History Kaiju / LiveActionFilms

* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' pretty much revolutionized this trope. Every movie in the franchise contains at least one monster!

* ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'' is a {{Deconstruction}} of kaiju attack movies, reminding people that Kaiju has its roots in the DisasterMovie genre and how terrifying, deadly, and incomprehensible such an attack would be to an average citizen as it did in the first ''Godzilla'' film. Specifically, it uses them as [[Post911TerrorismMovie a metaphor for the chaos and fear that the 9/11 attacks caused]], with the destruction that the monster causes staged in a manner reminiscent of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers and the main characters (and, by extension, [[FoundFootageFilms the viewers]]) being largely in the dark as to what's really going on. The Cloverfield monster itself is an interesting variant of Kaiju; instead of being a mutant or a supernatural entity, WordOfGod considers it to be a pretty normal animal reacting to things the way any animal in its position would. It's also apparently a lost and confused baby that wants to find its mother...[[NightmareFuel which begs the question of how big and terrifying its mother must be...]]

* ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'' is a {{Deconstruction}} of all kaiju attack movies, reminding people that Kaiju has its roots in the DisasterMovie genre and how terrifying, deadly, and incomprehensible such an attack would be to an average citizen as it did in the first ''Godzilla'' film. The Cloverfield monster itself is an interesting variant of Kaiju; instead of being a mutant or a supernatural entity, WordOfGod considers it to be a pretty normal animal reacting to things the way any animal in its position would. It's also apparently a lost and confused baby that wants to find its mother...[[NightmareFuel which begs the question of how big and terrifying its mother must be...]]

* ''Film/HotFuzz'' seems to pay homage to this genre in part of its climax, with normal-sized humans Nicholas Angel and one of the villains having a brutal fistfight in a model village.

* ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'' is a {{Deconstruction}} of all kaiju attack movies, reminding people that Kaiju has its roots in the DisasterMovie genre and how terrifying, deadly, and incomprehensible such an attack would be to an average citizen as it did in the first Godzilla film. The Cloverfield monster itself is an interesting variant of Kaiju; instead of being a mutant or a supernatural entity, WordOfGod considers it to be a pretty normal animal reacting to things the way any animal in its position would. It's also apparently a lost and confused baby that wants to find its mother...[[NightmareFuel which begs the question of how big and terrifying its mother must be...]]

* ''Film/PacificRim'' has an entire army of these, even named as such by the humans - the film opens with a definition of the term "Kaiju". These Kaiju are colossal biological weapons built by extradimensional aliens rising out of a portal in the Pacific to launch an extinction campaign on the human race. HumongousMecha prove to be the only effective countermeasure. This is also one of the few non-Japanese films to use the actual word "Kaiju" to describe the creatures, to the point where less well-informed fans [[OlderThanTheyThink think that the movie invented the term]]. It's also one of the few films since ''Film/{{Godzilla}}'' to make the Kaiju a metaphor for a crisis, in this case climate change: the Kaiju are "ranked" in size with Categories like hurricanes (from 1 to 5), the most immediate threat they pose is to coastal nations, their blood has a toxic factor and other than the HumungousMecha Jaegers, another (futile) defense against them is a massive coastal wall in the vein of a stormwater barricade. The film itself states the Kaiju's masters had attempted to invade Earth before, but decided not to as the conditions weren't ideal; by the time of the film, anthropomorphic climate change has made Earth more suitable for them.

* ''Film/PacificRim'' has an entire army of these, even named as such by the humans, colossal biological weapons built by extradimensional aliens rising out of a portal in the Pacific to launch an extinction campaign on the human race. HumongousMecha prove to be the only effective countermeasure. This is also one of the few non-Japanese films to use the actual word "Kaiju" to describe the creatures, to the point where less well-informed fans [[OlderThanTheyThink think that the movie invented the term]].

* The giant amoeba-like life form from the finale of ''Film/{{Evolution}}'' certainly counts.

