disc rating:
a.k.a. Gamera tai Uchu Kaiju Bairasu
(lit. Gamera against Space Monster Viras)
Destroy All Planets
company: Daiei Motion Picture Co.
year: 1968
runtime: 81′
director: Noriaki Yuasa
cast: Kojiro Hongo, Toru Takatsuka,
Carl Craig, Peter Williams,
Carl Clay, Michiko Yaegaki,
Junko Yashiro, Koji Fujiyama
writer: Nisan Takahashi
cinematography: Akira Kitazaki
music: Kenjiro Hirose
Reviewed from a screener provided
by Shout! Factory, LLC.
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If Gamera vs. Gyaos was the high water mark of the first Gamera cycle then the following year’s Gamera vs. Viras marked the beginning of its steady decline. Working with resources whose limitations are often painfully obvious, Viras relies far too heavily on stock footage from the previous three entries while offering far too little original material in exchange. Though director Noriyaki Yuasa’s longtime personal favorite undoubtedly played better with contemporary audiences, offering a sort of hit parade of earlier monster footage, it has aged especially poorly, and rarely seems anything more than one of the cheapest outings of the franchise.
The film follows Masao (Toru Takatsuka) and Jim (Carl Craig), members of the Japanese and American boy scouts who find themselves kidnapped by the globe-conquering denizens of deep space planet Viras, who have themselves implanted a brain control device onto the neck of the monster Gamera. With the United Nations opting to surrender to the invaders rather than sacrifice the two boys, it’s left to Masao and Jim to find a kink in the Viran’s plans and put an end to the invasion for good.
