User reviews

A flying saucer has just landed near your backyard. Do you:

A) Contact the police?

B) Grab a camera and sell a photo to the local tabloid?

C) Climb into the craft with your best Occidental buddy and fly off into space, counting on a giant space turtle to save your biscuits?

Answer: C.

"Attack Of The Monsters" as a title is a bit of a misnomer. From it, one might expect a film that features whole slew of monsters charging en masse either on a defenseless Japanese city or else each other, but this typical cheapo offering from the "Gamera" folks presents only three monsters, Gamera and two outer-space creatures, one of who looks like a silver Rodan and the other which has a giant blade for a forehead. The three never have a grand battle, either; it's just a series of one-on-one match-ups.

All this meant something to me back in the day, when "Attack of the Monsters" was on the local "4:30 Movie" and it was a welcome alternative to bad old Godzilla. Sure, Godzilla would save your occasional child, but he'd destroy three city blocks doing so. Gamera cared about kids, too, only he had more respect for property values in the process.

Plus this film had special appeal for me because it featured two boys going off on a strange adventure. I could imagine my buddy Stephen and I doing the same thing, except he'd have to be the one to get his head shaved.

After walking into a UFO and being whisked onto the planet Terra, Akio and Tom find themselves in a planet devoid of life, except for two comely ladies with antennae heads and the occasional wandering monster. The boys are happy with their new friends, but the women, being women, have ulterior motives. They want the boys' brains for something to munch on during the long flight to Earth. After all, why take a chance on airplane food?

Back in my middle school days, I enjoyed the battle sequences where Gamera fought his alien adversaries while the kids avoided the sexy cannibals and explored an expansive Star Trek set with blinking console lights. Now I see special effects that make the Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic" video look like a George Lucas production, dialogue as halting as a Berlitz beginners' course, and a storyline that sags at every turn.

But you know something? It's still a joy watching it. Most times, the pleasures of youth turn lame in adulthood. "Attack Of The Monsters" is just as much fun to watch now as it was then, especially if you have enough alcohol around.

Definitely try to get the Sandy Frank version; which has the zaniest dubbing. Better yet, find the old Mystery Science Theater 3000 version, where little Tom is basted with numerous Richard Burton riffs and Mike Nelson as Michael Feinstein brings it all home with a Cole Porter-ized version of the "Gamera" theme.

Gamera vs Guiron is the most raucous example of bad FX since Turkish Star Wars! The hilarious dubbing alone makes the price worthwhile! Rejoice as a knife-monster turns his enemy into cold cuts! Revel in the ridiculous plotholes and nonsensical dialogue! Hum to an extremely cheesy (yet catchy) tune! Snicker at the horrendous and omnipresent special effects!

Though Gamera vs Guiron is hilarious with or without MST3K protection, I would recommend the latter to B-movie newcomers.

Basically Gamera fights a giant knife with an attitude! Alot of people put the Gamera series down for being cheap, but you know what? They were fun! At least Gamera fought a different monster (mostly outlandish ones at that) every movie. Unlike the Godzilla movies where Mothra, Ghidorah, and MechaGodzilla seem to pop up in every other flick. Anyway this movie follows Gamera VS Viras. It has the same concept. Two kids (one American, one Japanese) are the stars. And there is plenty of stock footage flashbacks too. Then things get bizarre. Gurion (the knife with the attitude) slices up a silver painted Gyoas. Shoots ninja stars at Gamera. Gamera sprays out blue blood. Swings around on parallel bars. And does a "la cucaracha" dance to remove some ninja stars stuck in his arms! He then finishes off Gurion by slamming his knife head into the ground, so Gurion is upside down with his legs kicking! Bizarre stuff. Throw in two Japanese women in funky space suits that drug the kids with tainted powdered donuts so they can eat thier brains and you can see what my one line summary means....

Apparantly, the writers thought that not enough monster fights had taken place in previous Gamera movies. So in this one, we get not one, not two, but THREE fights! Wow! By now Gamera has completely transformed into the friend of all children and his basic role in life is to save little brats. This one also has really bad dubbing. Why do all the women have weird accents?

