“Super Monster Gamera” Review

Very rarely will you hear me say something like this: What an awful movie! I first watched the first 25 minutes of this film about three weeks ago and finished watching it a week later. It’s that bad. Let’s just say that it’s so bad that the tremendous amount of stock footage that is presented in this movie is much better than the movie that encapsulates the stock footage.

As you can already tell, I don’t like this movie. It’s painful to watch…in both the Japanese and English dubbing. Enough, though, about my overall thoughts on this film (because you’ll get more of this at the end of the review), let’s get straight to business…

Synopsis: The M38 alien race, which looks very much like any regular human race, has placed its spaceship just outside of earth’s orbit. Their plan is to take over the earth and to destroy our three heroines: Kilara, Marsha, and Mitan. The ship looks very much like an Imperial star ship from the Star Wars series of films (check the poster above for a shot of the ship). The lead alien, who is given no name but is a male, sends down Giruge.

Meanwhile, Kilara, Marsha, and Mitan have been seeking refuge on earth for a while and have been operating a pet shop (they go through a weird gesture sequence in order to change into Superwoman-esque costumes). Keiichi stops by now and then to look at the animals. He grows fond of a particular turtle and is given one by Kilara. After a while, he sets his turtle free into the ocean in the hopes his turtle will have a better chance at living a longer, healthier life.

But giant monsters are springing up all over the place: Gyaos, Barugon, Zigra, Viras, Jaiger, and Guiron; sent out by the M38 aliens. Gamera arrives and Keiichi believes the turtle he released into the ocean has become Gamera. We are then treated to stock footage of all the previous Gamera films; although most of the fights are trimmed down even then for time and, mostly, budget constraints.

While all of this is happening, Giruge attempts to kill the three heroines on a few occasions but is unsuccessful. So unsuccessful that the head M38 alien threatens to kill her if she doesn’t succeed on one final attempt. Strangely enough, he doesn’t kill her when she fails and she has befriended Keiichi and the three women (you would think he would know when she failed and would have taken appropriate action).

She sets up her demise by telling the head alien her coordinates, making him believe she has Kilara, Marsha, and Mitan captured and is ready for him to execute the women. She is shot, instead, and dies. Gamera realizes the fight isn’t over until he destroys the star ship. Gamera flies out and rams into the ship, supposedly killing himself as well.

Story: The actual idea, while having been done to death over numerous movies in film history, is good: aliens wanting to conquer the earth, but the execution is awful. While the Showa Gamera films have always been made for kids than an adult audience, we get some really bad stuff here.

There are two animation sequences that don’t seem to fit here except maybe one: there was a scene where Keiichi was dreaming and an animated flying train sequence ensues. Otherwise, the other piece of animation doesn’t fit.

The story is extremely simple in its idea that the evil alien, Giruge, would use Keiichi to get to Gamera and the heroines. She is, essentially, a stereotypical bumbling villain.

The idea of having all six of Gamera’s foes attack Tokyo at some point is a nice idea as well…but not if stock footage is being used. The only new kaiju footage is that of a stiff flying Gamera prop that is used extensively (see poster, and pic at the end of this review, for a shot of the prop).

The overall idea is there, but due to massive budget constraints, the story isn’t executed very well and is tremendously boring. The lack of new kaiju footage also really hurts the movie. It’s sad when the most exciting moments of the film are moments when stock footage is used.

Special Effects: Not much to say here. There are a couple of moments where a green screen is used to show the actions going on in Tokyo and as a gateway to bail Keiichi out in one scene.

There is one scene where Kilara, Marsha, and Mitan are suited up and are, apparently, in their base. The base, get this, is nothing more than a glossed concrete floor with a white drape and stage lights illuminating from behind the drapes. That’s it. It’s bad.

One scene, however, was fairly impressive. The initial Gamera scene was very well done, where he’s flying over the city (although the proportions are totally out of whack).

Acting: If there is one area, that brings any redeeming qualities to this movie (although not much, unfortunately), it’s acting. Mach Fumiake, Yaeko Kojima, and Yoko Komatsu turn out some decent performances; especially Fumiake.

Keiko Kudo has some interesting moments as well and does well with what little she is given. Koichi Maeda’s performance is pretty bad, sadly. He has a deer-in-the-headlights look throughout much of the movie and is given a number of whiny scenes.

There is one odd moment, at the end of the film. He is crying his eyes out when he is told Gamera died, but when also told Gamera died for humanity, he immediately stops crying and gets cheerful. He also has a scene, earlier in the film, when he’s singing to the heroines. One, the scene is unnecessary, and, two, it’s horrible. It doesn’t help, either, that his dubbed voice is awful.

Battles: Really, outside of Gamera smashing into the star ship, all of the battles are stock footage.

As a result, personally, I am hesitant to give full credit to the stock footage battles since they were all taken from previous films. So I will give partial credit for the stock footage scenes.

Human Drama: Pretty boring…even for a kids’ movie. There is an interesting, yet poorly executed, battle toward the end of the movie between Giruge and Kilara on a playground. Yeah, a playground.

There isn’t much here, either, to really warrant a good rating. Much of the time is spent with Kilara, Marsha, and Mitan transforming and Giruge chasing down, and failing, Keiichi and our heroines.

Overall: I hate to bust on a movie, I really do. Heck, there are a number of movies, kaiju and non-kaiju alike, that seem to be panned by fans of said genres, and yet, I love them. This is simply a bad movie and I feel awful for everyone involved with this project.

This is the Gamera series’ Godzilla’s Revenge if you will; chock full of stock footage. But Godzilla’s Revenge actually had more redeeming qualities to it than this film. It’s a better film.

Out of all the giant monster films I’ve ever seen, this is the worst (not counting Kraa! and Zarkorr, I highly recommend not seeing those as those are just…BAD). I understand the budget hampered the project, but, in all honesty, I would not even consider making a film unless my studio had the funds to make a movie, at least, decent. This isn’t even close to decent.

For years, this movie wasn’t easily available to Gamera fans. Now I see why. But with Shout Factory recently releasing the Showa Gamera films onto DVD, we can all enjoy them; including this sad project.

In the end, I don’t recommend watching this movie. Of course, it comes as a double-feature with Gamera Vs. Zigra, so I can understand your curiosity being piqued. Only watch it if you are wanting to see how terrible this movie truly is.