Yesterday was a dream come true for me. I got to sit in an Alamo Drafthouse and drink beer while watching some of my favorite giant monster movies all day long. The only way it could have been better is if I got handed $100 for every building that got stepped on.

The great Robert Saucedo and I programmed this year’s Destroy All Drafthouse’s event in a fun effort to help promote NEON’s upcoming Colossal release (yo, get your tickets here!). One of the event’s more charming moments arrived via a contest in which audience members stood up and improvised Colossal theme songs. The songs themselves will never be hits, but they had a lot of heart, let me tell you.

Of course the real draw was the movies themselves, and I feel Robert and I put together quite a lineup. Going in chronological order, we began with the British classic, 1961’s Gorgo.

This ended up being a perfect start for the day, as Gorgo offers a pleasant baseline of kaiju hijinks before our other films went crazy with things. Given that it stars a monster reminiscent of Godzilla in a plot that plays like King Kong in fast-forward, it covers a lot of territory in its short running time, making sure we started off with the basics. Gorgo’s monster effects are more quaint than exemplary, but it has its charms and rightful place in history.

We then moved onto the insane Gamera Vs. Guiron, my absolute favorite entry in the Showa Gamera series. The story involves two mischievous boys who find themselves abducted on a spacecraft hurling toward a planet on the other side of the sun to have their brains eaten by a couple of pretty aliens. Gamera comes to the rescue of course, but to save the day he must battle Guiron, a particularly cruel Kaiju with a knife for a head.

I think people underestimated what they were in for with this one, possibly thanks to Gamera’s reputation as a Mystery Science Theater 3000 staple. But rest assured, once Guiron gleefully disassembles an invading Gyaos, the tone of the audience changed. Gamera films are interesting because they’re made specifically for children yet feature all the best Kaiju gore. In this case, Guiron cuts off the Gyaos’ leg, then its wing, then its other wing, then its head, and then - because why not? - slices his neck into disks just for fun. As the kids proclaim “He is meeeeean!”

We followed up Gamera gore with A*P*E a ridiculous movie made to capitalize on the success of America’s ‘70s King Kong remake. I had never seen this film before. Though it’s infamous for a certain rude hand gesture from its hairy protagonist, I still wasn’t prepared for how bizarre and hilarious this would be. Just to give you an idea, the film opens with a fight to the death between our lovable giant ape and a shark. Actually, action-wise, that’s probably the highpoint. Still, I’m really glad I finally got to see this film.

Finally, we ended the night with one of the greatest giant monster fight movies ever made, Godzilla, Mothra, & King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. I could go on all day about the greatness of this film (in fact, I did right here!), but suffice to say, this epic throwdown provided a nice capper to a day that leaned on the campier side. Shusuke Kaneko’s sole Godzilla effort has a lot of fun moments, but I dare you not to get choked up when poor Baragon buys the farm or cheer at the full resurrection of King Ghidorah.

Even with four full movies, the marathon had a sprightly pace due to the short running time of each entry. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I walked out more jazzed about what I’d seen than tired (although I was a little tired). Overall, I had a great time with my fellow Houston monster fans and hope Robert and I get to do it again next year!