GUILALA

This monster from Outer Space is an energy hog. It will ingest any form of energy around — oil, coal and especially nuclear power. The more energy it ingests, the stronger it becomes. So do not attack it with atomic weapons or else you’ll only be increasing its ferocity. In fact, it’s hinted that if it soaks up enough energy, the Guilala might spin off hundreds, if not thousands of clone Guilala. We never see this happening in any of the Guilala movies, no doubt owing to the prohibitive costs associated with suiting up multiple Guilala.

The Guilala is spawned from a glowing red spore, and reverts to that form when traveling through space. Upon reaching Earth, it transforms into a giant, lizard-like beast with glowing red eyes, antennas and a ring or platter around its head, making him look like Godzilla with Saturn plopped down where his head belongs. Although his legs and arms seem swelled and bloated, the Guilala is fast, able to run like a Cheetah at over 80 mph. It’s highly destructive, shooting fireballs at will and boasting the ability to turn into a larger bundle of energy itself, wrecking everything within its reach.

Guilala appeared in the 1967 movie The X from Outer Space, the first monster flick from Japan’s Shochiku film studio. A comic sequel came out 41 years later — The Monster X Strikes Back. It’s laced with plenty of satire, as the Guilala, sometimes called the Girara in Japan, strikes during a G8 summit with the expected political fallout.

Here’s the trailer for the  original 1967 movie, opening with a news clip about Shochiku’s contest to name its new monster.

Tomorrow’s featured monster: Guiron