10 Darkest Godzilla Movies, Ranked

Good old Godzilla, nothing beats that. Okay, well, King Kong did come out before the first Godzilla movie (1933 for the big monkey’s debut vs. 1954 for the big lizard’s debut), but there have been far more Godzilla movies than King Kong movies. There have been almost 40 in total, released over the past seven decades now, and these are all pretty varied when it comes to style and tone, even if some iteration of the titular monster is always present.

The series started pretty dark, but then a good many sequels – principally the ones released in the 1960s – saw Godzilla get a little goofier and even more family-friendly. But since then, variety has been a big part of the series, and for every silly/action-packed Godzilla movie, there tends to be one that’s either a little scarier, grittier, or more downbeat. Some of the darkest Godzilla movies are ranked below, starting with the slightly solemn/weird and ending with the most soul-crushing.

10

‘Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla’ (1974)

Directed by Jun Fukuda

Sure, Mechagodzilla, as a character, might sound a little silly on paper, but he’s introduced as a genuine threat in his first movie, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. This one – and its 1975 sequel, Terror of Mechagodzilla – ramp things up in terms of violence, threat, and grit, at least compared to some of the campier Godzilla movies released in preceding years, especially the likes of Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Megalon.

This movie kicks off with people thinking Godzilla has turned evil, with his worst misdeed involving brutally breaking Anguirus’s jaw… but it turns out to be a mechanical version of the King of the Monsters. And that mechanical foe puts up an impressive fight against the real Godzilla; one that gets pretty brutal for a kaiju movie this many years old.

9

‘Godzilla vs. Hedorah’ (1971)

Directed by Yoshimitsu Banno

Though Godzilla vs. Hedorah isn’t too depressing necessarily, it is dark in its own strange and psychedelic way. It feels like the most experimental Godzilla movie ever made, being borderline arthouse in its approach to the kaiju genre, and the foe Godzilla faces here – the titular Hedorah – is both a serious threat and rather harrowing in his appearance and origin. Well, he’s also a little goofy, too.

This movie is weird. Hedorah is a giant smog monster that represents the pollution threatening the world, and proves difficult to defeat because of his unique physicality. He can’t just be stormed, punched, or blasted to death like some other Godzilla monsters. The movie does feature both ridiculous moments and surprisingly creepy ones, with there being enough of the latter to qualify it as perhaps one of the more sinister Godzilla films in the long-running series.

8

‘Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack’ (2001)

Directed by Shusuke Kaneko

There are some reliably fun monsters who show up in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, including Mothra, of course, and an unusually heroic version of King Ghidorah (Mothra, on the other hand, is always pretty chill and nice to humanity). It’s Godzilla who’s the antagonist here, which is in contrast to most movies that have him battling other monsters. In those, he’s usually either the hero or the lesser of two evils.

But Godzilla in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is genuinely sadistic, largely due to being possessed by the vengeful spirits of people who died in World War II. The whole movie puts a more fantastical spin on Godzilla than what some might be used to, and qualifies as a pretty dark watch at times because of what this version of Godzilla is willing to do.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

Release Date

December 15, 2001

Runtime

105 minutes

Director

Shusuke Kaneko

7

‘Godzilla’ (2014)

Directed by Gareth Edwards

The 2010s was a good decade for Godzilla, as that’s when the MonsterVerse kicked off, all the while films continued getting made in Japan, too (three animated, and one live-action). 2014’s Godzilla was the first movie in the MonsterVerse, and still feels like the most serious one to date, especially since the series has been going in increasingly ludicrous directions, as evidenced by Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

This Godzilla is generally grounded, though, feeling a lot more like a disaster movie than an action one, mainly because much of the film shies away from showing action and spectacle until toward the end. It’s a sometimes frustrating approach for those who are after big set pieces, but keeping things on the ground – quite literally – does help emphasize the sheer size of Godzilla and other monsters like him, all the while highlighting the destruction they’re able to cause.

Godzilla

Release Date

May 14, 2014

Runtime

123 minutes

Director

Gareth Edwards

6

‘The Return of Godzilla’ (1984)

Directed by Koji Hashimoto

After many sequels that featured Godzilla fighting another monster, The Return of Godzilla (which was released 30 years after the original) was sort of a return to the series’ roots. This is most clear in the way The Return of Godzilla is all about humanity faced with the emergence of Godzilla and having to battle him, with him once more being a force of nature without other giant monsters to battle.

There’s also a good deal of conflict between various human characters here, as The Return of Godzilla makes use of Cold War paranoia of the time, with the U.S. and Soviet Russia – themselves still in a tense conflict of sorts – both expressing desires to use atomic weapons to neutralize Godzilla. The stakes feel especially high here for a Godzilla film, and the titular monster himself is made even bigger and more intimidating here than he was before (sized up largely because Japan had more high-rise buildings by the 1980s, and a more “normal-sized” Godzilla might’ve been dwarfed by such skyscrapers).