** Aside from ''Franchise/KingKong'', there are other giant ape Kaiju. These include ''The Giant Peking Man'', ''Konga'', ''A.P.E.'', and ''King of the Lost World''.

* Franchise/KingKong is effectively the one memorable Western example, who assaults the BigApplesauce. An even bigger Kong also has a couple of movies in the Toho lineup, one where he faces Godzilla, and ''Film/KingKongEscapes'', which not only features Kong, but also [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Gorosaurus (a kaiju-sized dinosaur that latter joins Godzilla's crew)]], [[HumongousMecha Mechani-Kong]], and a [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant snake]].

* ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' features the now iconic Chitauri Leviathans who effectively trash New York in the climax. It took the likes of Hulk and Thor to bring them down and Iron Man (who had a hard time believing what he was seeing) pulled off a KillItThroughItsStomach after being swallowed by one. The Leviathans make return appearances in later films and games.

* ''Film/{{Goosebumps}}'' upgrades the preying mantis from ''Shocker on Shock Street'' from just another example of BigCreepyCrawlies to something that eats cars and ''crashes through buildings''.

* The space monster Guilala from 1967's ''The X From Outer Space'' is one of the [[OurMonstersAreWeird most bizarre Kaiju]] to have its own films. He got a sequel [[SequelGap 41 years later]] called ''Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit'', which introduced another kaiju - the multi-armed warrior god and mystical defender of Japan Take-Majin

** An American DirectToVideo film called ''The Adventure of Galgameth'' reset it in Medieval Europe, but has the same plot as Pulgasari, right down to the eponymous monster's weakness to salt water and growing by [[MetalMuncher eating iron and its derivatives]].

* DCExtendedUniverse:

* ''Film/Aquaman2018'' features the Karathen an ancient seabeast that resembles a colossal combination of a squid, a shrimp and a dragon that guards the Trident of Atlan, [[spoiler: and gets tamed by Arthur in the FinalBattle]]. It’s also voiced by [[Creator/JulieAndrews Mary Poppins]].

* ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' features the now iconic Chitauri Leviathans or “[[FanNickname the giant space centipede snake dragon things]]” who effectively trash New York in the climax. It took the likes of Hulk and Thor to bring them down and Iron Man (who had a hard time believing what he was seeing) pulled off a KillItThroughItsStomach after being swallowed by one. The Leviathans make return appearances in later films and games.

* Though not as huge as most Kaiju (only the size of a truck), the monster of the Korean film ''Gwoemul'', or ''Film/TheHost'', is in many ways a tribute to the genre.

** ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]'' will be the first American film to feature kaiju from the original Japanese Creator/{{Toho}} films besides Godzilla himself -- Film/{{Mothra}}, Film/{{Rodan}}, and [[Film/GhidorahTheThreeHeadedMonster King Ghidorah]].

* The earliest example of the familiar Kaiju formula is present in 1925's ''Film/TheLostWorld,'' in which a brontosaur wreaks havoc in London, setting the template for the genre before the sound era.
* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' pretty much revolutionized this trope. Every movie in the franchise contains at least one monster!

* Film/{{Gorgo}} counts too, but he gets [[DistressBall captured]] and held by those [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters damn humans]]...then his much larger, angrier mother appears.
* ''Film/WarOfTheGargantuas'', a sequel to ''Film/FrankensteinConquersTheWorld'' features 2 giant, mutated humanoids battling it out in Japan. Both films overlaps with AttackOfThe50FootWhatever.

