Gamera

[Chedney Honks]

hiya gamera mate



I've recently rewatched the 90s Gamera movies, directed by Shusuke Kaneko, known as the 'Heisei Gamera trilogy'. They're widely regarded as 'when Gamera was better than Godzilla', even if I think peak Godzilla is the best of the genre. I really enjoyed them first time round when I was well into a surprise Godzilla phase (which I also look back on fondly, very fun, comforting films apart from the rather bleak original) but I couldn't necessarily remember what I liked about them.

On the rewatch, I've found that the human characters are much more likeable and empathetic than in your typical kaiju flicks where you're often just waiting for the carnage. I can't say the acting is anything special, it isn't, but the human drama and individual struggles add to the melancholic tone. They're often quite hopeless and dark, really channeling that washed out 90s Japanese horror palette in many respects. There's a lot of rain, overcast skies and neither the cities nor the countryside are portrayed as inviting spaces. A lot of the cityspaces are functional, industrial, commercial rather than vibrant and the countryside seems bleak as fuck. Isolated, impoverished, forgotten. They have an atmosphere you don't find very often in these films.

Beyond that, while the effects are transparently quite cheap, there's a craftsmanship, creativity and character to the models and rear projections and the many examples of deft practical trickery and slight of hand. The monster madness and destruction is among the best in the genre and I think it stands up very well. I would much much rather see this kind of imagination and resourcefulness than a CGI King Ghidorah shooting CGI lightning at a CGI Godzilla, for example.

Last point is that Gamera himself is actually a bit of a buffoon. He has an instinctive compulsion to wipe out other monsters which comes in very handy, but he has very little regard for anything else. He will thoughtlessly bimble his way through a few blocks of flats or shoot a massive fucking fireball at a hospital because he's trying to kill some other monster. For a 'character' which was originally 'a friend to all children', he ends up orphaning a shitload in this trilogy and flat out killing loads more. This also means that while you hope he will succeed, your sympathy is almost always with the human characters because they also suffer at his helping hand.

Here's the trailer for the first film in the trilogy.

https://youtu.be/a8lKCMIF4iA

They're all on the Arrow Player which you can get through Prime Video with a free trial.

For me, they represent a satisfying trinity of melancholy, carnage, cultural voyeurism.

[Shit Good Nose]

The Daimajin trilogy might be up your street if you haven't already seen them.  Period samurai type dramas with big monster carnage.  They're more po-faced and solemn than most of yer kaiju stuff, so they're a nice distraction when things get too stupid with rubbery dances and high fives.

[Chedney Honks]

Cheers for the suggestion. I am tempted by them but heard the action tends to be quite rear-loaded. Is that fair? I really like the sound of the period stuff and the sombre atmosphere, might see how much in the Arrow sale.

[Shit Good Nose]

The giant carnage is certainly rear-loaded, but the lead-up has still has smaller (human sized) action and drama.  The first one features a coup against the (benevolent) lord and his family, the second one features skirmishes between warring clans, whilst the third one (not great in my opinion, but a fan favourite which has been likened to The Goonies) features a group of kids going to save their dads from a labour camp.  In all three the big action does happen in the last 10-15 minutes, but the build-ups aren't just an hour and a quarter of dead air.

Between my youth with channel 4 showing most of them in the 80s and early 90s, and then being a teenager watching and becoming addicted to Mystery Science Theater 3000, I really overdosed on the kaiju films (and some of those Gamera ones...christ), so the Daimajin films were a real eye opener about what else a kaiju type film could do.

[Osmium]

'when Gamera was better than Godzilla'

This is one of those things where because a youtuber said it, it somehow became fact. I don't know if I'd put any of the three above 'Godzilla vs. Destoroyah' but I did see the Heisei Godzilla films a lot more recently than the Kaneko Gamera trilogy. In any case, I really enjoyed them when I did see them. I've been working my way through the series on PrimeVideo so will be watching them again soon. It's safe to say after the 5 or so films I've watched so far, Showa Gamera definitely isn't 'when Gamera was better than Godzilla'.

