien creatures, often battling one another among fragile cityscapes.

Anguirus

Toho

Godzilla returned in a 1955 sequel, "Godzilla Raids Again!" this time fighting another giant monster: the spiky Anguirus.

Giant Ants

Warner Brothers

Ants irradiated from atomic bomb tests in the deserts of New Mexico prove to be mighty foes in the 1954 sci-fi classic, "Them!"

Tarantula

Universal Pictures

Only one of eight legs is needed to inspire terror in the 1955 film, "Tarantula," in which radiation again causes problems for arachnids and humans alike.

Giant Octopus

Columbia PIctures

Ray Harryhausen's animated giant octopus attacks the Golden Gate Bridge, in "It Came From Beneath the Sea" (1955).

Rodan

Toho

Miners find a 200-million-year-old giant egg which hatches and out pops a prehistoric pterosaur, in "Rodan" (1956).

Giant Locusts

Republic Pictures

Beware of GMO foods! Irradiated plants end up fueling mutations of munching locusts, which end up attacking the city of Chicago, in "Beginning of the End" (1957).

Ymir

Columbia PIctures

A creature carried aboard a spaceship from Venus grows into a threatening size as he rampages through Italy in "20 Million Miles to Earth" (1957). Stop-motion animation by Ray Harryhausen.

Monoliths

Universal Pictures

Watch out! A meteorite triggers a massive expansion of giant stone columns which pierce the sky, shatter, and multiply, crushing buildings and turning people into petrified stone, in "The Monolith Monsters" (1957).

Kronos

20th Century Fox

A giant robot from outer space slowly marches across the landscape, attacking power plants and sucking up energy to transmit back to its home planet, in "Kronos" (1957). Oh, and don't get in the way of its huge, stamping feet.

The Giant Claw

Columbia PIctures

One of the silliest-looking movie monsters was the giant bird that dangled from marionette wires as it attacked model airplanes, perched on the Empire State Building, and tried to hatch an egg, in "The Giant Claw" (1957).

Giant Two-Timed Lady

Allied Artists

A wealthy but emotionally unstable woman encounters an alien in the desert, whereupon she grows into a giant - the better to deal with her philandering husband - in "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman" (1958).

Gorgo

MGM

In "Gorgo" (1961), a monster is captured and turned into a circus act. Then, its mother (left) comes looking for him, turning much of London - just rebuilt following the Blitz - into rubble.

Reptilicus

American International

The monster in the Danish film "Reptilicus" (1961), which grows from some recovered dinosaur DNA, slithers around Copenhagen.

Mothra

Toho

When a pair of tiny, fairy-like girls are kidnapped from an island and forced to sing at a Tokyo nightclub, they pray to their god, "Mothra," to rescue them. That he does - hatching from an egg and growing from his larval stage into a massive moth (thanks to all that atomic bomb testing in the area). He wreaks havoc on his mission, in this colorful 1961 film.

King Kong vs. Godzilla

Toho

A proposal for a sequel to "King Kong," featuring the legendary ape battling another giant monster, interested Toho Studios, which adapted the script to suit their in-house monster, in 1962's "King Kong vs. Godzilla." Unlike Willis O'Brien's original Kong, no stop-motion animation was used.

King Ghidorah

Toho

The three-headed dragon King Ghidorah made his debut in the appropriately-named "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster" (1964), battling Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra. He returned several times, including "Invasion of the Astro-Monster" (left), and also as a cyborg, with armor plating.

Gamera

Toho

Gamera - a giant tortoise who can fly through the air thanks to rockets in his shell - is perhaps the most kid-friendly of Toho's giant monsters. [Listen to his theme song if you doubt it.]

In the 2006 reboot "Gamera the Brave," a young boy finds a tortoise egg which hatches into a baby Gamera, which grows up to defeat the monstrous Zedus.

Dogora

Toho

"Dogora, the Space Monster" (1964) was a giant alien jellyfish with an affinity for tearing apart suspension bridges. It also likes to eat diamonds, which means its fate becomes entangled in the film's other plotline involving an international ring of diamond thieves.

Gappa

Nikkatsu

In 1967 a competitor studio of Toho's, Nikkatsu, issued their own kaiju film (released in the U.S. as "Monster From a Prehistoric Planet"), in which scientists on a strange island find a baby "bird-lizard" (dubbed Gappa) and bring it back to civilization. The bird's parents, none too pleased, come looking for him.

