Giant Monster Gamera (1965)/Gammera (Gamera) The Invincible (1966)
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* 4.6/10 |
Gamera the Giant Monster (大怪獣ガメラ Daikaijū Gamera, lit. Giant Monster Gamera) is a 1965 Japanese kaiju film directed by Noriaki Yuasa and starring Eiji Funakoshi, Harumi Kiritachi, and Junichiro Yamashita. It is the first entry in the Gamera film series, and was the only film in the original series released theatrically in the United States.
Plot In an icy North American region, an unknown aircraft is shot down by an American fighter jet. The aircraft crashes and its cargo, a low-level atomic bomb, explodes. The resulting cataclysm awakens a giant, prehistoric monster called Gamera, who has the appearance of a giant turtle with teeth and large tusks. Japanese scientists on an expedition (including Dr. Hidaka, Kyoko, and Aoyagi) nearby are given a "devil stone" by an Eskimo chieftain, who explains that the creature is called Gamera. Gamera destroys the American jet with his fire breath and escapes into the sea. The monster heads to Japan and surfaces from Sagami Bay, where Toshio, a boy releasing his own pet turtle, sees him. Gamera destroys the city of Fujisawa and a lighthouse. However, he also rescues Toshio from falling from that same lighthouse and then retreats back into the sea. Scientists and government officials hold a conference to discuss killing the monster. Gamera destroys a research ship, kills the crew and then heads to Tokyo. He is attacked with freeze bombs and blown up, falling onto his back as a result. The scientists indicate that a turtle cannot right itself once on its back and that Gamera will therefore die of starvation. |
Gamera Vs. Barugon (1966)/War Of The Monsters
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* 4.5/10 |
Gamera vs. Barugon (大怪獣決闘 ガメラ対バルゴン Daikaijū kettō: Gamera tai Barugon) is a 1966 Japanese kaiju film directed by Shigeo Tanaka. It is the second entry in the Gamera film series and was released directly to television in the United States by American International Television.
Plot Set six months after the events of Gamera: The Giant Monster, a meteorite collides with the Z Plan rocket transporting the creature to Mars. Now free, Gamera returns to Earth and destroys Kurobe Dam in Japan. At the same time three mercenaries are sent by Kano, a World War II veteran, to an island in the South Pacific to retrieve a huge opal he once found and hid in a cave. Despite warnings from the local villagers, the trio find and locate the opal, but one dies from a fatal scorpion sting. The second man, Keisuke, Kano's younger brother, is betrayed by his fellow expeditioner Onodera and apparently killed in a cave-in. En route back to Japan, Onodera accidentally leaves the opal exposed to an infrared light. The heat incubates the opal - actually an egg - and a lizard eventually hatches. Growing to enormous size very quickly, the lizard destroys the ship and Kobe Harbor. Keisuke, having survived the cave-in, awakens in the care of the villagers. He then returns to Japan with a village girl called Karen, who refers to the lizard as Barugon. Barugon wreaks havoc in Osaka with its freeze-gas emitting tongue and stops the launching of the retaliative missiles with a rainbow-like ray emitted from seven spines on the middle of its back. Barugon encounters Gamera and the two battle, with Gamera eventually being frozen solid. |
Daimajin (1966)/Majin: The Monster Of Terror (1968)
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* 6.8/10 |
Daimajin (大魔神) is a 1966 Japanese film of the Daimajin series directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda. Its musical score is composed by Akira Ifukube. The film had a brief stateside theatrical release in 1968. Reportedly, it was shown both in Japanese with English subtitles and dubbed into English. The English dubbed version was later released directly to TV by American International Television under the title Majin the Monster of Terror.
Plot The movie opens with a household of peasants cowering during a series of earth tremors that are interpreted as the escape attempts of Daimajin, a spirit trapped within the mountain. The village gathers at their shrine. This is observed by the local feudal boss, Lord Hanabasa, a good and just man. It is also observed by his treacherous chamberlain, Samanosuke (Yutaro Gomi). Samanosuke has been waiting for just such a diversion to stage a coup d'état. As the villagers pray, Samanosuke and his henchmen slaughter Hanabasa and his wife, but their son and daughter escape, aided by the heroic samurai Kogenta (Jun Fujimaki). Back at the shrine, Samanosuke's men break up the meeting, forbidding all such gatherings in the future. The priestess issues a dire warning, but the men ignore her. Discouraged, the priestess, Shinobu, goes home, only to find Kogenta and the two children. She takes them up the side of the mountain, into forbidden territory, where the stone idol which is Daimajin stands, half-buried into the side of the mountain. Near this idol is an ancient temple - safe as only Shinobu knows of its existence. |
Return Of Daimajin (1966)/The Return Of Majin (1968)
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* 6.5/10 |
Return of Daimajin (大魔神 怒る Daimashin Ikaru, lit. Angry Daimajin) is a 1966 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Daiei Film Co. Ltd. It is the second film in the Daimajin trilogy.
