Gamera Shōwa Era Part Two

GAMERA VS. GUIRON

(1969)

Dir - Noriaki Yuasa

Overall: WOOF

Lazy, redundant, obnoxious, stupid, and above all else catastrophically boring, the firth Gamera film Gamera vs. Guiron, (Gamera tai Daiakujū Giron, Gamera vs. Giant Evil Beast Guiron, Attack of the Monsters), continues the downhill trajectory for the series, a series which was already lame-brained at its "best".  When two dumb-ass kids accidentally launch a UFO and fly around in outer space, followed by their sister informing her mother of this and merely being told to stop imagining things and just do good in school so she can get a swell job as an adult, (all within the first eighteen minutes), you know exactly what kind of dopey, child-friendly schlock that you are in for.  The problem is that Niisan Takahashi's script is so uninspired that it insults both grown-ups and children alike who are unfortunate enough to sit through such drivel.  The smaller budget from Daiei does not help either as it reuses previous monster footage from earlier installments and focuses more than ever on the kid's point of view in a fittingly ridiculous, quasi-Hansel and Gretel plot where another group of humanoid aliens in absurd costumes now want to eat people for reasons.  Rest assured though, it still finds time to shoehorn in pointless sequences of scientists in lab coats as well.

GAMERA VS. JIGER

(1970)

Dir - Noriaki Yuasa

Overall: MEH

 

More of the same for round six in the Gamera series, Gamera vs. Jiger, (Gamera tai Daimajū Jaigā, Gamera vs. Giant Devil Beast Jiger, Gamera vs. Monster X), sticks to earth this time instead of bothering with extraterrestrial forces.  It still has little kids sitting in on board meetings with scientists and military people, little kids who are also given dangerous tasks as part of the team in order to get their favorite over-sized, reptilian hero monster to take care of this year's baddie who was slumbering just fine beneath the earth until a stature on Wester Island was removed.  The story has enough bare-bones plot points to move things along, but it is all still made up of only slight variations of the same ole crap that is thrown into the mix time and time again, particularly for this kaiju franchise which is noticeably less inventive than Toho's Godzilla one by obvious comparison.  Speaking of comparison, this is a less insulting entry than others before it, yet what it makes up for with less obnoxious cuteness, (though there is still plenty of that), is a laborious structure whose suitmation sequences are as stock and boring as ever.  Gamera even sits out a significant portion of the latter half which gives inconsequential human characters the chance to study diagrams of his physiology, (and how did they get these diagrams in the first place you may ask?), further stalling an already redundant viewing experience.

GAMERA VS. ZIGRA

(1971)

Dir - Noriaki Yuasa

Overall: WOOF

Annoying grown-ups, annoying kids, and a giant, flying monster turtle all lock horns to defeat an alien race...again in Gamera vs. Zigara, (Gamera tai Shinkai Kaijū Jigura, Gamera vs. Deep-Sea Monster Zigra).  The sheer audacious redundancy of these movies is actually admirable after awhile, yet this was the entry that finally broke the camel's back after a new, barely distinguishable retread kept arriving year after year for the last six of them at this point.  This was due to Daiei Films going bankrupt shortly after the movie was finished and another installment would not arrive for almost a decade.  Serving as a saving grace then, the initial run was put out of its misery with a story that combines all of the previously used plot points...again.  Stupid little kids finding their way into dangerous situations involving outer space vehicles and underwater vessels?  Check.  An extraterrestrial force that craves world dominance? Check.  Said aliens having a giant monster of their own to put Gamera temporarily out of commission until the finale when the kids can help find the bad guy's weakness? Check.  Military meetings? Check.  Up-tempo music sung by children? Check.  So basically, you can watch all six of the previous movies at the same time and that technically counts as seeing this one too.

GAMERA: SUPER MONSTER

(1980)

Dir - Noriaki Yuasa

Overall: WOOF

One would think that nine years could wield markedly improved special effects in a tokusatsu movie, yet Daiei's ridiculous cash-grab Gamera: Super Monsters, (Uchū Kaijū Gamera, Space Monster Gamera), throws a monkey wrench in such an assumption.  The film's embarrassing reliance on stock footage, (including nearly every single shot of the title monster and all of his former, over-sized adversaries), makes sense considering that this was quickly thrown together to generate some easy revenue for the studio who was once again undergoing financial hardships.  Even more baffling and hilarious is the use of footage from Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999, meaning that yes, flying suitmation mixes with cartoons in as jarring of a manner as you would think.  Story wise, (you guessed it), we have another alien takeover plot, but at least only one annoying kid is at the center of things instead of a pair or gang of them, plus the added ingredient of a female superhero team, (because Japan), is something that the series never bothered taking enough drugs to come up with before.  Visually, the movie is a bona fide trainwreck of horrendously dated effects work that should be downright unacceptable as this was released in a post-Star Wars landscape.  Of course all of the film's multitude of flaws is exactly what makes it appealing for terrible movie fans, but make no mistake; a terrible movie this here certainly be.

