Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero picks up two years after Godzilla Minus One. Koichi Shikishima, Noriko, and Akiko are trying to build a life in post-war Japan when a new monster, Ghidorah, emerges from a chrysalis and starts destroying cities. Scientists, pilots, a meteorologist, and a sea captain search for a way to stop it, and the plan that wins out is to bring back Godzilla to fight it.

In this episode, Joshua Johnson, John Dougherty, and Craig Detweiler review Godzilla Minus Zero and what it says about collective trauma, survivor’s guilt, and the cycles of violence that war leaves behind. They talk about their own history with Godzilla, what makes Ghidorah a different kind of monster, and how the film keeps its human drama at the center. Then each host brings a double feature, and the hosts close with their October Watchlist.

When the thing that wounded you becomes part of you, how do you keep from turning it into a weapon?

Now Showing: Godzilla Minus Zero
(01:00) Godzilla Minus Zero: spoiler-free review
(17:25) Spoiler section

Double Feature
(42:24)
The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014)
The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki, 2023)
Pressure (Anthony Maras, 2026)

October Watchlist
(55:29)
Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)
Jimmy (Aaron Burns, 2026)
The Incomer (Louis Paxton, 2026)
Jennifer’s Body (Karyn Kusama, 2009)
The Invite (Olivia Wilde, 2026)
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (Bassam Tariq, 2026)
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (Noah Segan, 2026)
Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger (Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, 2026)
Tenzing (Jennifer Peedom, 2026)

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Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson

Music by Steve Slagg

The Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network