Plot In The Return of Daimajin, the second film in the trilogy, Daimajin has taken up residence on an island in the middle of a lake. The lake is surrounded by two peaceful villages, Chigusa and Nagoshi. Near these two villages, but not bordering the lake, is another village. Ruled by an evil lord, the citizens flee to Chigusa as often as they can and make their way there, where the lords are only too happy to take in the refugees. One day the evil lord decides to take over the two villages, and he sees a window of opportunity in a festival that is held every year. The heroes end up on the run as the villains chase them. People keep ending up back on the island with the statue. Eventually, the evil lord has his men shatter the statue with a large amount of gunpowder. Daimajin's shattered remains end up at the bottom of the lake. True to the samurai formula is the amount of melodrama in Return of Daimajin. Occasionally something paranormal happens, but such occurrences are met rather indifferently. In the final fifteen minutes of the film, Daimajin finally comes to life and, like his predecessor, inflicts serious damage upon the evil lord and the surrounding landscape. |
Wrath Of Daimajin (1966)/Majin Strikes Again
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* 6.3/10 |
Wrath of Daimajin (大魔神 逆襲 Daimashin Gyakushû, lit. Daimajin's Counterattack) is a 1966 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Daiei Film Co. Ltd. It is the third and last film in the Daimajin trilogy.
Plot In the third and final film, the same statue from the first two movies is on top of a mountain rather than on the side. The fathers of some of the local children have been captured by an evil warlord and forced to work in their labor camps. When the four sons decide to go out and save their fathers, they have to cross Daimajin Mountain, where the stone god lays sleeping, a notoriously dangerous area full of treacherous terrain, evil samurai, and the angry Daimajin. The four boys are smart enough to pay their respects to the statue when they pass it so that they do not incur the monster's wrath. Eventually, the warlord's men anger the statue, who once again comes to life and destroys all those who have not been paying respect to him. The children and their fathers are spared while the work camp is destroyed. This film is different, politically, from the first two in that Daimajin is awakened by the pleas of a poor, rural boy rather than by someone of rank, and fights to rescue and avenge common people. None of the heroes in this film are of noble rank, unlike the first two, in which the main protagonists were members of deposed noble families. This proves that Daimajin only takes side with commoners and is made clear when he kills castle retainers who, though unaffiliated with the villains, are indifferent to the commoners' peril. |
Gamera Vs. Gyaos (1967)/Return Of The Giant Monsters (1967)
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* 4.6/10 |
Gamera vs. Gyaos (大怪獣空中戦 ガメラ対ギャオス Daikaijū kūchūsen: Gamera tai Gyaosu) is a 1967 Japanese kaiju film directed by Noriaki Yuasa. It is the third entry in the Gamera film series.
Plot A series of volcanoes erupt in Japan. The eruption at Mt. Futago (in Shizuoka Prefecture) attracts Gamera, whose arrival is witnessed by a young boy named Eiichi. Gamera then climbs up and into the volcano. A research team is dispatched to the volcano to find Gamera and study the effects of the eruption. Meanwhile, Chuo Expressway Corporation is building a roadway nearby, but local villagers refuse to leave. The research team's helicopter is destroyed by a sonic beam emitted from a cave in the mountains. Reporters are informed that no bodies were found, the culprit is not Gamera or the volcanic eruption, and an announcement will be made soon. One of the reporters, Okabe, leaves for the site, and he and the roadcrew foreman, Shiro Tsutsumi, arrive at a protest area simultaneously. Okabe sneaks through the barrier, and Tsutsumi and his crew are turned away, as are the villager protesters, by the arrival of a young woman. The villagers return to inform the village headman of the happenings. The protests are a ploy to get more money for the land. The young woman is revealed to be Eiichi's older sister. The crew returns to find the work camp destroyed and a strange green glow coming from the mountain nearby. The work crew goes to investigate. Eiichi finds Okabe in the woods near Mt. Futago recording the same light the workmen saw. Okabe convinces Eiichi that it might be Gamera and the two make their way to a cave. |
Gamera Vs. Viras (1968)/Destroy All Planets (1969)
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* 4.7/10 |
Gamera vs. Viras (ガメラ対宇宙怪獣バイラス Gamera tai Uchū Kaijū Bairasu) is a 1968 Japanese kaiju film directed by Noriaki Yuasa. It is the fourth entry in the Gamera film series.
