Il mostro invincibile

Viras has to be one of the best monsters that the Japanese ever created. I'm hoping and praying that Daiei Studios brings him back if they ever make another Gamera movie. A gigantic space squid with a cool looking face, creepy yellow eyes, and who's roar sounds like screeching metal just simply rocks! The problem with this movie however(next to the fact that two kids are the main stars) is that it's padded with huge amounts of stock footage. We get to see Gamera's origin and attack on Tokyo (in black and white!!) and his early fights with Barugon and Gyoas all from the first three Gamera films! This ruins the overall movie. But next to that it's pretty fun. A spaceship that looks like it's made with 5 black and yellow striped ping-pong balls, Viras decapitating his useless subordinates, and the giant Viras bloodily impaling Gamera with his sharp pointy head are the standout scenes in this flick.

I saw this when I was a kid growing up in Michigan, watching 'monster week' on the 4:30 movie on channel 7. Just recently I purchased a DVD release from Diamond Entertainment called 'Japanesse Monster Movies' that contains four Gamera movies altogether. I used to like this particular film so I was interested in seeing this again.

For starters, a lot of the sets and I believe even some of the props and costumes have been taken directly from 'Gamera vs Guiron'. But at least 45 percent of this film is composed of stock footage from older films. Perhaps the funniest scene in the movie is when they show footage from the original Gamera film- a black and white movie- and try to pass it off for something that is happening in the present, even though this film was shot in color.

The kids in this film take charge of the situation and try to help Gamera out when the adults are content to do little or nothing. There's a lot of Kiaju 'gore' in this film, a funny yet kind of cool alien invader and stupid, stupid henchmen who get their heads knocked off )!) before the mutate into other squid-like creatures.

This is actually less boring than the previous films. Since the aliens are studying the previous Gamera fights in order to defeat him, the film is full of fairly cool monster battles. The final battle against Viran is a good one!

Viras, a giant alien squid, takes his ping pong ball spaceship to conquer Earth. Who could come but Gamera, the big turtle and friend to all children, to save Earth. In order to defeat Gamera, the aliens scan into his past (about a half hour of stock footage that we have to sit though) and find out that he is friend to children. So they hold two boy scouts for ransom and put a transmitter in his brain. Now Gamera does what they want now and destroys Tokyo, but the boys have tricks up their sleeves. This is silly but a lot of fun to watch.

Gamera steps in repeatedly to stop evil aliens from taking over the Earth. Frustrated but still determined, the aliens search for a weakness in Gamera's armor finally deciding to use Gamera's fondness for children against him. Capturing two boy scouts Gamera had recently befriended and threatening to kill them unless Gamera follows their commands, the aliens succeed in implanting a mind control device into Gamera. Now they threaten to have Gamera wreck havoc and destruction upon the world unless humanity bows to their demands. And if their plot involving Gamera doesn't work out, the aliens have yet another monstrous surprise all their own named Viras at their disposal.

While I quite enjoy that portion of the film that actually features new footage of Gamera and Viras in action, a third of this movie seems to be made up of stock footage from previous Gamera films and the way the footage is used is disappointing, one action sequence after another after yet another to the point it really grinds the movie to an halt. It's really too bad as the alien footage features some neat albeit shocking images much more gruesome than is usual for this type of kids' movies and the final battle with Viras just has to be seen to be believed. All in all, this is good fun that should appeal to those young and young at heart but still, that third featuring stock footage is tough slugging.

This film is such a shift in tone from the previous 3 films. It's embraced the comical aspects to such an extent it feels more like a Carry On film. In a similar vein to Bond where the first 3 films are the Gamera equivalent to Sean Connery. Gamera vs. Viras goes full on Roger Moore with it's wacky antics.

The worst part of this film is that so much of it is taken up with re-used footage recapping Gamera's previous battles, a huge chunk of runtime for an 81 minute film. This choice felt really unnecessary as it impacts the overall flow of the film. Its a shame considering this is the first time they introduce a really engaging and well developed human character in the form Masao whose a lovable mischievous tech genius. Its such a missed opportunity on the film makers part as this could have been truly brilliant.