The Great Godzilla Hoax

Over the last couple of months, I have learned of the existence of "movies" with titles like ATTACK OF THE GALACTIC MONSTERS and MONSTER KING GODZILLA. There is always some vague tale describing the supposed origins of these cut & paste jobs mixing Godzilla stuff with lesser-known Toho spfx movies. And, in fairness, these films look to be enjoyable for what they are.

The problem is that they aren't real.

These are almost certainly fan edits. Though I won't pretend to understand exactly why they were created, I don't object to their existence. Heck, they can be fun in their own right. Where I do have a problem is when they are presented as authentic movies. This is where I draw a line in the sand. It's OK to make up a story to go with your project, but DO NOT pass it off as "fact". That's completely irresponsible, and does a disservice to both the Japanese monster fandom and film history in general.

Why so adamant? A lot of people (including me!) have spent a lot of time trying to piece together an accurate portrait of the Japanese science-fiction film's history. The last thing we need is to start muddying the waters with spurious yarns tied to something put together by a fan with a computer and some software. It's bad enough already that we're relying on the wildly uneven IMDB for data. I could probably demonstrate two dozen errors related to Japanese productions on that site without really trying. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if someone has tried to slip these two productions onto it at some point.

As I mentioned in the comments over at Xenorama, I once toyed with the notion of writing a hoax film review of the abandoned Toho/Hammer co-production NESSIE. If I had, or do, you can be darn sure it will be an obvious work of fiction. Even then, you just know some people will think it's "real".

On a lighter note, I am most offended that the creator of ATTACK OF THE GALACTIC MONSTERS chose to ignore the title STARGODZILLA for this Frankenstein-like patchwork. I mean, the title is RIGHT THERE for you to apply to your fake movie!