Plot A deadly alien force approaches Earth. Gamera intervenes and destroys the alien vessel; but before the ship is destroyed, the aliens broadcast a warning to their world stating that Gamera is their enemy. Later on Earth a Boy Scout troop is visiting an aquarium to the scientists working on a small two-man submarine. Masao and Jim, two of the scouts, manage to talk their way aboard the sub. While in the water they spot Gamera who engages in a little race with the boys. However, their hijinks come to an end when the second alien vessel envelops the both of them in a super-catch ray. Gamera helps the boys to escape but it remains trapped in the force field while the aliens scan his memory-waves. They learn of Gamera's one weakness, his soft spot for children. Soon after, the field weakens and Gamera is free. The aliens capture Jim and Masao, threatening to kill the boys. Powerless, Gamera lands. Attaching a brainwave control device to Gamera's head, the aliens force the turtle kaiju to do their bidding. While aboard the spaceship, the boys continually try to escape. Gamera, however (under the influence of the aliens), is destroying dams and cities by the handful. Jim and Masao discover a squid-like creature, thinking he is another captive of the aliens. In fact he is the leader of the aliens. |
Gamera Vs. Guiron (1969)/Attack Of The Monsters (1969)
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* 3.8/10 |
Gamera vs. Guiron (ガメラ対大悪獣ギロン Gamera tai Daiakujū Giron, lit. Gamera vs. Giant Evil Beast Guiron) is a 1969 kaiju film directed by Noriaki Yuasa. It is the fifth entry in the Gamera film series.
Plot While scanning the skies through their telescope, two young boys, Akio and Tom, spy a spaceship descending into a nearby field. Stunned, bewildered, and bemused, they tell Akio's mother what they have seen, but she dismisses their story as childish nonsense. The next day, the two boys — with Akio's younger sister, Tomoko, in tow — cycle to the site to investigate. Enthralled, Akio and Tom manage to steal into the spaceship. But then, without warning, the ship takes off, leaving Tomoko behind. It soars into outer space toward a field of asteroids, which sends the boys into panic. However, Gamera (obviously aware of the boys' plight) appears and clears a path for the ship through the asteroids. The spaceship, flying near the speed of light, leaves Gamera behind and transports the boys to an unknown planet, where it lands on the outskirts of an alien city. Suddenly, a silver "Space" Gyaos appears, menacing the ship and the two young boys. Just before the creature attacks, a second, bizarre monster — whose head resembles a ginzu knife — emerges from an underground lair and attacks the Space Gyaos. The Gyaos emits a beam that reflects off the new creature's blade-shaped head and cuts off its own right leg. After the Space Gyaos attempts to retreat, the knife-headed creature lunges and chops off the Gyoas` left wing, before cutting off his right wing. The creature then cuts the helpless Gyaos' head off and brutally cuts the body into smaller pieces before retreating back to its lair. |
Gamera Vs. Jiger (1970)/Gamera Vs. Monster X (1970)
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* 5.7/10 |
Gamera vs. Jiger (ガメラ対大魔獣ジャイガ Gamera tai Daimajū Jaigā) is a 1970 kaiju film directed by Noriaki Yuasa. It is the sixth entry in the Gamera film series.
Plot In Gamera vs. Jiger, Gamera has his hands full right from the very beginning. Japan is preparing for Expo '70, to be held in Osaka. Construction of the various buildings and pavilions is well under way. On Wester Island in the Pacific Ocean, a large statue of mysterious origin (called the Devil's Whistle) is located by scientists. Workers from the Expo are interested in returning the statue for display and try to remove it for transport by ship. The removal of the statue is hampered first by a tribal member of the Wester Island people, then by the unexpected arrival of Gamera, who aggressively attempts to prevent the removal of the statue, only to be shot at by the crew instead. The statue is removed from the island successfully after a volcano erupts. Shortly after departing the island, members of the ship's crew begin to fall ill. The statue appears to be the source of the outbreak, as it makes a continuous piercing sound, driving many of the crew members insane. Later analysis reveals the presence of a central shaft that runs nearly the length of the statue top-to-bottom. The position of the opening on the statue is creating the high-pitched "squeal" as air passes through it. After the statue is removed, Jiger makes her first appearance and gets Gamera's immediate attention. The first of several fights ensues and Jiger wins by shooting projectile quills from her face. The quills impale Gamera's arms and legs, piercing all the way through and preventing Gamera from withdrawing his limbs into his shell and taking flight. |
Gamera Vs. Zigra (1971)/(1987) |
* 3.2/10 |
Gamera vs. Zigra (ガメラ対深海怪獣ジグラ Gamera tai Shinkai Kaijū Jigura) is a 1971 Japanese kaiju film directed by Noriaki Yuasa. It is the seventh film in the Gamera film series.
