Gamera tai Daimaju Jaiga

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.

Gamera vs. Jiger (1970)

** (out of 4)

An American behind an expo in Japan takes a large statue away from a mountain side and this unleashes Jiger, a large lizard like creature who can spit toothpicks from his mouth. Gamera comes to the rescue but gets beat up pretty badly and also gets pregnant to where he must carry Jiger's egg (I'm not kidding). A couple kids eventually help Gamera overcome his new pregnancy and he heads out to destroy the monster. This is certainly a kid's movie but it's mildly entertaining throughout all of its major goofiness. As is to be expected, the special effects are downright laughable, the performances even worse and the American dubbing will leave you scratching your head. The one big bonus is that the monsters are constantly doing battle with various forms of cardboard towns being blown up and ripped apart. The fight sequences are pretty good even though it appears Jiger can come up with new things out of nowhere. If you want a quality movie then you're going to be disappointed because every aspect of this movie is cheap. If you want a childish good time than this film might be your cup of tea as long as you don't expect too much.

This is less camp than the previous film but equally entertaining. Some of the story barely makes sense. They have built a great set though but they don't smash enough of it. They are still not using low angles to give a better scale to the kaiju. Jiger is a cool monster but less memorable than Guiron. Overall I wasn't bored but I also wasn't impressed.

This is less camp than the previous film but equally entertaining. Some of the story barely makes sense. They have built a great set though but they don't smash enough of it. They are still not using low angles to give a better scale to the kaiju. Jiger is a cool monster but less memorable than Guiron. Overall I wasn't bored but I also wasn't impressed.

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!

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!