The War Of The Gargantuas (1966)

Starring Russ Tamblyn, Kumi Mizuno, Kenji Sahara, Nobuo Nakamura, Jun Tazaki
Directed by Ishiro Honda
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

When a giant monster from the sea emerges and attacks, it's thought to be the benevolent creature created by scientists from a young ape, but the ape monster returns to battle the new creature. 

As my friend Dan Day Jr. confirmed, this kaiju film from the Toho studio has somewhat of a tenuous connection with the prior feature Frankenstein Conquers The World for while the dubbed version of the film I watched referred to it as "Frankenstein," there's quite a few differences in the creature from that film and the ones we see here.  The two creatures on display in this outing are giant hairy apes, colored brown and green respectively, one of which can apparently breathe and survive underwater.  Once I got past that initial confusion, I found this to be an enjoyable monster romp, with the creature scenes well-staged so the monster-suited actors were believable as giants, augmented by giant hand props and good special effects.  Although there were a few sequences where I could tell model work was being used, the gargantuas' climactic battle in which they crush quite a few buildings looked as authentic as the time and budget would allow.  I've heard a number of people opine that American actor Russ Tamblyn was a disappointment and perhaps didn't take the role seriously as the film's central scientist.  I agree he was a bit stiff but didn't find that he detracted from my enjoyment of the film all that much.  I wouldn't place it among my favorite kaiju productions, as I thought the combat and destruction scenes overwhelmed the story at times, but Akira Ifukube's score was a plus, and Honda's sure-handed direction and the quality of the special effects were also of merit.

The Haunting (1963)

Starring Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn, Fay Compton
Directed by Robert Wise
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A paranormal researcher invites a pair of women to assist him in studying a genuinely haunted house, but the psychosis of one of the women makes her an attractive target for the ghosts.

Based on Shirley Jackson's famed novel, The Haunting Of Hill House, this is a well-regarded film from Oscar-winning director Robert Wise, and features excellent cinematography from Davis Boulton and an effective score from Humphrey Searle.  It's a well-polished suspenser with very good acting, but it's just not my cup of tea.  Perhaps it's due to the at times overwhelming focus on Harris' character or the reliance on unearthly noises alone to convey the presence of the ghosts.  There are a number of sequences I like, such as doors mysteriously closing, and Johnson's dangerous pursuit of Harris up a rickety staircase, but I just don't find the film all that eerie or nightmarish, which I think is what the cast and crew must have been striving for.