Oh yeah, Guiron. He's a big knife. This leads to some of the most bizarre Gamera fights ever.

Gamera tai daiakuju Giron (1969) Gamera vs. The Devil-Beast Giron AKA Attack of The Monsters

Mysterious messages from space. Soon two mischievous boys Akio and Tomoko checking out their telescope spot a space ship that looks like a tinker toy top. It conveniently lands in an empty lot and is undetected by anyone else. Naturally they enter the ship and play with the instruments. Yep, they are being bratnapped. Fussy space beings change themselves into slick chicks. Soon they learn of Gamera from looking at reruns of previous movies in Akio's puny brain. His tasty puny brain.

Can Gamera save them or will it take Officer Kondo?

Hopefully, the kids will be dispatched before they can make the obligatory "We should all work together" speech.

A Japanese film that is fourth in a series. It is dubbed in English. Really hoockey graphics and while Giron makes a fair tetradactyl but Gamera looks like a large space going turtle with a huge under-bite and file coming from behind.

Aliens begin sending radio messages to Earth. One day, two kids are having a sleepover and they just happen to glance through a small telescope through the sky and see a UFO coming. When it lands nearby, it conveniently opens for the two precocious brats and spirits them back to another world in an orbit opposite the Earth's. Unfortunately, while this world seems high-tech, it's almost without people--having just two ladies in weird costumes and a giant monster that looks like Godzilla morphed with a kitchen knife (I am NOT exaggerating). Also unfortunate is that the monster is evil and the two ladies are intent on eating the two boys' brains (wow, that's a LONG way to go just to get takeout)! But have no fear, the boys (who appear about 10 years-old) are able to outsmart the high-tech ladies at practically every turn(?)--often understanding their machinery as well as the ladies even though they never saw it before!! Additionally, Gamera (a giant turtle-like monster who can fly from planet to planet) is able to foil the evil steak knife and make a getaway--taking the two lovable ragamuffins back home. When the Earth needs to be saved, you know you can always count on two average boys and a flying monster!

I have seen far more movies in my lifetime than any normal person and have learned to appreciate most genres. However, while I love such diverse offerings as silent film, art films, musicals, film noir, foreign films and the like, I never have been been able to understand the appeal of the crappy 1960s monster films featuring people in giant rubber dinosaur suits. They just seem very cheesy, dumb and could only be appreciated by children (okay, rabid fans, start sending me your hate mail and "not helpful" votes).

Unfortunately for me, this film is no exception to my assumption that practically all of these Japanese giant monster films stink (except perhaps the original GODZILLA). Sure, it's got the giant flame-shooting, giant-fanged flying turtle (among others), but it's also got one of the worst elements of some of these style films--"lovable kids" who love the monster and who are protected and loved back by the rubber-suited guy! Yecch! How incredibly saccharine and stupid. If you ARE going to have a giant monster, at least let him eat people and stomp on the rest! Making him good is just stupid and mushy and something that might cause indigestion!!

A trio of children (2 boys and a girl), intrigued by news reports of mysterious sound waves sent to Earth from outer space, star gazing spot a flying saucer! They later find it in a wooded area. The two boys decide to investigate while the girl being more wary decides to wait outside. After entering the spaceship however, the two boys suddenly find themselves being whisked off into space. Along the way they spot and greet Gamera who tries to prevent the ship from leaving our galaxy but even he cannot keep up with its incredible speed. After the ship lands, the two boys find themselves on a strange new planet and suddenly spot another version of Gaos in battle with the planet's guardian, a knife-headed monster with a mean streak named Guiron. Gamera all this time has still been on the trail of the boys' spaceship. Meanwhile aliens are watching all of this with possible evil intentions?

This was tremendous fun. The little kid in me loved every minute of it. Sure the child stars are a bit annoying at times (but more so I suspect to adult ears than to a child's) and the effects aren't always up to par but man do the monster battles ever deliver the goods in this one. They are knock-down drag-out affairs especially those featuring Gamera and Guiron and surprisingly graphic in terms of their brutality yet the film never loses sight of making clear just who is evil and who is good. Like the best pro wrestling of yesteryear, it manages to make the hero Gamera incredibly sympathetic while the villain Guiron comes across as little more than a nasty-tempered brute and a bully who needs to be taught a lesson in manners.

