Gamera contre Gyaos

The world of Gamera has seen this flying turtle battling many different types of creatures and Gaos is a very powerful enemy. Gaos flies and has a supersonic beam of sound that can slice any substance in the world. Gaos has one very bad habit, he likes to chew and feed on people. Gaos has one big weakness, he cannot stand being in the light of the sun. Gamera, our hero does his best to keep Gaos in the morning sun but sadly for us, fails. What can stop such a powerful enemy? Has Gamera finally met his match?

When it came time for him to make "Gamera vs. Gyaos" in 1967, director Noriaki Yuasa's skill with the motion picture camera had vastly improved since his first stab at directing the giant terrapin two years prior. That was one of my chief complaints about the first movie, "Gamera the Giant Monster": I was always aware that it was being directed by a neophyte filmmaker. For the second movie, the marvelously colorful and entertaining "Gamera vs. Barugon," Mr. Yuasa was given command of the special effects crew and this was great practice. Because by film number three, this one, his talents had been buffed up and he was set to make a satiably entertaining low-key monster movie.

In this third entry, a volcanic eruption results in the return of Gamera, who is drawn toward sources of heat and energy, and the awakening of a giant bat-like monster called Gyaos, which begins feeding off the local populations, eventually terrorizing a large city to satiate his hunger. Initially drawn in to defend a young child (Naoyuki Abe), Gamera begins his second war with another giant animal.

"Gamera vs. Gyaos" was given a smaller budget than its immediate predecessor and one can tell examining their qualities. This entry does not have the same brilliant special effects and a fair amount of acting is subpar. But then again, that's also part of the charm. And besides, Mr. Yuasa and screenwriter Nisan Takahashi treat their story with a surprising amount of seriousness. At times, it's downright creepy. Gyaos is one of the more truly evil monsters in the Gamera franchise and it's no surprise that he's been reused in all of the film generations since his debut here. There's a scene where we see him poised over a wrecked train, leering down hungrily upon a crowd of fleeing people, in a shot that is perfectly integrated, and it's rather unnerving.

There were no children shouting "Gamera! Gamera!" in the previous film, but there is one here. However, the young actor, Mr. Abe, has some charisma and he isn't as obnoxious as he potentially could have been. The movie does not focus upon him: he's a supporting character and the dynamic between him and Gamera is not annoying nor insufficient, and it does not create a schizophrenic mishmash when paralleled with the more solemn moments of the movie. The story also has some engaging elements, such as the introductory plot of the road construction officials clashing with stubborn landowners unwilling to give up their leases so than an expressway can be built through their property.

But the stars are the monsters and they are in good form. There are three battles between the two behemoths, each of them satiably lengthy and imaginative. The only big lapses being moments where we get close-ups of Gamera's hands as he claws around for boulders (or young children in peril). Like the previous entry, there is also a fair amount of gore, but Mr. Yuasa's counters by giving Gamera and Gyaos green and purple blood respectively, so that children will not be so affronted. The creatures are also well represented by clever use of low-key special effects and good cinematography, with only one really badly-directed moment where Gyaos is recovering from a battle inside of a cave, at which point the camera angles and contrast between the suit and the miniature set seems rather amateurish.

Although it fails to reach the same height as "Gamera vs. Barugon," the third entry in the original series still manages to hold up well as low-key entertainment. And it is instilled with that wonderful sense of unrestrained imagination that I tend to associate with science-fiction. Even if it is quite silly.

The dubbing for this one is pretty decent, but for some reason everyone pronounces Gamera like Gomorrah. Anyways, it's 1967 and this year "Son of Godzilla" and "Gamera vs. Gyaos" go head to head. Like "Gamera vs. Barugon", the story's focus is on everyday characters in the wake of a crisis. A child does get involved, but not in the overly-campy-pain-in-the-ass way, unlike the next one "Gamera vs. Viras". Now "Son of Godzilla" isn't all bad and I actually enjoy that G-film, but it is one of the more child-friendly ones. This Gamera movie however is for the most part darker than most 60s or 70s Gamera. It's this one where Gamera really becomes the "friend to all children", but he has an awesome opponent: Gyaos. Probably inspired by Rodan, but with a different, sleeker design. Gyaos is a classic kaiju, the only one to reappear in more recent films the 90s and even in the latest movie, "Gamera the Brave".

Gyaos spends a lot of the movie eating innocent people, regenerating lost body parts and blowing up cities, awesome. There's even a scene where he drinks blood. The battles are bloody and quite fun, and the score is nicely done. This is definitely one of the better vintage kaiju movies and one I recommend to fans of classic sci-fi cinema.

SPOILER: This silly but enjoyable film begins with an airplane being sliced in half by a ray. Then the ray is revealed belonging to a ray firing, flying, man-eating super vampire monster named Gyaos. But when Gyaos tries to eat a boy named Eiieechi, it's Gamera to the rescue. Gamera saves the boy, but almost gets his hand sliced of by Gyaos's ray. Gamera heals his wounds again and arrives when Gyaos attacks Tokyo. He manages to bite off Gyaos foot but is again hurt in the process. So the foot floats ashore and scares people. Then it is discovered that Gyaos can be hurt by sunlight and will die if exposed to the sun. So they decide to make a spinning fountain of drugged blood and Gyaos will get dissy and drugged and not be able to return to his cave and will die in the sun when it reaches dawn. However, a malfuntion in the mechanism causes the plan to fail. This is a good Gamera adventure with a zany plot and good effects.

Of the two American releases of this film, the AIP print is far superior to the Sandy Frank chop job.

This is the best of the first Gamera series, and it is out-right fun if taken on its own terms, without high expectations.

Yet exactly for that reason, this film reveals the real problem with the original Gamera films - we all expect sloppy SFX from the old Gamera, but that would be excusable if the writing were any better.

It's in the plotting that this film, like all the old Gamera films, really lets us down. The Gamera production team never did figure out how to develop a plot that wove the monsters and the humans together in any interesting way - or any way at all. The back-story - a small village trying to work out a deal with a highway development company - is related to the Gamera-Gaos conflict by pure coincidence; that the road company supervisor would then become a central player in the Japanese Self-Defense Force effort to combat Gaos is ridiculous.

Besides being annoyingly smug, the leading scientist is equally ridiculous - his plans for trapping Gaos include hiring a small army of chemists to come up with a vat of synthetic human blood as bait - even though Gaos has already demonstrated that he us perfectly happy with horse and cow blood; the Japanese government would rather pay chemists hundreds of thousands when they could hire a few decent butchers on daily wage? The chemists lobby works wonders with the Japanese government.

Actually, once the monsters show up, the plot falls apart completely, and by the end of the film we've lost interest in even the little boy who befriends Gamera.

Oh well; at least it's watchable, and, in a dumb way, even entertaining. But if this is the best the early Gamera had to offer, it's hard to see what made it popular in the first place.

See the first "Gammera the Invincible", then see this film, then skip a couple decades to the trilogy starting with "Gamera, Guardian of the Universe" - you'll be doing yourself a favor.