Uchu Daikaiju Girara (aka The X From Outer Space) (1967)

A spaceship returns from an expedition to Mars with a sample of space spores that contaminanted their craft. While the spore is being analyzed in a laboratory, it escapes and soon turns into a giant beaked beast terrorizing Japan. Directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu, this rather silly "rubber monster terrorizes Tokyo" creature feature is an entertaining piece of Japanese cheese. The movie begins with a pop song over the credits which immediately alerts us "Don't take us seriously. Sit back and have some fun!'. Taku Izumi's rhythmic pop score continues through out the film and we get a monster called Guilala instead of Godzilla who is able to transform itself into a bouncing ball of energy and there's also a flying saucer that looks like an apple pie. I find these Japanese creature features near irresistible and though this one takes awhile to get its rhythm going (too much time spent on comedy relief and romantic entanglements), it's a hoot without quite crossing over into camp. With Eiji Okada (HIROSHIMA ON AMOUR), Shunya Wazaki, Itoko Harada, Peggy Neal, Shinichi Yanagisawa and Mike Daneen.