Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966-Film)

## Ebirah Horror of the deep (1966)

***Ebirah, Horror of the Deep*** (ゴジラ・エビラ・モスラ　南海の大決闘, *Gojira, Ebira, Mosura Nankai no Daikettō*, lit. Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Seas) is a 1966 Japanese *kaiju* film directed by Jun Fukuda and produced and distributed by Toho Studios. The film stars Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Akihiko Hirata and Eisei Amamoto, and features the fictional monster characters Godzilla, Mothra, and Ebirah. It is the seventh film in the *Godzilla* franchise, and features special effects by Sadamasa Arikawa, under the supervision of Eiji Tsuburaya. In the film, Godzilla and Ebirah are portrayed by Haruo Nakajima and Hiroshi Sekita, respectively.

During its development, *Ebirah, Horror of the Deep* was intended to feature King Kong, but the character was replaced by Godzilla. The film was released to theaters in Japan on December 17, 1966, and was released directly to television in the United States in 1968 under the title *Godzilla versus the Sea Monster*.

## Plot

After Yata is lost at sea, his brother Ryota steals a yacht with his two friends and a bank robber. However, the crew runs afoul of Ebirah, a giant lobster-like creature, and washes ashore on Letchi Island. There the Red Bamboo, a terrorist organization, manufactures heavy water for selling weapons of mass destruction; as well as a yellow liquid that keeps Ebirah at bay, presumably controlling it. The Red Bamboo has enslaved natives from nearby Infant Island to create the yellow liquid, the natives hoping that Mothra will awaken in her winged, adult form and rescue them.

In their efforts to avoid capture, Ryota and his friends, aided by Daiyo, a native girl, come across Godzilla who previously fought Ghidorah, is now sleeping within a cliffside cavern. The group devises a plan to defeat the Red Bamboo and escape the island. In the process, they awaken Godzilla using a makeshift lightning rod. Godzilla fights Ebirah, but the huge crustacean escapes. Godzilla is then attacked by a giant condor and a squadron of Red Bamboo fighter jets. Using his atomic ray, Godzilla destroys the jets and kills the giant bird.

The humans retrieve the missing Yata and free the enslaved natives as Godzilla begins to destroy the Red Bamboo's base of operations, smashing a tower that causes a countdown that will destroy the island in a nuclear explosion. Godzilla fights Ebirah and defeats it, ripping its claws off, forcing it to retreat back into the sea. The natives await for Mothra to carry them off in a large net. However, Godzilla challenges Mothra, (since the monsters previously battled in 1964) when she gets to the island. Mothra manages to repel Godzilla and save her people and the human heroes. Godzilla also escapes just before the bomb detonates and destroys the island.

## Special effects

The underwater sequences were filmed on an indoor soundstage where the Godzilla and Ebirah suits were filmed through the glass of a water-filled aquarium, with some scenes of the Godzilla suit shot separately underwater as well. Haruo Nakajima (the suit performer for Godzilla) wore a wet suit under the Godzilla suit for every scene that required him to be in the water, which took a week to complete the water scenes, Nakajima stated, "I worked overtime until about eight o'clock everyday. Even though I wore a wet suit under the costume, I got cold. But I never got sick, because I was so tense during the filming."

## Filming

This is the first of two *Godzilla* films in which a Pacific island is the primary setting, rather than a location inside Japan. The second and final one is *Son of Godzilla* (1967).[*citation needed*]

## Release

*Ebirah, Horror of the Deep* was released theatrically in Japan on December 17, 1966 where it was distributed by Toho.

The American version of the film was released directly to television by Continental Distributing in 1968 under the title *Godzilla Versus the Sea Monster*. The film may have received theatrical distribution in the United States as a Walter Reade, Jr. Presentation, but this has not been confirmed.

## Home media

The film was released on DVD on February 8, 2005 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film was released on Blu-ray on May 6, 2014 by Kraken Releasing. In 2019, the Japanese version was included in a Blu-ray box set released by the Criterion Collection, which included all 15 films from the franchise's Shōwa era.