Varan (1958): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1958, Varan is a horror and science fiction film directed by Ishirō Honda, running about 87 minutes. “A giant monster greater than Godzilla or Rodan! Exercising its power over the whole of Japan!” — that tagline sets the tone.

What it’s about. When a rare species of butterfly is found in a mysterious valley in Japan, a pair of entomologists go to investigate and find more. However, when they get there they find an uncharted lake and as they are observing it they are caught in a landslide and killed. A reporter named Yuriko, the sister of one of the men decides to go to the area to find out what exactly happened. She is accompanied by another entomologist named Kenji and a reporter named Horiguchi. When they get to the village where the men were last seen alive they find out about a legend regarding a giant monster. They soon find out that it is not a legend and the monster named Varan is very much alive. Soon Varan leaves the valley where he has lived for millions of years and is heading for Tokyo.

Who’s in it. Varan stars Kōzō Nomura as Kenji Uozaki, Ayumi Sonoda as Yuriko Shinjô, Koreya Senda as Dr. Sugimoto and Akihiko Hirata as Dr. Fujimora, bomb expert, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 6.9/10, Varan has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. In US you can stream it on Criterion Channel. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Varan page.

If you liked it. Fans of Varan tend to enjoy Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, The Shining and Alien.