Varan: The Unbelievable Thread

[The Real McCoy]

[MekaGojira3k]

[The Real McCoy]

[MekaGojira3k]

[jellydonut25]

[Giganfan]

I've always had a soft spot for Varan The Unbelievable. I think it's because when I saw the original Japanese version for the first time, I was actually surprised by how it looked, sounded and...smelled like your typical Toho kaiju epic. Having seen the Myron Healy U.S. version back in '93 and not being impressed at all by it even at the young age of 8-years old, Daikaiju Baran looked like one of the best monster movies I'd ever seen! Now, of course, it is far from that, and to be honest, watching it today, I find it a bit dull and uninspired, but there's still some good stuff in there, chief among them is the brilliant score by Akira Ifukube. To my taste, it's his best ever, atleast from what I've heard. Also, I've always thought Varan was a really cool kaiju, both in design and execution. He is my "dark-horse" favorite of Toho's monster gallery, and it's a shame that he never made it into more films. I would have REALLY loved to see him play a more active role in Destroy All Monsters, and I really REALLY wish he had made it into GMK as originally intended.

So no, not the best by any means, but I still think Varan The Unbelievable fits comfortably along-side the rest of Toho's classic fantasy films. Oh, and the "flying-squirrel" bit is really neat, even if it was only a brief shot in the movie. Imagine how cool it might have looked in subsequent flicks!

[MekaGojira3k]

[Giganfan]

Yeah, when I saw the U.S. version, I couldn't believe how unfamiliar everything looked. It was so unlike what I was used to seeing in a Japanese monster movie, especially one produced by Toho. I mean, even the U.S. versions of other movies from the genre still maintained the basic tone and feel of the originals. I read somewhere that there's actually only 15-20 minutes of original footage in the U.S. Varan...TWENTY FRIGGIN' MINUTES!!! And everything else is so laughably awful too, so it's not like they replaced it with anything worthwhile.

[MekaGojira3k]

The U.S. cut is like somebody tried to exclusively rip-off King of the Monsters...and failed.

[tbeasley]

I really like the first half of this movie, before Varan flies off. It's quite spooky and I appreciate the theme of skepticism vs. superstition. It's the first Toho genre movie to feature the trinity of reporter, photographer and scientist, and when the military takes over in the second half I sort of zone out. Varan himself is very elemental and almost a fusion of Toho's earlier prehistoric reptiles - Godzilla, Anguirus and Rodan. It's a unique design and I could easily see him, Anguirus and Rodan fit in the universe set by Legendary.

[Psycho Soldier]

Just finished watching the American cut. Well, they took a painfully dull film and made it painfully dull and frustrating. The biggest problem, of course, is Myron Healey's character. This condescending jackass shows little respect for the islanders near the lake, accepts no responsibility for waking up Varan, and perhaps worst of all, gets all the credit for defeating Varan. Because he's a brilliant white man of science, you see. For the most part, he's also conveniently far away from danger - including the danger of losing his job for waking up a monster, despite being warned what would happen. The script could have gone into some interesting issues around the desalination, but it doesn't. So the American footage ends up aggravating and boring.

The Japanese footage doesn't escape unscathed, either. Ifukube's score has been dumped for some unmemorable stock cues, and Varan's roar has been replaced with quiet dog growls and an ill-fitting hissing scream. He doesn't fly in this version, though I'm not too wounded by that cut being made. Also, the film's title is Varan the Unbelievable, but the characters never actually call the monster Varan. Instead, he's called Obaki. I'd have been fine with the names being used interchangeably. Using only Obaki doesn't make much sense here.

So yeah. I have problems with every version of Varan, but I can safely rank the American cut the lowest. I'd file it away as nothing more than a historical curiosity. I'm not sorry to have watched it - I knew what I was in for - but I doubt I'll be watching it again soon.