disc rating:
a.k.a. Gamera tai Daimaju Jaiga
(lit. Gamera against Demon Beast Jiger)
Gamera vs. Monster X
company: Daiei Motion Picture Co.
year: 1970
runtime: 83′
director: Noriaki Yuasa
cast: Tsutomu Takakuwa, Kelly Varis,
Katherine Murphy, Kon Omura,
Ryo Hayami, Junko Yashiro,
Franz Gruber, Akira Hayami
writer: Nisan Takahashi
cinematography: Akira Kitazaki
music: Shunsuke Kikuchi
Reviewed from a screener provided
by Shout! Factory, LLC.
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Click here for Gamera vs. Guiron
1970’s Gamera vs. Jiger continues Gamera vs. Guiron’s trend towards fantastic children’s entertainment and throws in a hefty dollop of utter insanity for good measure. The film would be the last great hurrah for the Gamera series, and Noriaki Yuasa was granted a few extra bucks to beef up the special effects production. Though followed by what is arguably the absolute worst of the series, Gamera vs. Jiger remains a fine example of large-scale anti-Toho monster mayhem.
Set around Expo ‘70, a World’s Fair held in Osaka, the film concerns a mysterious artifact – the Devil’s Whistle – which is discovered on an isolated Pacific island and brought back to the Expo for scientific examination. The removal of the artifact unleashes the prehistoric monster Jiger, a jet-propelled ceratopsian that shoots lethal quills from its tusks and emits a destructive sonic heat ray. Gamera quickly intervenes, but is taken down for the count when Jiger, a mother, implants him with her parasitic young. It’s up to Hiroshi (Tsutomu Takakuwa) and Tommy (Kelly Varis) and their aptitude for handling miniature submarines to save the despondent titan from his seemingly imminent death.
