Since debuting in 1954, Godzilla has served as the undisputed King of the Monsters. The arrival of Toho Studios' favorite son kicked off a veritable kaiju craze, as movie going audiences around the world were clamoring for more giant monster good times. While Godzilla kicked off a long running franchise (which will continue with the highly anticipated Godzilla: King Of The Monsters), there have been plenty of contenders to pop up over the years looking to dethrone the king. While plenty of these kaiju flicks were perfectly happy trying something unique and different, many opted for an easier, slightly scuzzier approach: just ripping of Godzilla. But these weren't just run of the mill Godzilla knock-offs; some of these movies got downright weird.

Practically a kaiju subgenre into itself, the Godzilla knock-off has become synonymous with poorly made, cash grab-y flicks looking to ride the King of the Monsters coattails. With cheap sets and even cheaper rubber monster suits, these films are filled with bizarre plots, strange creatures, and plenty of eye-rolling special effects. So while audiences feverishly wait for the big screen return of Godzilla, join CBR as we take a look back through the years to bring you a definitive list of the most out-there Godzilla wannabes!

15 THE MAGIC SERPENT

The Magic Serpent

As America was swept up in giant lizard monster fever, every two-bit movie company on Godzilla's green Earth was scrambling to cash in. Film distributors in the West were eager to get their grubby mitts on anything resembling Toho's King of the Monsters, regardless of film quality. Which might explain 1966's The Magic Serpent.

Taking the "giant, lumbering monster" concept and throwing in a load of ninjas was the name of the game for The Magic Serpent, which saw ninjas turning into giant eagles, spiders, and the titular serpent for the fate of the kingdom. As bonkers as it was low budget, The Magic Serpent came nowhere close to replicating the awe of Godzilla, but that didn't stop American television networks from airing this C-grade Godzilla wannabe constantly back in the late '60s.

14 DINOSAURUS!

Dinosaurus

Here's a rule of thumb: if a movie from the '50s or '60s ends in an exclamation point, odds are? Not gonna be a good movie. Turns out, this concept holds true for one of the most blatant Godzilla knock-offs to come out of the West, the hilariously named Dinosaurus!

In this stinker of a rip-off, a Tyrannosaurus Rex and Brontosaurus are found frozen in ice off the coast of a Caribbean island, only for a wayward lightning bolt to re-awaken the ancient creatures. The T-Rex proceeds to destroy cities, while the Brontosaurus befriends a revived caveman and precocious island boy, but this is all just set dressing for the series of fights between the two dinosaurs, accomplished using hilariously shoddy puppets. If you ever watched Godzilla and thought "Gee, I wish there was less story, and also more sock puppet fights," Dinosaurus! might be the film for you, but everyone else should steer clear of this knock-off.

13 VARAN

Varan

When Godzilla suddenly catapulted Toho Studios into the big leagues, the Japanese movie studio quickly realized that the public wanted one thing and one thing only: more kaiju movies. Realizing that movie goers could only stomach so much Godzilla, the studio got to work creating new giant monsters. But Toho must not have felt particularly inspired in 1958, as one of the studio's first post-Godzilla flicks ended up starring... a poor man's Godzilla.

Varan was Godzilla in everything but name. Giant lizard monster covered in back-spikes? Check. A story that serves as an allegory for man's hubris in meddling with nature? Double check. A climx that sees the giant lizard monster squaring off against the Japanese military? Better believe that's a check. Varan's knock-off-ness was so apparent, Toho eventually said "Screw it" and just made Varan a Godzilla character. Yes, Varan was such a rip-off that he stumbled tail-backwards into the franchise he was ripping off. Now that's impressive.

12 YONGARY

Yongary

As Godzilla continued to rake in buckets of cash, Japanese film studios found themselves thinking "A movie with a guy in a giant rubber monster suit? Why, we could do that!" Turns out, Godzilla was much more than rubber suits and pyrotechnics, but apparently the makers of Yongary, Monster Of The Deep didn't get this memo.

Designed by film studio Toei to rival the runaway success of GodzillaYongary wore its knock-off-ness on its scaly monster sleeve. The film was crafted from the ground up to rip-off Toho's money making monster, with everything from a storyline revolving around an ancient kaiju awakened by atomic bomb tests to actually poaching the techniques utilized by the special effects team on Godzilla. While not the worst Godzilla wannabe to ever shamble into theaters, seeing a Godzilla rip-off this blatant is just strange.

