Gamera: Shōwa Era Films: Part One (1965-68)

Gamera (1965)

Dir. Noriaki Yuasa

All eight of the original Shōwa era Gamera films are available on Blu-ray for a very affordable price thanks to Mill Creek Entertainment. They're split over two volumes, of which this is the first, with each release containing four remastered Japanese originals on one Blu-ray disc. Four films on one disc would ordinarily make me cringe, but the truth is they look just fine. What's equally important is that, even though it states on the reverse that they're Region A, they are in fact Region FREE.

Created to cash in on the success of Toho's Gojira (Godzilla) franchise, the first Gamera movie contains within it enough unique elements to differentiate it from Godzilla.

Predictably, an atomic bomb is responsible for his arrival, but his origin is different and his affiliations aren't as clear-cut. His appearances are more frequent and more evenly spread out over the film's running time. (I loved the pictures showing his visitations across the globe, like hilarious holiday snaps of a giant turtle's sightseeing tour.) Furthermore, he can do something menacing that Godzilla can't, which makes him an arguably more formidable foe. It's also technically ridiculous, but awesome spectacle outweighs logic on this occasion.

Gamera vs. Barugon (1966)

Dir. Shigeo Tanaka

Film number two is set six months after the first. Plan Z went tits-up, so the giant turtle is back, this time in colour, but functions like a guest in his own movie. Instead, Barugon eats up most of the monster screen time with his icy tongue. The remainder of the story involves an unscrupulous treasure-seeker who can’t see past his own greed.

There's despair when danger might have been more effective and the pace slows to a (quadrupedal) crawl in the last third, but there's more than enough quality moments to recommend a viewing to fans.

Daiei's scale models aren't as good as Toho's, but in G vs B the creatures are less like men in suits, which is something that'll please some folks while disgusting others.

Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)

Dir. Noriaki Yuasa

Mankind does what it does best: it exploits the poor and builds more roads.
Gyaos wakes after millennia and does what comes natural: it eats things.
Gamera eventually intervenes and does what needs to be done: kaijū bad-assery!

The deductive 'science' is so much bullshit and the ultimate plan is badly thought out (poison the lure, you pricks!), but it's hard to dislike the third film, because even though it begins to move closer to the kid-friendly scripts it also throws in more blood and violence. Good job, Japan. We like that.

Plus, even when it's being rubbish it's still much better than what the other Big G was forced to shit out that year, namely the piss-poor Son of Godzilla. Don't even go there.

Friend to all children he may be, but I feel sorry for Gamera having to put up with so much adult short-sightedness and stupidity.

Yes, I reused the same picture as before. I only have two to work with, so give me a break. But get used to that feeling because the films themselves reuse footage.

Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

Dir. Noriaki Yuasa

Space aliens fluent in the Japanese language invade Japan, but their high tech super-catch ray won’t stop the playful Gamera for long.

He's so displeased that he'll shoot fire in the vacuum of space! That's just what you deserve if you're dumb enough to fashion a spaceship from the asses of five giant wasps.

Luckily for Earth the aliens were too busy getting outsmarted by boy scouts and a huge chunk of reused footage from all three of the previous films. If it had been otherwise, they might've made best use of the fact that there wasn't enough budget to stage a scene of the JSDF firing a typical barrage of ineffectual missiles in their general direction.

Gamera: Shōwa Era Films: Part Two (1969-80) is next month.