film rating:
disc rating:
a.k.a. Daikaiju Kuchusen: Gamera tai Gyaosu
(lit. Giant Monster Dogfight: Gamera against Gyaos)
Return of the Giant Monster, Gamera vs. Gaos
company: Daiei Motion Picture Co.
year: 1967
runtime: 87′
director: Noriaki Yuasa
cast: Kojiro Hongo, Kichijiro Ueda,
Reiko Kasahara, Naoyuki Abe,
Taro Marui, Yukitaro Hotaru,
Yoshiro Kitahara, Akira Natsuki
writer: Nisan Takahashi
cinematography: Akira Uehara
music: Tadashi Yamauchi
Reviewed from a screener provided
by Shout! Factory, LLC.
Pre-order this film from Amazon.com

The Gamera vs. Gyaos / Gamera vs. Viras double feature DVD is due out on September 21st from Shout! Factory, day and date with their double feature DVD of Gamera vs. Guiron / Gamera vs. Jiger. Both discs can currently be pre-ordered through Amazon.com and other online retailers.

The end of the turbulent ‘60s was equally the best of times and the worst of times for Daiei Co.’s increasingly successful Gamera franchise, whose germinal entry had proven successful enough to warrant an A-budget color successor in 1966. 1967’s Gamera vs. Gyaos exemplifies the best of the best, an A-list product accomplished under B-budget limitations and a pitch perfect amalgamation of the adult-oriented plot of Gamera vs. Barugon and the adolescent hi-jinks that would dominate later entries. Penned by series regular Nisan Takahashi and directed by Gamera, The Giant Monster’s Noriaki Yuasa, the film offers an easily digestible moral in a manner that younger audience members were (and I’d wager still are) sure to relish – wrapped with loads of giant monster action.

The story concerns a group of construction workers building a new expressway near Mt. Fuji. Complicating things for them are a small cadre of local farmers looking to hold up construction as a means of bargaining for higher prices for their land. While they bicker about themselves, the farmers halting progress and destroying work sites, another trouble brews. Renewed activity along the Fuji volcanic range unexpectedly resurrects the monster Gyaos, a hideous flying beast that devours the farmer’s cattle before developing a more refined taste for human beings. All that stands between the monster and an all-you-can-eat homonid buffet is Gamera, himself attracted by the same volcanic disturbances that roused Gyaos from his slumbers.

As I eluded to in my review of that film, all of the elements of the Gamera formula were well in place when the credits rolled on Gamera vs. Barugon – from our favorite flying turtle’s soft spot for children to the absurd military countermeasures mounted against his equally absurd opponents. Gamera vs. Gyaos remains the only film of the series to really blend these elements successfully, earning it a much-deserved spot as one of the top kaiju eiga of the genre’s banner year of 1967 (easily outmatching efforts like Nikkatsu’s Gappa the Triphibian Monster and Shochiku’s ultra-camp The X From Outer Space). It is true, then, that the majority of what’s on display in Gamera vs. Gyaos has been seen before, with many of the story’s elements easily traced to the past two series entries. The difference, as always, is in the execution.

Exemplary of this is a subplot concerning young Eiichi (Naoyuki Abe), the first central child character to be seen in the series since Gamera, The Giant Monster’s demonstrably unstable Toshio. Whereas Toshio was patently insane, hurling himself headlong into the void for a chance at seeing his ambivalent hero again, Eiichi seems a relatively normal child. Though his pre-credits affinity for Gamera is questionable the film soon gives us plenty of reason to sympathize, with the friend of all children nearly giving his left arm to save the boy from Gyaos’ hungry clutches. Eiichi’s connection to Gamera remains a potent plot element throughout, his observations on the nature of monsters and people alike frequently proving important to the JSDF’s anti-Gyaos countermeasures. Perhaps most importantly, Eiichi is never once sighted in the ludicrously brief shorts of his successors, and sticks to a more respectable wardrobe of sweaters and full-length pants for the duration.

The rest of the human drama is handled with like professionalism and with like results, getting the broad anti-greed message across while steering clear of either soap box pontification and bland melodramatics. Eiichi’s grandfather (the great character actor Kichijiro Ueda) is as close as Nisan Takahashi’s thoughtful script comes to a villain, and even he is allowed to see the error of his ways and come out the other end of a monster war no worse for wear. Kojiro Hongo is on board for his second series outing, this time as a level headed construction foreman who remains almost impossibly cool whether he’s dealing with disgruntled farmers or man-eating monsters. Yoshiro Kitahara takes his third series turn as Dr. Aoki, a quintessential genre scientist who finds time in his busy schedule of knowing everything to take Eiichi’s freakishly pointed observations to heart.

Always at the forefront are the monsters, who are never relegated to second player status (an issue that plagues the otherwise fine Gamera vs. Barugon). While the budget for Gamera’s third outing had been crunched somewhat from the first sequel’s high water mark, it’s obvious that director Yuasa and effects men Kazufumi Fujii and Yuzo Kaneko had some room to stretch. The opening credits themselves play over an effects setup, with Gamera crawling alongside the lava flowing from the newly active Mt. Fuji. Gyaos is a memorable creation and the closest Gamera would ever come to having a nemesis, resurfacing as Space Gyaos in Gamera vs. Guiron and appearing (via stock footage) in three out of the four remaining sequels. Looking like a bat-like variation on rival Toho’s Rodan, the toothy beast features a flat head that changes colors like a mood ring and the evolution-defying ability to spray fire-retardant chemicals from its chest. Then there is its primary weapon – a sonic laser that can cut through nearly anything, causing all manner of trouble for our hard-shelled hero.

The monster action of Gamera vs. Gyaos is more expansive than any the original series had or would produce, with the epic monster duel spanning from the foot of Mt. Fuji to the streets of Nagoya and back again. Gyaos is granted the most satisfying moment of city destruction of the franchise, soaring over a helpless Nagoya before descending to devour the population and lay waste to a variety of landmarks, all while Tadashi Yamauchi’s exceptional score booms. Memorable moments are plentiful – a sunrise brawl in Nagoya Port, Gyaos sipping from a makeshift blood fountain, and the graphically violent climax, in which Gamera drags his nemesis to his volcanic doom neck-first. The setups are burdened only by their over familiarity (no fault of the film itself), with much of the footage allowed to replay at length in Gamera vs. Viras and the last original sequel, Space Monster Gamera.

Continue reading for Gamera vs. Viras
and an in-depth disc review