11 GAPPA

Gappa

Sounding less like a scary giant monster and more like an Australian slur, Gappa isn't the kind of name that strikes fear. But for all of its name shortcomings, Gappa: The Triphibian Monster still manages to achieve a rarely seen accomplishment: the double knock-off!

Yes, Gappa was not satisfied simply ripping off the King of Monsters; this film doubles down on its bootleg-ness by ripping off Hugh Hefner! In the film, the president of "Playmate Magazine" seeks to turn an island into a resort, which inadvertently awakens the titular giant monster. Sure, the movie is total knock-off garbage, but not many kaiju films can claim their giant monster was summoned by a softcore pornography magnate, so at least Gappa: The Triphibian Monster has that going for it.

10 DAIGORO

Daigoro

Much like Wu-Tang, Godzilla is for the children. At least, that was the belief Toho Studios held after moving Godzilla in a more family friendly direction. Doing away with the heavy allegorical storytelling and subbing in wacky fights and slapstick comedy proved to be a solid decision, as these kid friendly Godzilla films performed well at the box office. Toho decided to attempt to replicate this success with another kaiju film, but inadvertently ended up making one of the strangest Godzilla rip-offs of all time.

In Daigoro Vs. Goliath, a Japanese scientist adopts a giant monster dubbed Daigoro, and raises the kaiju to follow the path of good. When an evil monster named Goliath arrives on Earth and threatens to destroy Japan, Daigoro is forced to defend his adopted country. What follows is perhaps the only kaiju training montage in movie history as Daigoro prepares to fight Goliath, with plenty of slapstick comedy and uplifting musical numbers thrown in for good measure. Remarkably strange, this is the kind of Godzilla rip-off you need to see to believe.

9 THE X FROM OUTER SPACE

The X From Outer Space

The kaiju in 1967's The X From Outer Space is the cinematic equivalent of letting someone copy your homework, but telling them to change the wording slightly so it doesn't look too obvious that they copied you. Apparently, the film makers behind this forgettable giant monster flick didn't feel too compelled to break the mold with their kaiju, instead opting to just take the body of Godzilla and staple a ridiculous UFO on top.

Credit where credit is due, the story of The X From Outer Space is a departure from the standard "nukes = bad" stories of Godzilla, having humanity head to Mars to explore, where an alien entity sprays the ship with spores, which are subsequently brought back to Earth and develop into the titular X. Problem is, our goofy-headed monster is still just a spore, so humanity eventually works out how to turn X back into his original spore form, before subsequently launching the pesky spore into the sun. A fittingly lame end for a lame knock-off monster.

8 GALGAMETH

Galgameth

The '90s saw a boom of direct-to-video kids movies, as production studios jostled to have tykes around the world bug their parents into buying their crummy movies. But with so many movies to pick from, hows a direct-to-video flick supposed to stand out? Easy: take a bunch of things kids like, mash them together into one dumb mess of a movie, and watch the profits roll in! Which brings us to Galgameth.

Not satisfied just being your stock standard Godzilla wannabe, Galgameth took the tried-and-true "giant monster destroys things" concept and transported it back to medieval times. When King Henryk is betrayed and poisoned by his black knight, the strangely named El El, the King gifts his young son, Prince Davin, with a statue of a monster, promising that it will protect him. Cue low-budget swords-and-sorcery-for-kids action, with a giant bootleg Godzilla thrown in for good measure. We're not sure if anyone was clamoring for a mash-up of A Kid In King Arthur's Court and Godzilla, but at least this strange Godzilla knock-off managed to be somewhat original.

7 GORGO

Gorgo

"Hey, you got your Godzilla monster in my King Kong story!" "Well, you got your King Kong story on my Godzilla monster!" We can't say definitively that this is how Gorgo was created, but it's honestly a safe bet. After all, Gorgo is the kind of movie that isn't scared to let its bootleg flag fly.

One of the only British forays into ripping off Godzilla, 1961's Gorgo finds a giant lizard monster awoken from slumber after a long-dormant volcano erupts. From here, Gorgo takes a decidedly King Kong spin, as the creature is captured by adventurers and sold to a circus, where the monster is displayed. Cue a breakout, plenty of destruction, and the introduction of a second monster. Gorgo isn't the worst Godzilla wannabe, boasting impressive creature designs and effects, but the fact that the film is so blatant in its rip-off-ery is strange, making this a truly odd Godzilla knock-off.

6 REPTILICUS

Reptilicus

With the worldwide success of Godzilla, movie studios on every corner of the globe found themselves scrambling to hop on the "giant monster crushes buildings" money train. Even Denmark got in on the action, rolling out the truly awful, truly blatant knock-off Reptilicus.

