The Monster Island Film Vault

Hello, kaiju lovers! Today on “Ameri-kaiju,” we get artsy with the indie film Colossal, starring Anne Hathaway. Robert and Courtney from the Record All Monsters podcast stop by to have a thoughtful discussion on this unique kaiju film where the monsters are psychic projections of the main characters. While it’s a comedy, it touches on some heavy subjects, like alcoholism and narcissism. All three...

After a full day of celebrating the King of the Monsters’ 68th birthday, Nathan is joined by his Power Trip co-host, Michael Hamilton, in an out-of-character livestream. They discuss Fathom Events’ screening of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, the two Gigan short films that were posted on YouTube (for five minutes), and the myriad of Godzilla-related news that broke Nov. 3, 2022. They spend most of...

Happy Halloween, Kaiju Lovers! As a special treat from all of us on Monster Island, here’s an episode from one of our newest radio shows, Kenny Kappa’s Kaiju Krypt. That mischievously insane yokai presents the scariest kaiju-related short stories using equally weird readers. In this episode, Monster Island’s resident mad scientist, the one and only Dr. Dante Dourif, reads a classic piece of monste...

Hello, Kaiju Lovers! In a fun little “sequel” to MIFV’s glorious Pacific Rim episode , Nate is joined by the co-host of The Drift Space podcast, Jack “GMan” Hudgens, to discuss a sequel Nate has hated since seeing it in a theater: Pacific Rim: Uprising. Nate didn’t want to have an episode on this film, but when he saw an opportunity for a Fifth Wednesday Bonus Episode, he decided to bring Jack, a...

Hello, kaiju lovers! Godzilla Redux is in full gear with one of Big G’s most quintessential films—and Jimmy From NASA’s personal favorite, because reasons—Invasion of Astro-Monster (aka Monster Zero and Godzilla vs. Monster Zero). For this occasion, Nate is joined the Dapper Man himself, Kevin Joshua Burnham, who is a YouTuber, the co-host of The Bottom Shelf podcast, and a longtime fan of MIFV. E...

Hello, kaiju lovers! Nate has been waiting for this Ameri-kaiju episode for a long time—he gets to discuss one of his favorite films: Pacific Rim! He’s joined by the three co-hosts of The Drift Space podcast—returning guests Jack “GMan” Hudgens and J.R. Viller, plus Jack’s sister, Rebecca—to gush about how much they love it. Guillermo del Toro’s masterful tribute to both tokusatsu and anime is a m...

Hello, kaiju lovers! Over the weekend, Nathan made a day trip up South Bend, Indiana, to attend Ramen-Con—which is about anime, not cooking…most of the time. The theme this year was kaiju, so he had to go. He gave a panel presentation called “Kaiju 101,” which was a crash course in the basics of giant monsters. That’s what most of the audio is in this bonus recording is from. Before that, Nate tal...

Hello, kaiju lovers! This is the audio from a special livestream Nate held to celebrate three years of podcasting on Monster Island. So, of course, his guest co-host had to be his intrepid producer, Jimmy From NASA. And also, of course, their topic had to be 1977’s The War in Space (aka “The Jimmy From NASA Story”). Unfortunately, while Jimmy’s mic worked (he doesn’t sound like a droid!), his came...

Welcome, kaiju lovers, heroes of the internet, and listeners with attitude! This past weekend, Nathan and his Power Trip co-host, Michael Hamilton, met each other in real life for the first time (and the world somehow didn’t explode). They attended a small upstart “spin-off” convention called Days of the Dead: All Monsters Attack, which was held in Indianapolis. This bonus episode is a late-night...

Another week without an MIFV episode, I know. There are several recorded and in post-production, which has taken longer than I expected. Regardless, to tide you over once again, here’s an abridged version of a Kaiju Weekly episode I, Nathan, was on a few months ago. I discussed season two of Netflix’s anime, Pacific Rim: The Black. I’ve been intending to share, anyway, and given that the next main...

Hello, kaiju lovers! I’m hard at work catching up on my editing/writing of the next few MIFV episodes, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share something in the podcast feed that’d normally be on MIFV MAX on Patreon. Any and all bloopers are saved and shared with Patrons (starting at the $10/month level), but since I had to cut some great discussions on Faustian deals from episode 67 (Little Shop...

Hello, kaiju lovers! Today them Jaconetti boys, Luke and Jason, join Nate for the latest entry in “Godzilla Redux”: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. This was Toho’s third kaiju film in the momentous year of 1964 and their second Godzilla film that year. As Luke puts it, it’s The Avengers (2012) of Toho kaiju, where several monsters who debuted in solo films come together to face a common alien...

Hello, Kaiju Lovers! “Ameri-kaiju” jumps ahead 50 years, but as you’ll hear, the (in)famous Cloverfield has a lot in common with the classic 1950s films we’ve been covering. Nate’s longtime friend Nick Hayden drops by to discuss this movie because he’s loved it ever since he first experienced it in a theater—and it is an experience. Too much of one for some people, in fact! While it’s popular to h...