* Franchise/KingKong is effectively the one memorable Western example, who assaults the BigApplesauce. An even bigger Kong also has a couple of movies in the Toho lineup, one where he faces Godzilla, and ''Film/KingKongEscapes'', which not only features Kong, but also [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Gorosaurus (a kaiju-sized dinosaur that latter joins Godzilla's crew)]], [[HumongousMecha Mechani-Kong]], and a [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant snake]].
* Creator/LegendaryPictures' Film/MonsterVerse is all about this trope, of course. A whole ecosystem of skyscraper-sized monsters populated the earth hundreds of millions of years ago; most died out, but the survivors went dormant, awaiting conditions favorable to reawakening.
** ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'''s eponymous creature was the biggest until Creator/{{Toho}}'s ''Film/ShinGodzilla''. He faces off against two kaiju who feed on nuclear energy, the M.U.T.Os (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism).
** ''Film/KongSkullIsland'''s King Kong is the largest version since the Japanese one at 100 feet tall, and because he's just a teenager, he's ''still growing''. Of course, he's not the only giant monster living on Skull Island in the film.
** ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]'' will be the first American film to feature kaiju from the original Japanese Creator/{{Toho}} films besides Godzilla himself -- Film/{{Mothra}}, Film/{{Rodan}}, and [[Film/GhidorahTheThreeHeadedMonster King Ghidorah]].
** As for ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the title says it all]].
* ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'' is a {{Deconstruction}} of all kaiju attack movies, reminding people that Kaiju has its roots in the DisasterMovie genre and how terrifying, deadly, and incomprehensible such an attack would be to an average citizen as it did in the first Godzilla film. The Cloverfield monster itself is an interesting variant of Kaiju; instead of being a mutant or a supernatural entity, WordOfGod considers it to be a pretty normal animal reacting to things the way any animal in its position would. It's also apparently a lost and confused baby that wants to find its mother...[[NightmareFuel which begs the question of how big and terrifying its mother must be...]]
** ...which is a question adressed by the sequel, ''Film/TheCloverfieldParadox'', where [[spoiler: we finally get to see an adult Clover. It's tall enough to ''peek above the cloud layer'', making it approximately a couple of ''miles'' tall!]]
* ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' features the now iconic Chitauri Leviathans or “[[FanNickname the giant space centipede snake dragon things]]” who effectively trash New York in the climax. It took the likes of Hulk and Thor to bring them down and Iron Man (who hard time believing what he was seeing) pulled off a KillItThroughItsStomach after being swallowed by one. The Leviathans make return appearances in later films and games.
* [[Film/{{Reptilicus}} REPTILICUS]]! The giant goop-spitting snake-dragon that destroyed Copenhagen!
* [[Film/TheGiantClaw THE GIANT CLAW]]! The [[strike:flying battleship]] '''Giant Antimatter Space Buzzard''' from 17,000,000 B.C.!

* ''Film/MegaSharkVsGiantOctopus''. The octopus attacks Tokyo Bay, but for some reason we never see any scenes of this, whereas the giant shark takes a bite out of the [[MonumentalDamage Golden Gate Bridge]] in San Francisco.
* The Kraken in ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}}''. It destroys cities, is [[ImmuneToBullets impervious to normal weapons]], and is ''huge''. Even moreso in [[Film/ClashOfTheTitans2010 the 2010 remake]]; one of the thing's tentacles is about half as long as ''the city of Argos''.
* ''Film/StreetFighter'' has a tribute to these, with Zangief and E. Honda duking it out in a model city.
* Referenced in ''Film/DeepRising'', at the end of which something unseen but HUGE moves toward the beach and the survivors, knocking down trees as it approaches. Not to mention its own multi-armed, lamprey-headed octopus with mouths at the end of each arm. Its head fills a ballroom and its tentacles can reach throughout an ocean liner.
* ''Thunder of the Gigantic Serpent'', a Japanese kaiju flick and one of [[Film/GodfreyHoNinjaMovies Godfrey Ho's]] flicks that don't involve ninjas, has one of the largest snakes in cinema. It's head being bigger than a car when it gets big enough.
* ''Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms'' is an early prototype of this genre. Since the film ''The Giant Behemoth''/''Behemoth: The Sea Monster'' [[WholePlotReference is basically the same film]], it counts as one as well--with the only addition of it being able to project radioactive waves from its whole body.
* Numerous films by Film/{{SyFy|ChannelOriginalMovie}} and Creator/TheAsylum.
* The ''T. rex'' rampaging San Diego in ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' was a homage to these type of movies. One of the Japanese tourists even yells "I left Tokyo to get away from this!"