Gamera Shōwa Era Part One

GAMERA, THE GIANT MONSTER

(1965)

Dir - Noriaki Yuasa

Overall: MEH

 

Daiei Films jumps on the "over-sized reptilian on a rampage" kaiju wagon with the unremarkablely derivative Gamera, The Giant Monster, (Daikaijū Gamera, Giant Monster Gamera, Gamrea the Invisible).  The first in a many-deep series of films which kicked off what is commonly referred to as the Shōwa era, it was made on a relatively modest budget after the studio's failed project Giant Horde Beast Nezura was shut down for health reasons.  Plagued with production issues, the results are a mixed bag as far as the special effects are concerned.  The only Gamera movie to be in black and white, this is a partial saving grace as the dark cinematography actually disguises the primitive model and suitemation work for more atmospheric effect.  The flying, fire turtle title creature looks better than would be expected in this regard, but sadly the plot structure features a steady combination of the genre's most annoying cliches.  It is all doctors, scientists, and military people concocting plans to stop Gamera in its tracks, none of which work of course until the very end as not to wrap things up too quickly.  Worst of all though is a prominent joint story line involving an obnoxious little kid who has no friends and is obsessed with turtles, a kid that inexplicably gets himself in close proximity with all of the action while whining "Gamera!", "Nooo!", and "Put me down!" more than enough times that the audience will just pray for him to be fed to the humongous beast already.

GAMERA VS. BARUGON

(1966)

Dir - Shigeo Tanaka

Overall: MEH

Quickly put into production after the success of Gamera, the Giant Monster, Gamera vs. Barugon, (Daikaijū kettō: Gamera tai Barugon, Great Monster Duel: Gamera vs. Barugon, War of the Monsters), is just as "giant monster movie by numbers" as its predecessor.  The film was shot in color and given an A-level budget, with the previous director Noriaki Yuasa handling the special effects sequences and Shigeo Tanaka stepping in behind the lens, making this the only kaiju work on his resume.  After a quick recap, things get right to the fun stuff with the title beast attacking the Kurobe Damn and spinning around like a lit-up UFO in the sky to find more bright and shinny sources of energy.  Sadly, the human drama then takes over for a prolonged amount of time before the other title beast Barugon hatches from an opal and terrorizes everyone, including Gamera who he puts into a frozen coma due to the ice blasts that he can propel from his tongue.  Thankfully, the plot largely forgets the non-monster characters after awhile, and the suitmation/toy puppet mash-em up sequences are hilariously stupid enough to forgive the overall textbook formula, even if the cinematography is often too murky to properly take advantage of the color format.

GAMERA VS. GYAOS

(1967)

Dir - Noriaki Yuasa

Overall: MEH

 

Things get back on the kid-friendly track with Gamera vs. Gyaos, (Daikaijū kūchūsen: Gamera tai Gyaosu, Giant Monster Midair Battle: Gamera vs. Gyaohe, Return of the Giant Monsters), the third entry in the Gamera series.  Original director Noriaki Yuasa was delegated to merely handling the special effects sequences in the previous Gamera vs. Barugon, but he is back at the helm proper here with regular screenwriter Niisan Takahashi still in charge of the screenplay.  Unfortunately, this also entailed the decision to have yet another slightly annoying child protagonist who is enthralled with the title monster for some reason.  The script goes as far as to have him relay obvious information to the grown-ups that help them combat the nocturnal Gyaos, a creature that was pitched by Yuasa as a vampiric/Dracula kaiju answer to Toho's giant Frankenstein in Frankenstein Conquers the World.  They ended up going with just another goofy looking dinosaur with a pointy head who only comes out at night and shoots yellow lasers from his pointy-teethed mouth.  The battle scenes between the two over-grown beasts are of the usual hilariously dated variety, no more or less absurd looking than any other such movie getting regularly churned out at the time.  Even Yuasa was not a fan of stock human characters breaking up the action, yet they are still a fixture here with a story revolving around protests to the construction of a highway, all of which provides the bare minimum of a contemporary backdrop for more monster smashy scenes.

 

GAMERA VS. VIRAS

(1968)

Dir - Noriaki Yuasa

Overall: MEH

Daiei's own kaiju series continues on with Gamera vs. Viras, (Gamera tai Uchū Kaijū Bairasu, Gamera vs. Outer Space Monster Viras, Destroy All Planets), the cheapest and dumbest entry yet.  Due to financial woes for the studio, the budget was limited here which resulted in a significant amount of reused footage.  Far more annoying though is the asinine story which pits two boy scouts against an alien race that is hellbent on conquering the earth.  These two brats manage to not only rewire a US military submarine, but also thwart the extraterrestrial spaceship's controls by effortlessly bamboozling them.  Such "Bah, who cares?" plot contrivances and jaunty music both set the tone squarely in the kid-friendly zone, plus the absolutely abysmal special effects further heighten such silliness.  The other giant monster of the title reveals itself to be a big, floppy squid-like creature that is as hilariously awful looking as any kaiju creation ever was.  There are plenty of embarrassing shots featuring the two of them duking it out in the finale, plus both the interiors and exteriors of the spaceship are equally bottom-barrel.  At least the inconsequential human drama is largely eliminated and there are some amusing elements regarding the glowing-eyed aliens that are visually memorable.