I've never seen this film before. I've seen a lot of the previous entries but not this one. I found it mostly boring and dull. The kids in this film weren't as irritating at first as the kids from the previous Gamera entry, DESTROY ALL PLANETS, but over time this film became worse than the previous entry.

Two boys enter a spaceship which takes them to another planet. The inhabitants of said planet are two women with the traditional B movie space outfits. The 2 boys discover a silver copy pf the monster Gyaos and a new monster Guiron. Guiron kills the silver Gyaos by cutting it up with his knifelike head.

Gamera finally arrives. A lot of times I have to suspend disbelief when it comes to sci-fi, but the idea of Gamera traveling all the way from Earth through space with his head outside his shell is just too much. Even Gamera is a living breathing creature that needs oxygen, or maybe not. Maybe this movie is Gamera's "Jumping The Shark" moment. I think director Noriaki Yuasa and his crew over at Daiei Motion Picture Company had simply run out of ideas at this point.

2 STARS.

I saw this flick decades ago as a kid, and it's one that stuck in my memory, though as an adult I couldn't figure out what the title was, remembering it as the monster movie with the xacto-blade bad guy. Every time I see powdered donuts, I think of this flick. The dubbing, of course, is simply atrocious, but the alien babes are foxes of the highest order.

I just bought the SciFi Classics box set of 50 movies for $19.99, and was pleased to find Attack of the Monsters among the selection, along with Destroy All Planets, clips of which are included here as flashbacks. How Queen of the Amazons qualifies for inclusion as well isn't clear, but hey, for 40 cents a pop you can't go wrong.

Two boys who are apparently prone to various kinds of mischief find a spaceship in the woods and climb aboard only to find that the ship has autopilot and is programmed to return to the hostile planet of its origin. The film starts off with an astronomy lesson and the hostile planet turns out to be a hidden planet on the other side of the sun. Awaiting them there are two caped and antennaed young female cannibals and an enormous slow moving knife-headed creature named Guiron. Old favorite Gaos - or something that looks like him - makes a cameo but is defeated so quickly by Guiron that you will hardly notice him. Gamera to the rescue! Back home, the younger sister of one of the boys tries to convince her somewhat dour mother of what has happened, but she is told to stop making up stories and go study.

Indeed, this story is the sort of wandering, somewhat silly, and entirely fantastic thing that kids do make up. But that's exactly why it works. It's a kid film. It doesn't require expensive and fancy special effects, just a fun story, kids doing amazing things, and giant monsters.

I enjoyed this as a kid and enjoyed it again as an adult. The acting is passable for what it is - the younger sister is actually very convincing and sympathetic and the two boys do OK. The adults are presented entirely from a kid perspective (as was done in The Peanuts) - and are stereotypic and often over-dramatic). The cinematography is pretty good - again, for its purpose (this is not an art film nor even an adult action film). And the dubbing in the version I saw (Sandy Frank's name did not appear anywhere) was actually very good.

Fun little film - recommended!

I think I first saw this film when I was about 10 or so - and I took it quite seriously the first time I saw it. That was the dubbed version I saw then. I remember being quite worried about poor Gamera being chopped to pieces by Guiron - boy, Guiron was a nasty piece of work!!! I just recently saw it again - this time subtitled (subtitles provided by the Australian multicultural channel, SBS TV) - and I think the subtitled version probably is better. It was so much fun to see it again after so long! And only now do I realise just how cute all the beasties in the flick are! Especially the Children's Friend himself!

I watched this film for the first time and it surprised me.The version that i watched was from the mst3k t.v. show and i can tell you that you don't need Joel and his robot pals to laugh at this film.I don't know who dubbed this film but it was pretty bad,also what was Akio's concern about traffic accidents anyway? You would think he be more worried about what the two alien girls were going to do to him and his friend.The monster Guiron was different,having a knife-like head that could cut up just about anything. This was the first Gamera film i ever saw and if the other films are like this i hope to see them.