* ''Film/TheBlob1958'' can be seen as a BlobMonster taken to this level as it grows larger. The [[Film/TheBlob1988 1980s remake]]'s climax is a full on Kaiju rampage.
* ''Gappa: The Triphibian Monster'' fits the bill.
* ''Film/YongaryMonsterFromTheDeep'' and its remake ''Yonggary'' are basically Korean Godzilla-knockoffs. The later film has it fight another Kaiju, named Cykor.
* ''Film/SpaceAmoeba'' features an extraterrestrial parasite that possesses the bodies of various sea creatures (a cuttlefish, a stone crab, and a rock turtle), turning them into kaiju.
* Aside from ''Franchise/KingKong'', there are other giant ape Kaiju. These include ''The Giant Peking Man'', ''Konga'', ''A.P.E.'', and ''King of the Lost World''.
* ''Film/ItCameFromBeneathTheSea'' features an Octopus of Kaiju Proportions. Several other films (usually titled things like ''Octopus'' and ''Octopus 2: River of Fear'') feature similarly large giant cepholopods, but aren't as good as Creator/RayHarryhausen's.
* The title monster from ''Supercroc'' is a Kaiju-sized Crocodilian, with appropriately thick armor.
* The dragons from ''Film/DWar'' fit the bill.
* The Kraken from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''.
* ''Film/Aquaman2018'' features the Karathen an ancient seabeast that resembles a colossal combination of a squid, a shrimp and a dragon that guards the Trident of Atlan, [[spoiler: and gets tamed by Arthur in the FinalBattle]]. It’s also voiced by [[Creator/JulieAndrews Mary Poppins]].
* Iron Golem/Minotaur in ''Film/{{Pulgasari}}'' isn't too big, but given its attacking medieval villages, it fits the bill. Notable for being from North Korea, and eventually banned there. Toho's special effects team were even tricked into helped out, with the eponymous monster, which resembles a cross between Godzilla and an ox, being portrayed by ''Godzilla'' suit actor Ken Satsuma.
** An American DirectToVideo film called ''The Adventure of Galgameth'' reset it in Medieval Europe, but has the same plot as Pulgasari, right down to the eponymous monster's weakness to salt water and growing by [[MetalMuncher eating iron and its derivatives]].
* The ''Film/{{Daimajin}}'' series' eponymous monster is an ancient demon-god. It too battles medieval forces, but with a stone body and mystical powers. It also exists to punish the wicked--but has unreasonably high standards. So, each time after it frees the oppressed villagers from the evil warlord/king, it goes on to attack ''them''.
* The space monster Guilala from 1967's ''The X From Outer Space'' is one of the [[OurMonstersAreWeird most bizarre Kaiju]] to have its own films. He got a sequel [[SequelGap 41 years later]] called ''Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit'', which introduced another kaiju - the multi-armed warrior god and mystical defender of Japan Take-Majin

* The Giant Amoeba and "Rat-Bat-Spider" from ''Angry Red Planet'' fit the bill.

* ''Zarkorr: the Invader'', produced by the same company as ''Kraa''.
* The last shot of ''Film/TheDeadlySpawn'' features one of the monsters grown larger than a house.
* The Ymir from ''Film/TwentyMillionMilesToEarth'' just scrapes in as it constantly grows as it remains on earth.
* The giant amoeba-like life form from the finale of ''Film/{{Evolution}}'' certainly counts.

