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For decades, theaters have shaken under the might of movie monsters that tower over Frankenstein's monster or things from outer space. Kaiju have left audiences trembling since "The Lost World" in 1925, the first film to use stop-motion animation and fool theatergoers into thinking giant beasts walked the Earth. After that, we got the Eighth Wonder of the World with "King Kong" in 1933, followed by "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms," which released in 1953. The first official Japanese kaiju (or "strange beast") was the 1954 "Godzilla," which really got the monster ball rolling for skyscrapers getting knocked over and cities turning to rubble.

But while kaiju movies have often played fast and loose with the tragic fallout of monster attacks, other films prioritize one thing above all: making these world-ending beasties truly terrifying.…