The tape that I imported from Japan. Nothing different here.
Hello everyone! I am here to present to you, an unusual tape I discovered of the 1995 Godzilla film Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. For those of you who don't know, I'll give you a brief rundown of the story. After many action-packed battles across Japan, Godzilla's heart begins to run out of radiation, and enters meltdown. To make the situation even worse, a new monster called Destoroyah, spawned from the chemical reactions caused by the Oxygen Destroyer in the original Godzilla movie appears, and it's up to Godzilla to save the nation before he himself destroys it.
Anyway, I came across this VHS tape in 1996, shortly after the film had been released in Japan. Being a serious fan of Godzilla, I obtained the tape by buying it directly from a Japanese distributor myself for a small fee, plus import costs. Inserting the tape into my player, I noticed the first major difference.
Little Godzilla and his father hugging each other. SpaceGodzilla accidentally appears in the background.
Rather than the film opening with Godzilla rampaging through Hong Kong, the film opens on Birth Island, which is where Godzilla and his son, Little Godzilla, went home to after defeating SpaceGodzilla in the previous film. Little Godzilla can be seen wandering about the island, blowing bubbles and generally having a whale of a time on the small island, but SpaceGodzilla can very briefly be seen in the background when Little Godzilla wanders towards his father. I assumed this was an error due to the use of stock footage. Godzilla dotingly watches his son, having flattened several trees to get a better vantage point over the island's coastline. Suddenly, Godzilla's chest pulses, and radiation emits out of the scute on his back. He roars in agony, and the scene cuts to Little Godzilla, who looks around in surprise as the screen goes white.
The film then continues onward to the Hong Kong introduction, and from this point onwards, the film continues as normal with a few small errors such as Godzilla Junior missing some of his roars, and the lines used to control the Juvenile Destoroyah puppets being visible every so often.
Junior dying after Destoroyah throws him into the ground.
The film next changes, becoming more disturbing when Godzilla Junior is killed by the final form of Destoroyah. Destoroyah lifts Junior into the air, as per usual, but Junior desperately tries to fight back, blasting Destoroyah in the face multiple times with his Atomic Breath. Destoroyah shrugs it off, and, using all of his strength, throws Junior to the ground. When Junior hits the ground, instead of seeing Miki and her friend's shocked reaction, Junior's face is shown in a close-up, foaming from the mouth in a similar fashion to when he was injected with micro-oxygen earlier in the film. He is also shown to be writhing in pain, and the right side of the suit's face is depressed and dented inwards. This continues for about a minute or so before Junior falls limp.
Godzilla mourns his son's death.
Godzilla looks even angrier than usual, and storms towards Destoroyah in retaliation for the death of his son, but Destoroyah uses his powerful arms to toss Godzilla aside into a building, which collapses under the mutated dinosaur's sheer weight. Destoroyah appears almost happy that he is killing and injuring his foes, and a sadistic glint in his eyes appear as he watches Godzilla desperately trying to get up to go to his son. Godzilla breathes radiation over Junior, but unlike the normal film, in which he is briefly revived before dying again, Junior does not stir.
Destoroyah charging his chest beam.
The next scene of interest is of a subject which has become legendary amongst the "G-Fans". It is a scene which is often described, but very rarely seen. There is no sound except for what appear to be the grindings of Servos in Destoroyah's suit. The monster braces himself, and the pattern on his chest opens up. What I then saw definitely hasn't been seen by anyone else. Whereas in the normal deleted scene, Destoroyah's actual beam that is fired in this attack isn't seen (probably because it hadn't been edited in yet), in this version, you can clearly see the beam, which was coloured a bright purple, slam into Godzilla, and the screen fades to white.
Destoroyah shooting the chest beam at Godzilla.
This was not the end of the tape however. Despite the previous scene having clearly displayed the death of Godzilla, a new scene is shown instead. I saw that a production code, "GvsD1005" was now visible in the corner of the film, and I realised that I had come across a workprint version of the movie. Next, the scene cuts to the body of Junior again. This time, he is in an even worse state than before. Part of the suit is on fire, but rather than just showing the inside of the suit, the slowly-roasting flesh-coloured fabrics which made up the inside of the downed saurian can be seen. Flames overtake the monster altogether, and sparks start to fly out of the boundary between the suit's head and neck.
The film then cuts further onwards to when the JSDF show up to try and bombard Destoroyah with their weapons. Instead of taking to the air, Destoroyah's floral pattern opens up again, and he uses the same move as earlier, destroying the tanks in a mighty explosion.
That marked the end of the film. Rather than being scared, disturbed or even annoyed, I was fascinated by what I had seen. I decided to re-order a new tape, so I could see the final product, but I decided to keep hold of the unusual tape.
Perhaps the strangest thing about this tape is that there was absolutely no blood whatsoever. Although it is a rare occurrence, blood is sometimes used in the Godzilla series to symbolize a serious injury. Since this isn't added during the addition of other special effects, it is always used while the cameras are still rolling. Why the blood had not been used here baffled me. Perhaps it's symbolic for something.
Either way, I'm keeping this tape. Who knows what secrets it may hold?