* In ''Franchise/StarWars: Episode I - Film/ThePhantomMenace'' the [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sando_aqua_monster Sando aqua monster]], a.k.a the [[TropeNamers proverbial]] [[AlwaysABiggerFish Bigger Fish]], spends most of its screen time devouring smaller {{sea monster}}s.
* Though not as huge as most Kaiju (only the size of a truck), the monster of the Korean film ''Gwoemul'', or ''Film/TheHost'', is in many ways a tribute to the genre.
* A commercial for the fast food chain Hella Burger in the SlasherMovie ''Drive Thru'' depicts [[MonsterClown Horny the Clown]] as one of these.
* ''Film/TheTrollHunter'' has the giant Jotannar Troll, at over 200ft tall.
* The extremely obscure kiddie movie ''Film/DaigoroVsGoliath'', produced by Creator/TsuburayaProductions of ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' fame. Intrestingly, it was originally meant to be a Godzilla movie.
* Film/{{Sharktopus}} stars a shark-octopus genetic experiment that escapes military control and goes on a rampage.
* ''Film/NightOfTheLepus'', which demonstrated that we've run out of things to make into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xulXFB3-A3c giant monsters on a rampage]].
* ''Film/HotFuzz'' seems to pay homage to this genre in part of its climax, with normal-sized humans Nicholas Angel and one of the villains having a brutal fistfight in a model village.
* The protagonist from ''Film/BigManJapan'' might be considered one but his giant monster foes certainly are. Unlike most Kaiju, though, they tend to be somewhat humanoid, and sometimes don't even fight and merely humiliating the protagonist.
* ''Film/PacificRim'' has an entire army of these, even named as such by the humans, colossal biological weapons built by extradimensional aliens rising out of a portal in the Pacific to launch an extinction campaign on the human race. HumongousMecha prove to be the only effective countermeasure. This is also one of the few non-Japanese films to use the actual word "Kaiju" to describe the creatures, to the point where less well-informed fans [[OlderThanTheyThink think that the movie invented the term]].
* ''Film/TheHobbit'' features [[BigBad Smaug]]. WordOfGod places him at 130 meters long (about 425 feet, although [[YourSizeMayVary he sometimes looks smaller]]), far larger than he was in the book. He does his share of city-smashing as well, although he's usually content to sleep in his massive pile of gold. Unusually for this trope, he can communicate perfectly well with people; he's just a malicious, greedy {{Jerkass}}.

* In ''Film/{{Colossal}}'', Creator/AnneHathaway's character controls a gigantic monster that materializes in Seoul if she stands in a certain place at at certain time. The monster is on the skinny side for a kaiju, but it can effortlessly (though accidentally) smash through buildings and shrug off missiles. [[spoiler:Creator/JasonSudeikis's character can similarly summon and control a giant robot. Ironically, he purposely uses it for destruction while in a typical kaiju movie the robot would be the good guy.]]

* ''Film/KillerKlownsFromOuterSpace'': Jojo the Klownzilla is a giant alien MonsterClown.
* ''Film/TheDeadlyMantis'': A giant prehistoric mantis.

* ''Film/KillerKlownsFromOuterSpace'': Jojo the Klownzilla is a giant alien MonsterClown.

* ''Film/Rampage2018'', an adaptation of the Midway games, features George (an albino gorilla), Ralph (a wolf), and Lizzie (an alligator) who are mutated into giant monsters and go on a cross-country rampage.

** ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'''s eponymous creature was the biggest until Creator/{{Toho}}'s ''Film/ShinGodzilla''. He faces off against two Kaijus who feed on nuclear energy, the M.U.T.Os (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism).

** ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]'' will be the first American film to feature Kaijus from the original Japanese Creator/{{Toho}} films besides Godzilla himself -- Film/{{Mothra}}, Film/{{Rodan}}, and [[Film/GhidorahTheThreeHeadedMonster King Ghidorah]].

* ''Film/SpaceAmoeba'' features an extraterrestrial parasite that possesses the bodies of various sea creatures (a cuttlefish, a stone crab, and a rock turtle), turning them into giant kaijus.

** An American DirectToVideo film called ''The Adventure of Galgameth'' reset it in Medieval Europe, but has the same plot as Pulgasari, right down to the eponymous monster's weakness to salt water and growing by eating iron and its derivatives.