Gamera gegen Jiggar: Frankensteins Dämon bedroht die Welt

This was the first feature I had seen in the kaiju genre. I was familiar with the television show Ultraman, but I had not known that movies about monsters had also been made.

This one is fun! One aspect of the genre that Daiei was better at than Toho is in the depiction of quadrapeds. Jiger looks like a four legged creature, not a person crawling on his knees, as several of the Toho characters were known to do.

Some of the dialogue is hideously bad. I recently saw this one again after twenty years, and had a good time adding a few comments of my own. At one point the two boys are inside Gamera's lung, walking around, when one says, "What are we looking for?" The other replies "Anything unusual."

I piped up, "We are in the lung of a 200-foot turtle, but we are still looking for anything unusual."

Still, this one has several interesting scenes. Unusual footage of a surgery on an elephant, x-rays of Gamera, a neat minisub, and cool communicators. It is a fun ride!

This is a children's movie. Is it a great children's movie? No.

But, it is an enjoyable children's movie. Sure Gamera looks like he was constructed at the last second out of an old shopping bag; and, Monster X looks like something that you pulled out of a Salvation Army drop-box. But, this movie has children as the main characters, doing the bulk of the heroics and making the bulk of the sound decisions...

There are a tremendous number of plot-holes in this movie; but, if you've got children, and a little patience, you can enjoy ninety minutes of pig-headed adults, brave children and flying turtles...

Also, there is a certain resemblance to the science fiction novel Blameless in Abaddon...anyone else notice?...

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Noriyaki Yuasa; Produced by Hidemasa Nagata for Daiei Studios, released in America by American-International TV. Screenplay by Niisan Takahashi; Photography by Akira Kitazaki; Music by Shunsuke Kikuchi; American version directed by Bret Morrison. Starring: Tsutomu Takakuwa, Kelly Varis and Katherine Murphy.

Campy Gamera epic with "the children's friend" going up against a huge armored lizard who comes up out of the ground and threatens to destroy Expo '70 when the mystical statue that kept him down under the ground is unearthed and taken to the exposition. Neat stuff: injected by X, Gamera seems to die halfway through the movie; narrator has a teenage boy's voice; the music is delightful -alternating the joyous "Gamera theme" when he shows up, with a stately, solemn overture when he marches to battle. "Gamera, stay well, return again", cries a little girl at the end. Zingy, zingy!

This is less camp than the previous film but equally entertaining. Some of the story barely makes sense. They have built a great set though but they don't smash enough of it. They are still not using low angles to give a better scale to the kaiju. Jiger is a cool monster but less memorable than Guiron. Overall I wasn't bored but I also wasn't impressed.

This is less camp than the previous film but equally entertaining. Some of the story barely makes sense. They have built a great set though but they don't smash enough of it. They are still not using low angles to give a better scale to the kaiju. Jiger is a cool monster but less memorable than Guiron. Overall I wasn't bored but I also wasn't impressed.

1970 saw the release of "Gamera vs. Jiger", also known as "Gamera vs. Monster X". And no, no, no relation to the Monster X of "Godzilla: Final Wars". At this point in the series, when the kids warn you not to do something, and then Gamera warns you not to do something, it's best not to do it. Naturally, the sacred statue is disturbed anyways and not even twenty minutes in and our title monsters show up. Being quite frank, Jiger is probably the least attractive creature featured in the Gamera movies. It looks like a reptilian-warthog abomination. I don't know what's stranger, the creature's looks or the way it jumps. With that stocky body and its short legs I'm surprised it can cover that much ground. Jiger also shoots quills and fires a "super ultra violet ray beam" which I don't grasp at all. It even has a parasite injecting tail and suction-covered feet…Ah screw it, I'm just getting this over with: Jiger sucks.

Children are the main heroes of course, managing to outsmart not just their parents but Japan's top military generals and scientists. This really grates on my nerves and honestly he story is short but lacks real tension if you ask me. With no relatable characters as in the earlier films, it's hard to keep interest. At least with "Gamera vs. Guiron" the writing was so bad and weird it kept you involved. The story here feels far too bland and with is opponent looking the way it did, I found no excitement in the battles. But I'll admit the statue to the brain was an interesting fatality, Johnny Cage might want to check that out. This kaiju film is a dud by all laws of psychics.