Daimajin

Daiei

In a trilogy of films released in 1966, the giant stone idol "Daimajin" exacts vengeance upon those who would harm the local village peasants praying to him.

Kumonga

Toho

Kumonga, a giant spider, does battle with Godzilla in "Godzilla: Final Wars" (2004).

Gorosaurus

Toho

In "Destroy All Monsters" (1968) - a virtual encyclopedia of kaiju characters - all the Earth's monsters, confined to an island, are released and used by aliens to attack major cities. Here, Gorosaurus makes short work of Paris.

Giant Bunnies

MGM

The shadowy horror in the poster of "Night of the Lepus" (1972) looks a lot more sinister than the film's actual monsters - "giant" bunny rabbits hopping around miniature sets. But these rabbits don't just eat lettuce!

Giant Frogs

American International

Ray Milland was one of the unfortunate cast members of the AIP horror film, "Frogs" (1972), in which Nature gets back at the residents of a private island. Alas, the poster promised a creature much larger than the film delivered.

Super King Kong

Worldwide Entertainment

The producers of the 1976 3-D exploitation flick "A*P*E" want you to know that it is NOT to be confused with Dino di Laurentiis' big-budget remake of "King Kong," released the same year, irregardless of the $1.5 million lawsuit filed against them. The film did retain its original title, "Super King Kong," in South Korea, where the production was based.

Vermithrax Pejorative

Paramount

Phil Tippet's animated dragon, named Vermithrax Pejorative, made the 1981 fantasy "Dragonslayer" soar.

Quetzalcoatl

UFD

Workers building New York's skyscrapers are no match for Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec monster that stars in Larry Cohen's somewhat tongue-in-cheek horror film, "Q: The Winged Serpent" (1982). Featured as NYPD detectives are David Carradine and Richard Roundtree ("Shaft").

Mechagodzilla

Toho

Godzilla faced off against his giant robotic counterpart, Mechagodzilla, in at least three films.

Rancor

Lucasfilm Ltd.

The Rancor, a "pet" kept by Jabba the Hutt at his gangster lair on Tattooine, in the "Star Wars" adventure, "Return of the Jedi" (1983).

Mr. Stay Puft

Columbia PIctures

Thanks to the childish whims of ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd, his memory of marshmallow mascot Mr. Stay Puft becomes the corporeal form of an ancient spirit that will - if left untoasted - destroy the world, in the 1984 comedy, "Ghostbusters."

Arachnids

Tristar Pictures

Giant bugs on the planet Klendathu are the targets of Earth's military might, in Paul Verhoeven's tongue-in-cheek "Starship Troopers" (1997).

Balrog

New Line Cinema

The Balrog -- "a demon of the ancient world" -- poses a problem for the wizard Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings."

"Cloverfield" Alien

Paramount

The "shaky-cam," found-footage horror film from J.J. Abrams, "Cloverfield" (2008), documents the arrival in New York City of a nasty giant alien. What's worse, he carries parasites - giant lice (we're talking GIANT lice).

"The Host" Creature

Magnolia Pictures

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's "The Host" (2006), a critical and box-office hit, shows the repercussions of environmental pollution when the dumping of chemicals into a river is followed by the appearance of a particularly nasty form of underwater life.

Kaijus

Warner Brothers

In director Guillermo del Toro's big-budget homage to kaiju films, giant monsters attack cities across the "Pacific Rim" (2013), requiring some kaiju-sized robots to defeat them.

"Big-Ass Spider"

Paramount Pictures

Some L.A. exterminators have their hands full with trying to rid the city of a particularly "Big-Ass Spider!" in the 2013 comedy.

Godzilla

Warner Brothers

After a poorly-received American remake in 1998 by Roland Emmerich, Hollywood is once again bringing Godzilla to the screen, in a new version directed by Gareth Edwards.

He told the Associated Press that Godzilla is probably "the most recognized character from movie history. Yet, as an adult, it's hard to point at a film where that truly did him justice. Especially with the digital tools we have available today."

In other words, no rubber suits with zippers.

Gallery: "Godzilla" invades Hollywood
Will new "Godzilla" conquer Japan?
Video: "Godzilla" is back in Hollywood

For more info:

"Godzilla" (2014) (Official site)
"Godzilla" (a.k.a. "Gojira") (1954) - Available from the Criterion Collection
Toho Kingdom (fan site)
Toho Pictures (Official website)