Posts Tagged ‘Gamera’

Shout! Factory’s ‘Gamera vs. Barugon’ DVD up for preorder

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

The second installment of the original Gamera franchise is on its way from Shout! Factory, with a scheduled release date of July 6, 2010.  Box art and disc specs have yet to be announced, though you can bet this is going to be the best domestic release of the title for some time to come.  You can currently pre-order the title through Amazon.com at considerable savings (30% off retail!).

Gamera vs. Barugon is easily the most traditionally dramatic of the Showa series and is ostensibly a tale of greed and consequence (and giant monsters, of course!).  It follows several men who travel to the South Seas in search of a giant opal, only to inadvertently unleash the monster Barugon upon the world.  Luckily Gamera is on the prowl, having been extricated from that pesky Z-plan rocket by a wayward meteor.

Gamera vs. Barugon was released, dubbed and re-edited, to American television by A.I.P. under the generic title War of the Monsters and later (uncut and with an alternate dub track) on VHS and Laserdisc through King Features and Image Entertainment.  The Shout! Factory release will mark the first time the film has been made officially available in the USA its original Japanese.

Gamera, The Giant Monster – cover art and more

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Thanks to both SciFi Japan and August Ragone’s The Good, The Bad, and the Godzilla blog, we’re getting a nice sneak peak at the cover art for Shout! Factory’s upcoming Gamera, The Giant Monster DVD Special Edition.  It looks great to this reviewer, and is an improvement over what Kadokawa has produced for their own recent Blu-ray editions.

August is working with Shout! Factory and, thanks to his latest blog entry, we know a little more about the work that’s going into these releases:

“For Shout’s Gamera releases, I’ve assembled an international rag-tag unit of die-hard fans, known as the “Z Plan Team”, who have been working overtime in gathering as much information and materials on the original films as possible for the on-disc Special Features supplements (as well as the corresponding printed booklets), and we have uncovered tons of fascinating facts and trivia about the production of Daiei’s beloved series. The Special Features will also include Audio Commentaries, with the first recorded by none other than Yours Truly.”

Sounds like good stuff all around to me, as August says in his entry, “I can say that these will be DVDs that any self-respecting kaiju eiga fan shouldn’t pass up!” SciFi Japan has a nice new article up as well, including an interview with Cliff Macmillan, VP of DVD Production and Acquisitions for Shout! Factory. Click here to check it out.

Gamera, The Giant Monster streets on May 18th, and can currently be pre-ordered through Amazon.com at a discounted price of $17.99.  Click here to order.

Gamera, The Giant Monster (1965) Special Edition DVD details announced

Friday, February 12th, 2010

From the Shout! Factory press release here:

From Japan – the country that brought us such mythical movie monsters as Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah – storms Gamera, the titanic terrapin feared by adults and loved by children. On May 18, 2010, Shout! Factory will unleash Gamera, The Giant Monster – Special Edition on DVD for the first time in its unedited original version, with English subtitles — in anamorphic widescreen from an all-new HD master. The DVD includes a 12-page booklet with an essay by director Noriaki Yuasa, a photo gallery, trailers and more. The collectible Gamera, The Giant Monster Special Edition DVD is priced to own at $19.93.

The disc is currently up for pre-order at Amazon.com at a reduced price of $17.99.  Click here to order.

Showa “Gamera” coming from Shout! Factory in 2010!

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

More huge news for cult movie fans from Shout! Factory, who look to be keeping pretty busy this year.

Word is currently coming down the pipeline that the company has officially licensed the entire Showa Gamera (1965’s Daikaiju Gamera through 1980’s Uchu Kaiju Gamera) series for release domestically on DVD and will reportedly be working from the latest HD transferred elements.  Right now news is slim, though Monster Island News reported roughly two months ago that the company is / was on the lookout for 35mm elements for the American cut of the first Gamera feature.

At present only the first film is listed for pre-order at Amazon.com, with May 18, 2010 as the scheduled release date  – Gamera: The Giant Monster

Gamera vs. Jiger

Friday, December 5th, 2008

a.k.a. Gamera tai Daimaju Jaiga / Gamera vs. Monster X
company: Daiei Co. Ltd.
year: 1970
runtime: 82′
country: Japan
director: Noriaki Yuasa
cast: Tsutomo Takakuwa, Kelly Varis,
Katherine Murphy, Kon Omura
order this film from
Amazon.com

It’s late 1969. You’ve got a five-picture franchise that you’ve been making on the cheap and reaping high profits that would make any Wall Street low-life jealous, so what do you do? You make a sixth! And that’s exactly what Daiei Motion Picture Company did, adding to their rather shaky series of Gamera, the giant flying turtle movies. Fortuantely, after a ginsu bat, a ginsu octopus, and a ginsu blade, the folks at Daiei decided to go back to basics with their new monster. . . sort of.

(more…)

Gamera vs. Guiron

Friday, December 5th, 2008

a.k.a. Gamera tai Daiakuju Giron / Attack of the Monsters
company: Daiei Co. Ltd
year: 1969
runtime: 82′
country: Japan
director: Noriaki Yuasa
cast: Nobuhiro Kajima, Christopher Murphy,
Miyuki Akiyama, Yuko Hamada
order this film from
Amazon.com

With the holiday season upon us, the economy in the tank, and our already lame president ducking it out in the capital, I felt it was time to do my part to bring back a little of that old holiday spirit. So here I am, sharing my own special kind of peace and good will through a seasonal celebration of rubber suited monsterdom – let the first annual Wtf-Film Kaiju Christmas Spectacular begin!

Presented for your approval is the lovable and oft-lamented GAMERA VS. GUIRON, the fifth entry in the original Gamera series and the most universally reviled this side of 1980’s SUPER MONSTER. There are a number of issues responsible for the amount of ill-will held against GAMERA VS. GUIRON – it’s unashamedly childish nature or ridiculously unbelievable effects work, for instance – but the biggest burden almost certainly lies with one man:

Sandy Frank.

(more…)