[Chedney Honks]

As I say, the Heisei Gamera is reportedly 'when Gamera was better than Godzilla' (in quotes), not the Showa films. That's not my opinion, as I think I made clear in the OP. I was broadly contextualising this specific trilogy for anyone unfamiliar. I've really enjoyed lots of your posts in the movie forum so I'll just chalk it up as something that's irritated you on YouTube and stuck. I have plenty similar. At some point, I'll watch the Showa films but I've seen most vicariously via Brandon Tenold, and they look bloody awful.

Between my youth with channel 4 showing most of them in the 80s and early 90s, and then being a teenager watching and becoming addicted to Mystery Science Theater 3000, I really overdosed on the kaiju films (and some of those Gamera ones...christ), so the Daimajin films were a real eye opener about what else a kaiju type film could do.

I've really appreciated and enjoyed a lot of your recommendations of HK/Chinese films over the last year, so I'll go for it, I've got a £15 Amazon voucher and a fiver extra off on some random promo. I feel like there's a fair overlap in our tastes and your descriptions sold me. Solemn, period kaiju sounds right up my street.

[Spiteface]

I've very recently bought the Gamera boxsets.

I plan on diving right in once I have finally completed the Criterion Godzilla Showa era set, but I'm also balls-deep in Return of Ultraman these days. Really should use my tokusatsu thread more.




Anyway, this is a good place to post this:


https://youtu.be/17brZrkOmKI

A "proof of concept" for a potential new Gamera movie that obviously never saw the light of day.

[Osmium]

As I say, the Heisei Gamera is reportedly 'when Gamera was better than Godzilla' (in quotes), not the Showa films. That's not my opinion, as I think I made clear in the OP. I was broadly contextualising this specific trilogy for anyone unfamiliar. I've really enjoyed lots of your posts in the movie forum so I'll just chalk it up as something that's irritated you on YouTube and stuck. I have plenty similar. At some point, I'll watch the Showa films but I've seen most vicariously via Brandon Tenold, and they look bloody awful.

Sorry, the last part was my opinion on what I've seen of the Showa stuff. I should have removed the quotation marks. As for Heisei vs Heisei, it's not something that irritated me, just something I've noticed popping up after videos like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AHQf8I8k9M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2KxUDkY27Y
Maybe it was always the case.

[Chedney Honks]

Hehe, I follow both of those channels (and enjoy them) so that's almost certainly where the quote has come from! I have seen plenty of praise for the Heisei Gamera trilogy, though. It seems to be pretty much universally well regarded. Funnily enough, Heisei Godzilla is comfortably my favourite period and aside from the 1954 film, my top kaiju stuff is mostly from that era, plus the marvellous Millennium GMK!


Cheers for that proof of concept trailer/film, Spiteface. I defo prefer the models to the cheapo CGI, to be honest! Hopefully we will get more Gamera at some point, though. He's an entertaining sod.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Gameragate.

[petercussing]

I really dig 90s Gamera but i do feel sad watching it as it's really apparent there's no way we'd be big friends in the same way me and pre-90s Gamera would be. I think we'd get on okay but there'd be no warmth :(

[Spiteface]

Gameragate.

It's about ethics in giant turtle journalism.

[Chedney Honks]

I really dig 90s Gamera but i do feel sad watching it as it's really apparent there's no way we'd be big friends in the same way me and pre-90s Gamera would be. I think we'd get on okay but there'd be no warmth :(

He emphatically does not seem to be friend of children in the 90s.

I've been watching some Showa Gamera the last couple of evenings in bed and they really are a combination of charming, undeniably funny monster action and too much kids jabbering on. I can see the appeal though, would have been lovely to have seen them when I was younger. Prob will get the Showa boxset for the retirement home.