Hear my stories from G-Fest 2022! I met lots of kaiju content creator friends, bought too much stuff in the deal room, saw classic G-films in a theater, and hosted six panels! Join MIFV MAX on Patreon to hear the entire livestream. Check out Nathan’s (and Travis’s) spinoff podcasts, The Henshin Men and The Power Trip. We’d like to give a shout-out to our MIFV MAX patrons Travis Alexander (co-host...

Episode 68 is unfortunately delayed until next week, but I didn’t want to leave you without “new” content, Kaiju Lovers! Given that this weekend is G-Fest XXVII, the oldest and arguably biggest kaiju convention in North America, it was appropriate that I share the audio from the latest “Chill with Kaiju Kim” livestream. I was one of several guests who discussed the con. You’ll hear me promote the...

Hello, kaiju lovers! In this bonus “Ameri-kaiju” episode, Travis Alexander of Kaiju Weekly and Henshin Men finally gets to see the goo—and he’s not happy! That’s mostly because he’s an animal lover and the Blob eats a kitten in the almost-forgotten and incredibly weird 1972 sequel, Beware! The Blob (aka Son of Blob). It’s the most bipolar movie Nate has ever seen for the show, and Travis, a lover...

Release the crossover! Nate and his friend Elijah “The Littlest Gatekeeper” Thomas start a new annual tradition for their podcasts, The Monster Island Film Vault and Kaiju Conversation, respectively, by discussing a Ray Harryhausen film every year. Why? Because they both share a birthday with the special effects legend. Also, since these two are weird, they’re going in reverse filmography order, s...

Hello, kaiju lovers! Thanks to Damon Noyes’s generous MIFV MAX pledge on Patreon, MIFV is covering its first musical: Little Shop of Horrors (1986)! Nate wanted to cover this as part of Amer-kaiju, but to his disappointment, it didn’t make the cut. That’s when Damon, who’s performed in not one but two stage productions of this, swooped in and got it on the roster. It has a puppet, after all. This...

Hello, kaiju lovers! Today’s episode is AS BIG AS A BATTLESHIP! Damon Noyes visits the Island (after yet another harrowing experience) for “Ameri-kaiju” to discuss 1957’s The Giant Claw. This infamous movie stars the ugliest antimatter-powered space bird you’ve ever seen! “Crazy Bernice,” as she’s known on the Island, looks more like Beaky Buzzard than Rodan, despite her movie being similar to the...

Hello, kaiju lovers! Today’s episode is a momentous one. Nate discusses the all-time classic Mothra vs. Godzilla with Daniel DiManna of the Godzilla Novelization Project. Now Nate has come full circle because this was the first film whose episode he recorded first in his previous podcast life. But this episode is better! How could it not be with the living kaiju encyclopedia as a guest? Nate and D...

Hello, kaiju lovers! MIFV’s season three theme, Ameri-kaiju, wouldn’t be complete without some Ray Harryhausen, so Nate invited both of his “co-hosts in kamen” (ba-dum-tsh!) to discuss 20 Million Miles to Earth. (Yes, Jimmy reminds Nate that he got his chronology wrong, because this film was released in 1957 and The Blob was 1958. Oops!). Harryhausen super-fans Travis Alexander and Michael Hamilto...

Hello, kaiju lovers! Godzilla Redux continues! Nate is joined by YouTuber/author/musician/Navy sailor Alyssa Charpentier (aka AlyssaGojiGeek) for a film from his previous podcast life: King Kong vs. Godzilla. While, yes, Nate discussed a pair of related unmade films with John LeMay, today he and Alyssa compare and contrast the original Japanese version and the re-edited U.S. cut. The latter soften...

Hello, kaiju lovers! Our season three theme, Ameri-kaiju, “creeps and leaps and slides and glides” along when MIFV MAX member Eric Anderson joins Nate to discuss 1958’s The Blob. This was Steve McQueen’s debut as a 30-year-old teenager dating the future TV wife of Andy Griffith. This classic of 1950s sci-fi cinema was an independent film produced by a studio known for making religious and educatio...

I explain why MIFV has been plagued with delays the last few months. Spoiler warning: It's because have an overachiever complex. Read the blog post I mentioned here: https://tinyurl.com/3cxpx2fd . We’d like to give a shout-out to our MIFV MAX patrons Travis Alexander and Michael Hamilton (co-hosts of Kaiju Weekly ); Danny DiManna (author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project ); Eli Harris (...

Hello, kaiju lovers! Our new boss here on Monster Island mandated that our first Fifth Wednesday Bonus Episode of 2022 be about him. So, Nate invites Drew and Jacob from The Cel Cast to return to Godzilla: The Series. Specifically, they discuss what has been branded, “The Cameron Winter Trilogy.” Namely the three episodes centered around the nefarious tech tycoon (“The Winter of Our Discontent,” “...