Plot Without warning, an alien spaceship attacks a Japanese moon base. Back on Earth, young Kenichi (Kenny in the English dubbed version) Ishikawa; his father, Dr. Yosuke (Henry in the English dubbed version) Ishikawa; his friend Helen; and her father, Dr. Tom Wallace, witness the spaceship descending into the ocean. They go to investigate but are soon captured by a teleportation beam that brings them aboard the spaceship. Inside the spaceship, a human-looking woman appears to them and reveals that she is of an alien race called Zigrans. By way of demonstrating Zigran technological prowess, she creates a gigantic earthquake that wreaks havoc in Japan. She had previously caused two other earthquakes, one in Peru and the other in Arabia (in the English dubbed version, it mentioned instead the Indian Ocean). She then tells her prisoners of the planet Zigra's history and its great scientific advances which, unfortunately, have resulted in its destruction; but in searching for a new home, Zigra has found Earth. The woman contacts authorities on Earth and orders them to surrender or she will kill her prisoners. Tom declares that the Zigran woman is insane and, in anger, she sends the two men into a hypnotic trance. Kenichi and Helen take action, successfully using the ship's control console to escape with their fathers. Enraged, Zigra orders the woman to go to Earth and kill the children. She says it would be simpler to kill all the people of Japan, but Zigra tells her that humans must be preserved so they can be used for food. |
Gamera: Super Monster (1980)/(1983)
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* 4.1/10 |
Gamera, Super Monster (宇宙怪獣ガメラ Uchū Kaijū Gamera, lit. Space Monster Gamera) is a 1980 Japanese kaiju film directed by Noriaki Yuasa. It is the eighth film in the Gamera film series.
Plot When the evil alien Zanon comes to enslave Earth, all hope seems lost. The Earth's resident superheroes, the Spacewomen, are powerless to stop him. They must enlist the help of a young boy who has a special connection with the giant turtle Gamera. The Friend of All Children then battles Gyaos (a huge vampire bat/pterosaur hybrid), Zigra (an alien shark), Viras (a alien squid), Jiger (a female giant prehistoric dinosaur), Guiron (a knife-headed alien monster) and finally Barugon (an enormous lizard whose tongue sprays a freezing gas that can freeze things solid and whose back spines emit a powerful rainbow ray that can melt or dissolve any solid object). Gamera sacrifices his life in the end to destroy Zanon once and for all and protect Earth. Casts
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Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe (1995)/(1997) |
* 7.0/10 |
Gamera the Guardian of the Universe (ガメラ 大怪獣空中決戦 Gamera: Daikaijū Kūchū Kessen, lit. Gamera: Giant Monster Midair Battle), is a 1995 Japanese science fiction kaiju film directed by Shusuke Kaneko and written by Kazunori Itō. It is a reboot of the Gamera film series, the first film in the Heisei Gamera trilogy, and the ninth film in the series. It was a co-production of Hakuhodo, Daiei Film and Nippon Television, and was the first Gamera film not to be released by Daiei Film. The film was followed by Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996) and Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris (1999).
Plot A ship carrying plutonium collides with a floating atoll off the eastern coast of the Philippines, one of many incidents occurring throughout the area. As the anomalous formation approaches Japan, a team of scientists led by Naoya Kusanagi (Akira Onodera) discover orihalcum amulets and a stone slab covered in Etrurian runes on the atoll. During the investigation, the atoll suddenly quakes, destroying the slab and throwing the scientists into the ocean. One member of the team, Marine Officer Yoshinari Yonemori (Tsuyoshi Ihara), sees the eye and tusk of a giant turtle. Meanwhile, ornithologist Mayumi Nagamine (Shinobu Nakayama) investigates a village in the Goto Archipelago reportedly attacked by a "giant bird." While Nagamine is initially skeptical of the claims, she is horrified upon discovering human remains in a giant bird pellet. Exploring the nearby forest, her team encounters and then successfully prevents three bird-like creatures from attacking another village. To prevent further attacks, Nagamine agrees to aid the government in capturing the giant birds. The creatures are lured to the Fukuoka Dome baseball stadium, where two of the three are successfully captured. |
Gamera 2: Attack Of Legion (Advent Of Legion) (1996)/(2003) |
* 7.3/10 |
Gamera 2: Attack of Legion ( ガメラ2 レギオン襲来 / Gamera Tsū: Region Shūrai, also known as Gamera 2: Advent of Legion and Gamera 2: Assault of Legion) is a 1996 kaiju film directed by Shusuke Kaneko. It is a sequel to Gamera: Guardian of the Universe and the tenth entry in the Gamera film series. The film introduces Legion, a race of insectoid extraterrestrials that invade Earth, prompting Gamera to come to the planet's defense. It was followed by Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris.
