Live stream preview

Watch this video and more on The Criterion Channel

Watch this video and more on The Criterion Channel

Start your free trial

Already subscribed? Sign in

Directed by Ishiro Honda

Varan the Unbelievable

1h 27m

Directed by Ishiro Honda • 1958 • Japan
Starring Kozo Nomura, Ayumi Sonoda, Koreya Senda

Following in the wake of Godzilla and Rodan, Toho and director Ishiro Honda unleashed Varan, another monstrous manifestation of nature’s wrath. When they travel to a remote region of Japan to investigate the mysterious deaths of a pair of butterfly researchers, a reporter (Ayumi Sonoda) and a scientist (Kozo Nomura) discover the titular prehistoric reptile, who rises from a lake and proceeds to rampage his way toward Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

Up Next in Directed by Ishiro Honda

  • Atragon
    1:34:57
    Atragon

    Atragon

    Directed by Ishiro Honda • 1963 • Japan
    Starring Tadao Takashima, Yoko Fujiyama, Ken Uehara

    The imaginative work of legendary special-effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya is on display in this giddily entertaining science-fiction spectacle. Fearful that the humans who live on the Earth’s surface have b...

  • Matango
    1:29:50
    Matango

    Matango

    Directed by Ishiro Honda • 1963 • Japan
    Starring Hiroshi Koizumi, Kumi Mizuno, Kenji Sahara

    Leaving behind the kaiju genre for which he was best known, Ishiro Honda took a detour into hallucinogenic science fiction with this disturbing psychological survival thriller that stands as perhaps the d...

  • Dogora
    1:21:32
    Dogora

    Dogora

    Directed by Ishiro Honda • 1964 • Japan
    Starring Robert Dunham, Yosuke Natsuki, Yoko Fujiyama

    With DOGORA, Toho and director Ishiro Honda unleashed one of their wildest and weirdest creatures: a giant, jellyfish-like tentacled terror who descends from outer space and proceeds to consume the Eart...

×