Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

by **Gfan54** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 10:23 pm

Can anyone tell me why the Germans seemed to always include the names King Kong or Frankenstein in their translations of seemingly every Showa era kaiju film (I don't know whether or not they still practice this when it comes to their releases of more recent movies)? I just finished watching some of the trailers for the German releases of some of these films and I think they're actually very good, probably even better than most of the American trailers for the films, especially the trailer for "Destroy All Monsters" (now if I could only speak German :lol:

). I was just wondering if they always included the names King Kong or Frankenstein in the titles as a way of "tricking" audiences into going to see the movies, did they just do it for the heck of it, or was there another reason.

by **Gfan54** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:54 am

by **The Top Crusader** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 3:00 pm

I had a book a few years back that listed some German titles. They crack me up! "Frankenstein's Demon Conquors the Fish of Famine" and such.

by **neo godzilla jr** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 3:08 pm

by **godzillamaster66** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 4:48 pm

by **Gfan54** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:47 pm

by **el-brazo** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 7:58 pm

by **August** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 8:18 pm

by **gfanikf** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 8:57 pm

by **H-Man** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:08 pm

by **August** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 7:16 am

Thanks for the clarification, baragon2003... Anyhow, the music was from ALIENS... I know at least that... sorry, I'm not up on American movies after the 1960s, since they do not fall into my area of interest. I'm not sure if this version was ever released on home video in Thailand (who could keep track of that nation's video releases?)... but, I do have a photo of the movie poster from outside of the theater... somewhere.

by **Gfan54** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 12:19 pm

by **el-brazo** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 3:58 pm

@August:

> A very insightful and informative post... thank you.

You're welcome!

> I never thought that Frankenstein or Frankenstein's monster were
> associated with Germany, really... since it was a work of fiction,
> and the author, Mary Shelly, was British!

Exactly! The only (and very loose) connection between Frankenstein and Germany is Castle Frankenstein and some of the local legends associated with it. These legends as well as certain parts of the history of Castle Frankenstein influenced Mary Shelly, despite she never admitted it. But that's all.

> I think that Frankenstein's Monster is more celebrated in
> the States than in Europe... Funny, wot?

I didn't know that, but I am not surprised. Honestly, Mary Shelly may have written the book, but Karloff is the monster. :bow:

by **ebirahsmeg1** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:45 pm

by **Tom R VanSlambrouck** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 8:14 pm

by **kami** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 5:17 pm

Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

German Title Translations

German Title Translations

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