Plot A year has passed since the battle between Gamera and the Gyaos, and Japan has struggled to rebuild its cities in the meantime. The military has kept a cautious vigil on the nation's coast, but so far Gamera has yet to return. Then on the night of a meteor shower, while out on field trip Science instructor Midori Honami and her group of kids witness a huge meteor plunges into the mountain snow. The next night, two security guards are horrified as they see large insect-like creatures stealing glass bottles from a nearby warehouse. Soon after, the entire city of Sapporo is covered with strange plants and the link between these events soon becomes clear. These series of bizarre incidents reveal a new threat to the land of the rising sun. The meteor has carried with it a species of extraterrestrials. These aliens have set up a hive in the bowels of the city's subway tunnels, deliberately nurturing a plants that grows out of the subway in the city. Soon a gigantic pod erupts from a building and Colonel Watarase of the Self Defense Force realizes that it is dramatically raising the city's oxygen levels. |
Gamera 3: Awakening Of Iris (1999)/Gamera 3: The Revenge Of Iris (2003) |
* 7.4/10 |
Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris (ガメラ3 邪神〈イリス〉覚醒 Gamera Surī Jyashin Irisu Kakusei) is a 1999 Japanese kaiju film directed and co-written by Shusuke Kaneko. The film is a sequel to Gamera 2: Attack of Legion and the eleventh feature film in the Gamera series, and the third film in the 1990s trilogy of Gamera films. The film stars Ayana Hirasaka (Ai Maeda), an emotionally troubled young girl who forms a psychic bond with a highly aggressive parasitic creature known as Iris that feeds upon her rage and hate for the giant fire-breathing turtle Gamera, who had unwittingly killed Hirsaka's parents. Gamera later defends Japan from a swarm of monsters called Gyaos after he is confronted by and battles Iris.
Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris was shown at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival and received the Mainichi Film Concours award for Best Sound Recording in Japan. The film received positive reviews from film critics who praised its special effects with many praising it as one of the best in the Gamera film series. Plot Three years have passed since Gamera defeated Legion, and the world is once again plagued by Gyaos, which have evolved into Hyper Gyaos. Mayumi Nagamine, noted ornithologist, returns to aid the Japanese government in addressing this threat. A graveyard of Gamera fossils is found at the bottom of the sea. Shadowy government agents, occultist Miss Asakura and Kurata Shinya, are meanwhile working to a different agenda, with Asakura believing Gamera to be an evil spirit. A pair of Gyaos glide across Tokyo's Shibuya district, but are destroyed by Gamera at the cost of twenty thousand human lives, causing the Japanese government to order Gamera's immediate destruction. |
Gamera The Brave (2006)
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* 6.8/10 |
Gamera the Brave ( 小さき勇者たち~ガメラ~ | Chiisaki Yūsha-tachi ~Gamera~, lit. Little Braves of Gamera), is a kaiju film released in 2006, produced by Kadokawa Pictures. This is the twelfth entry in the Gamera film series, the second reboot of the series and the first produced by Kadokawa Pictures after they purchased a percentage of the remaining assets of Daiei Motion Picture Company, the original company responsible for the Gamera films.
Plot After Gamera self-destructs to destroy three Gyaos in 1973; the tale picks up thirty-three years later in 1993, when the son of one of the survivors of that incident finds an unusual egg, from which a baby turtle hatches. The boy, Toru, raises the turtle, quickly realizing it as being remarkable in that it hovers and breathes fire. The turtle quickly outgrows the house, is relocated by Toru and his friends to maintain secrecy and then disappears. Concurrently, many shipping disasters occur in the area, the cause of which is the kaiju Zedus (ジーダス), which soon thereafter rampages through the city. It corners Toru and his friends, but the boy's former pet, now significantly larger, intercedes. The young Gamera is wounded in the fight and captured by government officials, who hook the creature up to a machine which infuses it with liquid derived from mysterious red stones found in the vicinity of the egg and which scientists theorize give the Gameras their power. Zedus attacks again, and the new Gamera, now larger, goes out to battle him. The human characters determine that the still-immature Gamera must consume the red stone which Toru had found with the egg in order to fully gain its powers. |
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