Hitting theaters in 1961, Reptilicus took the tried-and-true kaiju formula to the land of the Danes, unleashing the titular creature upon the unsuspecting city of Denmark. Problem is, Reptilicus throws the "giant monster as an allegory for a bigger issue" aspect of Godzilla right out the window, instead opting to make a no-frills monster movie with a remarkably silly looking kaiju. Reptilicus remains Denmark's one and only giant monster film, and judging from the knock-off quality of Reptilicus, maybe that's for the best.

5 THE GIANT BEHEMOTH

The Giant Behemoth

So powerful was the box office draw of Godzilla that the King of the Monsters managed to inadvertently change entire films. Such was the case with 1959's The Giant Behemoth, which underwent major changes in order to compete with Toho's giant monster.

Initially, The Giant Behemoth followed an amorphous blob of radiation as it reeked havoc throughout London, but with the success of Godzilla, the monster was retooled into a lumbering dinosaur that bore more than a passing resemblance of Godzilla. Mix this with a plot that borrowed heavily from 1953's The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and you've got a truly blatant, truly boring knock-off giant monster flick.

4 FRANKENSTEIN

Frankenstein Conquers The World

Have you ever read Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and thought "Yeah, this musing on what makes a man human is great and all, but this story would be better if the monster was 60 stories tall and fought a giant lizard creature"? Someone in Japan clearly felt the same way, which leads us to the truly bizarre Godzilla knock-off Frankenstein Conquers The World.

Looking to ape the success of Godzilla, Toho churned out this strange flick, in which the heart of Frankenstein is taken from the Nazis by the Japanese, only for the heart to be caught in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. From here, the heart evolves into a feral child, before eventually morphing into a towering monster, leading to a showdown between Frankenstein and the kaiju Baragon. A strange melding of Godzilla nuclear allegory, a classic character of gothic horror, and giant men in rubber suit fights, Frankenstein Conquers The World is the kind of Godzilla knock-off you need to see to believe.

3 REPTILIAN

Yongary Reptile

Remember Yongary, the hilariously blatant Godzilla knock-off we discussed earlier? Well, much like the King of Monsters it knocked off, after its initial outing, the Yongary franchise fell into a deep slumber, disappearing for many, many years. But as the 1998 American remake of Godzilla loomed large, the Yongary franchise awoke, and lumbered back to knock-off once again.

Yes, though you may be fooled by the title, the truth is that Reptilian is a remake of the largely forgotten Yongary, just gussied up with godawful CGI in an attempt to cash-in on Roland Emerich's Godzilla. Throw in subplots involving aliens, mind control, and soldiers in jetpacks, and you have one truly terrible, truly blatant Godzilla wannabe.

2 GAMERA

Gamera

This might be the rare instance in which being a knock-off isn't necessarily a bad thing. Gamera, or "that weird giant turtle who can fly with his jet legs," as you might know him, has made a career out of playing second banana to the more popular Godzilla, but this franchise has managed to escape its rip-off roots and find a voice all its own.

Debuting in 1965's on-the-nose titled Gamera, The Giant Monster, Gamera was initially presented as your standard bad guy giant monster, but when the film was a hit among Japanese children, sequels were pumped out that turned Gamera into a good guy, dubbing the titanic turtle "Friend of Children." While Godzilla's moral standing has seesawed over the years, Gamera has remained a hero across 11 films. Now a bonafide kaiju star in his own right, Gamera overcame his bootleg origins to stand on his own.

1 PULGASARI

Pulgasari

Buckle up, because this Godzilla rip-off is bonafide bonkers. Sure, plenty of Godzilla rip-offs have been churned out over the years, but at least the individuals who directed those knock-offs actually wanted to direct those films. But the same cannot be said of Pulgasari, as this King of Monsters wannabe was directed by an abducted South Korean director under the watchful eye of Kim Jong-il.

In the late 1970's, director Shin Sang-ok and his estranged wife Choi Eun-hee were abducted by the North Korean government, and were subsequently forced to direct and star in several pro-North Korea films. The strangest of the bunch was undoubtably Pulgasari, which saw a Godzilla knock-off thundering around feudal Korea and aiding a peasant uprising against a corrupt king, before inadvertently turning on the peasants. An oddball allegory for the price to be paid for not trusting those in power, Pulgasari will forever stand as the absolute weirdest Godzilla rip-off of all time.