The Return of Godzilla

Release Date

December 15, 1984

Runtime

103 minutes

Director

Koji Hashimoto

5

‘Shin Godzilla’ (2016)

Directed by Shinji Higuchi, Hideaki Anno

There is something darkly funny about long stretches of Shin Godzilla, but the satire does still reflect a real-life natural disaster, and the lack of effectiveness shown by the government responding to it. Also, the version of Godzilla showcased in this film is genuinely horrifying, not to mention oddly pitiful, especially owing to the way he looks so uncanny, gruesomely transforms throughout, and often seems to be in extreme pain.

Shin Godzilla has an odd tone for a Godzilla movie, as a result, being offbeat but kind of grim because it’s all a bit unbalanced and uneasy feeling. The drama on the ground level is compelling, bleakly funny, and also likely to cause some level of despair, while the monster at the heart of it all is grotesque and seemingly unkillable. The ending, too, is effectively disquieting.

Shin Godzilla

Release Date

July 29, 2016

Runtime

118

Director

Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi

4

‘Godzilla vs. Biollante’ (1989)

Directed by Kazuki Ōmori

The Heisei era of Godzilla kicked off with the aforementioned The Return of Godzilla, and got pretty wild and wacky by the early 1990s, as shown by Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, all before getting grim again for a grand finale… but more on that in a bit. Between The Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, though, was the unsettling and rather tragic Godzilla vs. Biollante, which is one of the most underrated films in the whole series.

Godzilla returns after, well, The Return of Godzilla, and is still pretty big and mean, with the other monster here, Biollante, having a genuinely sad origin story while also being one of the more terrifying foes Godzilla has ever faced. This is all very bleak for a Godzilla movie, but Godzilla vs. Biollante does also manage to be thrilling and fairly action-packed, meaning that even if it’s a bit soul-crushing, it’s certainly never boring.

Godzilla vs. Biollante

Release Date

December 16, 1989

Runtime

104 Minutes

Director

Kazuki Ômori, Koji Hashimoto, Kenjirô Ohmori

3

‘Godzilla Minus One’ (2023)

Directed by Takashi Yamazaki

You don’t even have to be a particularly huge fan of giant monster movies to appreciate Godzilla Minus One, because it’s straight up one of the best movies of the 2020s so far, regardless of genre. It goes back further in the past than any other Godzilla movie (well, besides the one with time travel), taking place right after World War II and having an especially vulnerable Japan being attacked by a rather malicious version of Godzilla.

He’s quite vengeful here, and makes Godzilla Minus One feel like a film with some serious stakes, not to mention a bunch of very stressful – and sometimes quite soul-crushing – sequences. It’s a high point for kaiju movies and just a great film overall, all the while also being one of the most moving and high-intensity Godzilla films to date.

Godzilla Minus One

Release Date

December 1, 2023

Runtime

125 Minutes

Director

Takashi Yamazaki

2

‘Godzilla vs. Destoroyah’ (1995)

Directed by Takao Okawara

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah sees Godzilla fighting one of his strongest foes ever, Destoroyah, all the while himself melting down, becoming something of a walking atomic bomb. The stakes couldn’t be higher, considering how powerful the two titular monsters are, and Godzilla Jr. is also in danger throughout, and, well, the whole world could well be destroyed by either Destoroyah (surprise, surprise) or by Godzilla, should he melt down and implode/explode.

It’s a blast of a film, sure, but Godzilla vs. Destoroyah also has a reputation for being one of the most depressing Godzilla films, not to mention one of the most stressful. It concluded the Heisei era with a bang in more ways than one, and still feels like one of the most important entries in the entire series (not just the Heisei era) for a myriad of reasons.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

Release Date

December 9, 1995

Runtime

103 minutes

Director

Takao Okawara, Ishirô Honda

1

‘Godzilla’ (1954)

Directed by Ishirō Honda

Yet when all is said and done, the original Godzilla film still feels like the most serious, tragic, and brutally downbeat. It’s more of a disaster film than any other movie in the series, because even the likes of Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One have a little more by way of action scenes and set pieces. Godzilla is much more of a drama. There’s not really any traditional action, and the sequences of destruction are quite matter-of-fact, and far from fun to watch.

It’s typically regarded as a high point of the whole Godzilla series for this reason, among others, and could well also be a contender when it comes to selecting the best movies of all time, period. Godzilla (1954) lives up to the hype and then some, and it’s a film that, even 70+ years later, still feels bleak, eye-opening, and surprisingly harrowing.

Godzilla

Release Date

November 3, 1954

Runtime

96 Minutes

Director

Ishirô Honda

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