I got the Daimajin box, by the way, had a £20 Amazon voucher from my birthday and I'll look forward to getting stuck in this weekend.

[petercussing]

Those Showa G kids are totes scrappy doo. I don't blame Gamera for belting them round during filming, which i imagine he can't not have done.

I kind of go back and forth on the showas depending if i'm all grumpy or not, sometimes they steam my clams but more often they make me happy as said clams.

That Daimajin box set looks all jamming!!! I thought about grabbing it recently but it's ££££££££* (*slightly higher than i would pay without a voucher of some kind like you dun)

[Osmium]

There's some wondrous decapitations in these kids films

[Chedney Honks]

Quality action there. I only wish he'd decapitated some of the kids.

I'm still very much enjoying watching these Showa films before I fall asleep. They tend to have a good scene early on with Gamera and some other monster and then it goes into some inane story and character section and I fall asleep. Next night, I put it on half an hour before the end, get another big daft fight and off to sleep. It's very cozy viewing.

[Poobum]

I like to take pigtures with my gamera.

[Crenners]

I got the Arrow Showa era box and watching them in order, unlike when I dipped in and out via Amazon Prime Arrow channel.

I just finished Gamera vs. Barugon and I really loved it, albeit it was quite shit. I always enjoy the Polynesian tribal islander bollocks in Godzilla films and great to see it totally ripped off here. Excellent stuff about some massive rare opal just being a Barugon egg, that'll teach you greedy sods. Barugon himself is a pretty foolish looking creature, I love the big white googly eyes in these early Gamera flicks, looks like papier mache. That said, his ice breath is scary and I really think freezing is a very effective cheapo effect. Gamera stabbing him in the face and him pissing blue blood was also really good.

You do have to suspend a great deal to enjoy the narrative of these films but a large part of my appreciation and enjoyment is precisely how much they achieve with so little. The cinematographic creativity with models and rear/split projection and lighting and practical effects is such a pleasure to me. The inspiration of tokusatsu vs ugly lifeless cgi.

[petercussing]

Yeah, that one is v.satisfying kaijus for me, too. Silly good times. Just does it's business well. I love egg jewel plus greed, too, so it's right up me alley.

This made me look at the list of the films and made me realise that i haven't seen Gamera Super Monstrum which i might watch this weekend to teach me a lesson about completion and fun.

It also made me think about the fact that i only really understood that Showa Gamera and me would be real big buddies when i saw Gamera vs jiger, cos i knew i'd happily internally explore his body (no funny business)for parasites if he really needed me to and it truely meant saving his bones from death. I think he'd just trust me to do it, too, and that says a lot.

[Crenners]

@petercussing The guy set his stall out early when he saved that urchin in the B/W movie but torched and trampled hundreds of thousands of adults. I suspect if you wore a little cap and shorts, he would let you pluck any amount of parasites from his soft belly.

No being funny but Gamera been DBS checked? 😟

[petercussing]

Hey, children are our futures, Gamera knows this, those adults are superfluous.

Plus my little cap and shorts are worn out.

Anyway, he just wants to a have nice time with some kids all by himself with no grown ups about, nothing funny.

Given how annoying these 'some kids' are, he's a saint to even spend anytime with them regardless of his intent. His belting them around on set is positively angelic in this light, even if that's just a rumour i've bandied about.

Having said that i do reflect upon the point that he is naked 100% of the time.

[Crenners]

Hahaha never thought about that before. And you're dead right, if he does have an ulterior motive, he's certainly put a shift in with these little arsewipes.

I should say that I nevertheless am completely against whatever is implied there.

[petercussing]

Me too, hence me carefully using those precious legally binding words "No funny business". Saved me at work so many times. E.G. "Can I press my face against your back for a minute, no funny business?", etc. It's good to let people just know there's definitely nothing wrong happening to them.

Just to be super clear, I in no way condone the belting of kids or any funny businesses by any jet legged giant turtles, no matter how annoying they are, or how much the deserve it. It's just plain wrong.

