Come to Seattle and give Tokyo a break.
Come to Seattle and give Tokyo a break. Godzilla 1985

Unstreamable is a weekly column that finds films and TV shows you can’t watch on major streaming services in the United States.*

GODZILLA 1985
Japan, 1985, 87 min, Dirs. Koji Hashimoto, R.J. Kizer
Show me where he hurt you.
Show me where he hurt you. Godzilla 1985

Godzilla 1985 is one helluva frankensteined relic.

The kaiju film, released in the US in 1985, is an extremely Americanized cut of The Return of Godzilla, which came out in 1984 in Japan. By “Americanized” I mean more than just adding a hammy dub—Godzilla ’85 cuts out a significant amount of the original film and replaces it with scenes and narration built for Canadian-American actor Raymond Burr. ’80s audiences were familiar with Burr since he appeared in the first heavily Americanized Godzilla, Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956), which introduced Western audiences to the world’s most famous gorilla-whale.

Jas Keimig is a former staff writer at The Stranger, where they covered visual art, film, stickers, and culture.

Chase Burns is The Stranger's former editor. He's covered everything from gay luchadores to chemical weapons to Isabella Rossellini's favorite pets.