Pretty outrageous chapter in the GAMERA series. Two boys stumble upon an actual flying saucer and step inside, only to get whisked away to a planet inhabited by another ludicrous-looking monster. This one's named Guiron, and he crawls about on all fours but has a head which is constructed like a huge, long butcher knife with eyeballs. This comes in handy for nodding on his monster opponents (like Gyaos, who makes a cameo appearance) and slicing them to ribbons. The boys are also met by two lovely Japanese alien women who pretend to be all kind and accommodating, but who in reality are spicing them up so they can eat the kids' brains. Pretty disturbing stuff for a very child-friendly movie! Gamera the protector must fly to the rescue to fight Guiron and rescue the children. The special effects got more and more fake looking as this series progressed, and the plastic monsters make the ones from the rivaling Toho Studios look positively dazzling in comparison. ** out of ****

Gamera 3: Awakening of Iris is by far the best Gamera movie. I also loved the original, but the most memorable Gamera movie has to be this one. It is the ultimate bad movie. Two kids board a space ship that flys them to another planet. Once there they see Guiron fight a Gyaos painted silver. We learn that Guiron is a watchdog that defends the aliens from Gyaos. The aliens are Asian girls that (this is so original) eat human BRAINS!!! Basically Guiron gets on the lose and GAMERA comes to save them. This is where the movie goes crazy. Did i mention that Guiron is a knife that shoots Shurikens out of his head?? It's awesome. So Gamers fights it, does some gymnastics, then brings the kids home. The kids are really annoying, but arnt the humans in kaiju movies always? It would actually be a decent kaiju without them, but the end fight is definitely worth it. I HIGHLY recommend to kaiju and bad movie fans.

"Listening to children is neither psychologically or educationally important" This and other bits of tidbits are what is at stake if you dare to watch this Japanese trash. After scientists discover mysterious irregular waves from outer space, 2 boys hi-jack a spaceship to another star -(Earth is a star by the way) - only to watch hilarious monster fights complete with ninja stars from a walking knife, and become trapped by female aliens who want to eat their brains with dremel tools. And the boys thought that these aliens will prevent wars and traffic accidents. Listen to some bad jack-in-the-box music and enter Gamara, a giant go-go dancing turtle who must have had some bad Mexican food and comes to kids rescue after a few turns on the high bar. Boy are these kids going to get a scolding when they get home. I have watched this both with and without MST3K's help and it is roll on the floor hilarious either way. We should all figure out how to live without wars and accidents or we will repent and get our heads shaved.

Fifth Gamera film continued the astonishing decline in quality, as three children are abducted from their neighborhood by a spaceship piloted by two alien women who claim to be friendly, but in reality are anything but, as they plot to kill the children before turning their attentions to Earth. Meanwhile, Gamera flies into outer space to rescue the children, and save the Earth, but first must do battle with a strange monster called Guiron who has a giant knife for a head, which it uses on another Gyaos, then turns on Gamera... Childish entry(with gruesome elements) has a memorable monster in Guiron, but is otherwise idiotic.

This is a truly fantastic movie! It has to be seen to be believed! Especially the God-like Kondo/Kon-Chan/Cornjob! This movie is so hilarious, that you may just crack a rib. Fun for everybody, definetly a movie to see with friends. It's the feel good smash sensation of the year.

Two young boys discover an alien spaceship, which they board and are then whisked away to a planet on the other side of the Sun where they encounter two female aliens who ultimately plan to eat their brains. Fortunately, Gamera, the children-loving, fire-breathing, flying giant turtle monster comes to the rescue.

Attack of the Monsters is another in the mad series of Japanese monster movies from yesteryear. This one is a starring vehicle of the aforementioned Gamera. In this one he gets to battle a couple of other monsters, one of which is Guiron, a giant knife-headed evil creature. He is the servant of the two aliens and he makes for a fairly distinctive baddie. The fights between the monsters make up a fair bit of the run-time and they are basically more of the same you will have seen before if you've seen any other Japanese monster flicks. There is some recycled footage too from other entries in the Gamera series. It all gets a bit wearisome after a while, made considerably worse by the presence of the two rather annoying children at the centre of the story. Fun up to a point but mainly hard going.