[Crenners]

There are few pleasures so relaxing and 'out of time' as being very tired, not needing to get up, wife sound asleep, drinking a beer and rewatching Gamera vs Gyaos with the audio commentary on. Absolutely blissful unimportance.

[Crenners]

I feel like jotting down some mini reviews of the Gamera films as I watch them in order via the Arrow Showa Era and Heisei Era boxsets. I started with the Heisei films, loved them, and then caught some of the older Showa films on Arrow player in bed. Recently, I got the Showa boxset and sat down to take the series in order. I've really enjoyed them so far.

Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965)

The only black and white Gamera movie, and probably the only film in the series with a relatively sober tone. It's hardly Godzilla (1954) but compared to what comes later, it's almost austere. It has absolutely nothing to say, it's a straightforward monster movie, but Gamera himself is simply, undeniably a great monster. The design of a giant frowning turtle with big tusks just looks great and he somehow has personality and a kind of warmth to him. He does flatten a load of inhabited buildings and scorch dozens of adults to death with his fire breath but at one point, he saves one kid. The warning signs were there, but for now it's cool to have a kaiju with character. The scenes of destruction lack the cinematographic and directorial flair of Ichiri Honda but they're fun and make you grin like a sicko at the window. I love the models and the mini explosions and the sincerity. A fine start to the series. 6/10.

[Crenners]

Gamera vs Barugon (1966)

This fun sequel builds on the tone of the first film and surpasses it in every respect. While I do love black and white cinematography for monster movies, this first colour entry still manages to retain the dark and often bleak atmosphere of the original but adds some vibrant bursts of flame and blood and best, oddest of all, Barugon's rainbow beam.

It's very rare that the human drama in these films is something you want to sit through more than once but there are some pretty engaging characters here in a story of greed, tribal traditions and duplicity. Likewise, the usual military failures to contain whichever monster are quite imaginative and entertaining.

Beyond an explosive opening, Gamera is largely absent and it's almost Barugon's film. While his design requires you to have some affection for the suits and models of 60s kaiju movies, he's a destructive and threatening foe and the ice breath sequences are very endearing and creative. The film feels like it's the result of ingenuity and imagination and care. It's perhaps the best of all the Showa Gamera films and I would give it (scoring relatively across the series) 7.5/10.

[Crenners]

Gamera vs Gyaos

This is arguably peak Showa Era Gamera. It's dumb, effects are startlingly, entertainingly crap and the kid stuff isn't too bad yet. Gyaos has a great design, the flat head is quite menacing and weird. He's slightly frightening. The laser beam is hilarious when Gamera is bobbing and weaving but also inevitably very threatening. The bit where it cuts a plane in half is top tier Showa. It's also slightly gory.

The human stuff overall is quite decent. Some peasants are trying to time how/when they sell their land to maximise profits and they're presented as somewhat greedy cunts. It provides a fairly interesting backdrop. The kid is a bit of a know it all but quite endearing. The villagers and the employees build a rapport with you, good lads.

Overall, a 7.5/10 (relative)

[Glebe]

Smile you're on Candid Gamera.

[Crenners]

I want to take a photograph. Now where did I put that Gamera?

Gamera vs Viras

This is essentially unwatchable to me. I've seen bits of it but this is very much the stuff which gives Gamera a bad name: Precocious, annoying, smart arse kids; stock and reused footage; human-looking aliens and cheapo sets; slow and lifeless monster fights. This is not worth watching.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe (1995) - Giant flying turtle Gamera tries to save the world from some enormously weird birds, but the Japanese army don't realise he's a force for good, the bloody idiots. This follows the template most monster movies do, but I'm fond of the odd old bastard that Gamera is, while the Gyaos made for a decent villain, though I hope the next film in the series is a little crazier and outlandish. 7.3/10

I've not read the rest of the thread yet as I didn't want to risk seeing spoilers, so I hope I'm not just repeating what has already been said.