Monster Night

Tonight's marathon is paying homage to the iconic monsters that have frightened us within the last 40 years in film history. Whether it's a killer shark, an alien monster that escapes from a train, a giant dragon-like lizard roaming San Francisco, or a monster destroying San Francisco shown by the POV of those who are experiencing it. TONIGHT..IS MONSTER NIGHT. We have the classics on tonight's menu:

                            Jaws 1975, Super 8 2011, Godzilla 2014, and Cloverfield 2008

Tonight's marathon is all about destruction and chaos. We begin with a Shark roaming free in the beaches of Amity, being pursed by a police chief, a drunken fisherman, and a marine scientist in the quest to stop him from leaving a trail of bodies on the beaches. This is the perfect opening to the marathon because it starts off with a small monster that's still terrifying and threatening. Jaws was not just the film that began the tradition of the summer blockbuster in 1975, but also the film that launched Steven Spielberg's career as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. The next film, Super 8, continues the monster trend with an even more powerful creature emerging from the ruins of a train wreck in the summer 1979. This time we witness the workings of an alien monster in a small town through the POV of a group of kids with aspirations to be young filmmakers. Super 8 is a brilliant film that pays homage to the early days of Steven Spielberg, combining his talent with that of the incredibly talented JJ Abrams. The third film, Cloverfield, focuses on the destruction of New York by an undisclosed monster being witnessed by a small group of people with handheld cameras. This is the perfect prelude to the biggest film of the night that's finally been handled properly for American audiences after the failed 1998 attempt handled by Roland Emmerich. While that film can be viewed as an entertaining lizard movie, it doesn't quite capture the imagination of the Japanese version of the great monster. That problem has been completely rectified with the 2014 American version which puts our great anti hero monster creating mass destruction and chaos on the streets of San Francisco. Visually this film is stunning as well as exciting. It's only major flaw is that it places heavy emphasis on the human characters, leaving Godzilla with little screen time. This is a flaw that the inevitable sequels will no doubt fix over time. Let tonight be a tribute to all the great monster films that have terrified us over the last four decades.