Director John Carpenter Collaborating With Shout Factory TV For Marathon Celebrating Godzilla And Kaiju Filmmaker Ishiro Honda

JB Augustine |

Sep 30, 2022

John Carpenter, the acclaimed director behind Halloween and The Thing, is participating in a collaboration that pays tribute to one of his favorite movie monsters of all time — Godzilla.

As fun and monumental as it would be to see the celebrated filmmaker add his name to those chipping in on Godzilla vs. Kong: Origins and other upcoming MonsterVerse offerings, he has something else in mind.

Carpenter is teaming up with retro movie label Shout Factory to host a marathon of films to ring in the King of the Monsters’ 68th birthday and also celebrate the Toho studio’s long legacy of kaiju cinema.

Last week, he tweeted a video teasing the proceedings. Sitting in a theater, Carpenter awaits a screening before the picture fades to black. The words “Coming Soon” then flash onto the screen with Godzilla’s roar overlaying them.

COMING SOON @ShoutFactoryTV @screamfactorytv @tokushoutsu @shout_cult pic.twitter.com/ougRUw366S

— John Carpenter (@TheHorrorMaster) September 22, 2022

This tease sparked a fair amount of excited speculation that had a number of fans wondering if Carpenter was finally getting the chance to helm a Godzilla-related project or releasing a fan film he made decades ago.

That film was called Godzilla vs. Gorgo and depicted the King taking on one of his less popular drive-in clones from the West. It was deemed so “devastatingly bad” by its creator that he vowed never to show the thing, but that’s another story.

Instead, Carpenter is hosting an event named “Masters of Monsters, Godzilla!” where he will showcase four of his favorite giant monster movies including the original Japanese cut of Godzilla.

Rounding out the marathon are Rodan, Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster, and The War of the Gargantuas which is a direct sequel to Toho’s Frankenstein Conquers the World that shares precious little, if any, continuity with Godzilla’s Showa series.

In another fun fact, Gargantuas is also a favorite movie of Bullet Train star and Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt.

Pitt won’t be showing up as far as we know but Carpenter will pop in throughout the event to talk about each film and his admiration for the Godzilla franchise.

Masters of Monsters, Godzilla! begins on November 3rd, Godzilla Day, at 9 pm Eastern Time and runs through Nov. 6th. Streaming channels Shout! Factory TV, TokuShoutsu, Scream Factory TV, and Shout! Cult will all be streaming the program.

These channels can be found on Twitch and Pluto TV but please consult MastersofMonsters.com for all the details.