"Gamera: Tha Giant Monster" Movie Review [HD]

[darthpetro12]

I'm glad the films in their original Japanese format are released on DVD in our area. One time, I looked up on amazon.com and learned that the first two of the 90's Trilogy of Gamera is going to be released on Blu-ray in the U.S. in less than a month from now. You should check it out.

[Spideyfan117]

the Original 1954 Gojira had something to offer. You understand the pain of the Japanese and their fear of nuclear weapons and war. Gamera managed to be far sillier than Godzilla in the Showa era. There are some Gamera movies that are pretty good though.

[Spudgurius83]

I've heard that the video presentation on this dvd release of Gamera is really good. How are the subtitles on this one

[phantomsdaydreams]

@Spudgurius83 The actual video quality is quite good. However, considering the age of the source material the picture does contain numerous scratches, blemishes, etc. None of it is terribly detrimental to the overall picture though. Movies like this are bound to show their age without extensive restoration. As for the subtitles, I found them suiting. I didn't notice any errors and never found them obtrusive. I don't recall anything specific about them, which is a good sign. Hope I helped. =)

[Spudgurius83]

@phantomsdaydreams Thanks for the help. The reason I asked was because on Media Blasters release of Varan the subtitles were excellent and very readble.

[CosmoShidan]

Great review! I think I might check it out!

[kalebknecht]

Oh, and ever seen Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack? That one has a fucking evil Godzilla in it. He's the ghost of all Japanese WWII veterans, and he's back for revenge because the people have forgotten. And the other monsters (Baragon, Mothra, and a not-so-badass Ghidorah) are the protectors of Earth" or some stupid shit. Anyway, Godzilla has never REALLY been into any rules. He changes a shitload over the many, MANY movies he's in.

/Godzilla Geek

[phantomsdaydreams]

@kalebknecht Sadly, I have NOT! I haven't been able to find it online with English subs and my backlog of orders for the "Godzilla" films means that I won't be able to for a while unless I find a link magically. =( And yes, the big G really has no central rhyme or reason. lol He's been a dinosaur, a mutant, protector of earth, scoourge of the earth, and everything in-between. I think the kookiest one I can remember is when he was erased out of existence via time trave by aliens. XD

[kalebknecht]

@phantomsdaydreams Holy fuck, Kaiju movies are badass camp. Seriously, when I saw Godzilla: Final Wars in the theatre it was so NOSTALGIC. Toho knows what their fans want out of the series, but still never take it seriously. I love that about them.

[phantomsdaydreams]

@kalebknecht Definately! They need to revive Godzilla again soon because I want more Toho Godzilla movies. That and make a new "Gamera" movie for that matter. I'm sad to see that monster movies in general seem to have lost a lot of favor with the general public because you're right, they really are a lot of fun. Outside of "Cloverfield" and "King Kong" (2005) I can't even think of other honest attempts at giant monster movies. Save Japanese parodies (which I realy don't find all that funny tbh).

[kalebknecht]

@phantomsdaydreams

Well, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are supposed to start working on, "Giant Monsters Attack Japan!" which, with THEM at the helm, should be fucking hilarious.

[kalebknecht]

Watch it with English subtitles and the original Japanese voices. It's not as cheesy.

[phantomsdaydreams]

@kalebknecht The Shotu! Factory DVD only contains Japanese audio w/ English subtitles so that's the way I watched it. I'm a purist like that. I'm sorry though, it's still a silly movie. =) I'm not saying the movie is incompetent as there moments where the conceit of the film still works (Gamera in the rain later on in the movie is surprisngly intimidating even today) but there's virtually no logic to what happens sometimes and the dialogue is ludicrous. Still fun though, like I mentioned.

[kalebknecht]

@phantomsdaydreams Aw, shit, didn't notice that. >.> Well,it's like Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. It's a fucking fun and great film, but REALLY camp and stupid.

Also, Bill Moseley as Chop Top. We need a moment of silence for the orgasmic awesomeness that is.

[phantomsdaydreams]

@kalebknecht God bless Bill Mosely. I loved him in "Repo! The Genetic Opera" as well. He's a fun character actor.

[kalebknecht]

@phantomsdaydreams Ever seen Devils Rejects or House of 1000 Corpses? In the first one he's more of that Chop-op silly character, but in Devils rejects he's just.... Wow, it's slightly scary how well he plays it.

He's definatly up there with Tim Curry and John Williams as some of the most badass people on Earth (But, of course, Chuck Norris and Gordon Freeman are far above them).

[phantomsdaydreams]

@kalebknecht Ya, Bill Mosely is a fantastic character actor. I've seen both of those (huge horror fanatic as well) and he kind of elevates the material past what it probably should be. Ha Not that either are bad movies, but you know what I mean. I didn't really love "House of 1000 Corpses" but "The Devil's Rejects" was quite good.

[phantomsdaydreams]

@kalebknecht In addition, as the title implies, this is my review of "Gamera: The Giant Monster" not "Gammera the Invincible", the anglo-cized version with American actors spliced in with an English dub. So just to clarify, the version I watched was purely uncut. Oddly enough, I own the latter version on a worn-out VHS. Digging it out of my old VHS boxes is partly what inspired me to do this review (that and the very positive experience I had with "Gamera the Brave" recently).