Kinkong l'impero dei draghi

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.

1970's "Gamera vs. Monster X" ("Gamera tai Daimaju Jaiga" or Gamera vs. Giant Devil Beast Jiger) was the 6th Gamera entry in the Daiei series (only "Gamera vs. Zigra" would follow), arriving during a lean year for Toho with the passing of effects master Eiji Tsuburaya, a new team releasing "Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster" in 1971. The child friendly focus for once strikes a balance with the rest of the human cast, the usual Japanese/American duo a bit older here though one little sister persistently annoys with her nonstop chatter. Obviously sporting what seems to be the highest budget since "War of the Monsters," the last sequel to show a metropolis being smashed to pieces, here set in Osaka where the World's Fair Expo '70 will take place throughout the year (there's even a mention of the lost continent of Mu, depicted in Toho's 1963 "Atragon"). Much of the opening reel is given over to the location and goals of the promoters, intending to recover an ancient statue called 'The Devil's Whistle' on Wester Island in the central Pacific, supposedly bearing a curse of death to anyone who tampers with it. Gamera surprisingly but unsuccessfully tries to prevent its removal from the ground, the ship's crew infected with some type of unidentified virus before they reach Osaka. The curse turns out to be real with the emergence of Jiger, a quadruped monster that incapacitates Gamera by firing sharp quills into each of his limbs, occasionally leaping to great heights when not using a Barugon-like heat ray to fry human debris (in a nice gruesome touch, they all turn into skeletons). A curious sound informs us why the statue earned its name 'The Devil's Whistle,' and the teen pair surmise that it gives off a kind of poison linked to Jiger, now a definite threat to Expo '70 as well as the rest of the planet. Gamera recovers from the first assault and again gains the upper hand against this unorthodox opponent, only for a new challenge that again puts him out of action, an injection from Jiger's tail that produces a larva growing near the turtle's lung. Here is where Japanese Hiroshi (Tsutomo Takakuwa) and American Tommy (Kelly Varis) use their knowledge of an experimental minisub to take a trip inside a waterlogged Gamera, obviously inspired by Stephen Boyd's classic "Fantastic Voyage," resulting in simple radio waves destroying the baby Jiger so that Gamera can finally use the statue for one ultimate purpose, cleaving Jiger's head with but a single shot. The physical look of Monster X may not look that impressive compared to previous foes but there's no shortage of surprises this time around, easily the best sequel since number three, "Return of the Giant Monsters." The usual annoying brats are actually slightly older and even useful for a change, leaving Katherine Murphy's grating tiny tot incessantly complaining during a beleaguered Gamera's attempts at redemption (all three seem to be directing the titular turtle at every stage). Things would promptly descend to rock bottom with original series finale "Gamera vs. Zigra," where director Noriaki Yuasa seems to be going for the preschool crowd!

This film is pretty much a formula Gamera film that follows the same plot as every other film. A giant monster threatens to destroy a Japanese city and just when things look bleak, in comes Gamera to save the day. However, Gamera usually loses at least one or two battles with his adversary before he finally defeats him. However, the one thing that makes this film different is the fact that usually in a Gamera film, Gamera is the one who saves any children that are in trouble, but in this film it is up to two young boys (one Japanese and one Caucasian) to save him from a parasite that was injected into his body. Even with this plot twist, this is still the typical Gamera film. But as I have said in my other commentaries about films in the Gamera series, these films are pretty much a way to introduce children to the world of kaiju eiga.

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!

Who can advertise an Expo Fair with a Monster movie? Well, the answer is DAIEI with Gamera vs. Jaiger.

So far, in the old Gamera series, Jaiger and Gyaos were the only female monsters, and perhaps the nastiest as well. The only thing that could damage Jaiger is a huge, ancient whistle, stolen by Expo Fair workers. What the workers did not know is that the whistle makes a very, very annoying sound. So annoying, it makes a Yoko Ono CD sound like plesant Korean Trance music.

But the scene that stands out from the old Gamera series was the "Fantastic Voyage" type scene where the two boys take a demo submarine into Gamera's body and finds Jaiger's offspring, which is perhaps the most irritating Kaiju in history.

May not be a classic but G vs. J is quite a hoot to watch!