Gamera vs. Viras

This has to be the hardest Gamera film to find, in these post NAMBLA days. It does have a whole bunch of recycled footage, but since it was my introduction to the character, it didn't bother me, until I saw the films it was swiped from, later on. After I saw this a whole bunch of times on KTLA, I became a serious fan. Yeah, it's cheesy, but I didn't care, and I still don't. The dubbing was supervised by Bret Morrison, a post-Orson Welles voice of "The Shadow" on radio, and he was pretty astounded when I asked him about it at a late-70's Multiple Sclerosis fundraiser. It's good cheese, and I wouldn't be without it! Also, this and "Super Monster Gamera" (even worse, for much the same reasons) are the two Gamera films that didn't get worked over by Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

Pax!

--Judex.1--

Viras (a sort of space squid) and a shipful of aliens who dress like surgeons attempt to take over the Earth, two Boy Scouts at a time. Along comes Gamera... Suddenly, the movie grinds to a halt: we're treated to ELEVEN MINUTES of miscellaneous footage from the first three Gamera movies. Once the movie gets going again, we find Viras has implanted a mind-control device in Gamera's neck. He sends our hero turtle off to wreak havoc. This time we get to see even MORE footage from the previous movies: the dam attack scene from "Gamera vs. Barugon" and -- here's the kicker -- black and white footage from the original "Gamera", spliced in with no concern for continuity. The rest of the movie features some astonishingly gruesome images, including disembodied floating arms and Gamera getting impaled on Viras' pointy head. Basically, it's a cheap, cheap thrill for eleven-year-olds and immature adults like me.

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.

No one goes into the old Gamera movies expecting brilliance. In fact, most watch them fairly openly to delve into the schlock, whether as a guilty pleasure or to enjoy mocking it. I am somewhere in the middle of these two. I have a massive high tolerance for "badness", especially when it is done in the spirit of earnest fun, but there was a couple of times where I just wanted to shut this one off.

The first reason was the flashbacks to which many viewers allude. Not only is there a roughly fifteen minute scene composed of much too large chunks of "fight" scenes from earlier movies, but there are at least two "major" scenes that are taken from the first and second movie and then played off as freshly happening. It is so poorly done, that the scenes from the first one are left in black and white, despite the rest of this movie being in color! The second reason was the utter illogic of this one, in places. A genius kid is one thing, if almost always annoying at times, but this one went above and beyond. Not only is the kid allowed to tamper with various things with almost no repercussion, but him and his friend are given far too much freedom in the middle half of the movie. It is almost like this is a kid's happy dream, as opposed to an abduction by a vindictive life force.

And the climatic decision...egads! All in all, I stuck with it, and finally just started laughing out loud at it machinations. The final scene has some really good moments, as well, including some really well staged smashes and jabs. I give it a solid five stars, I enjoyed it once my brain switched over into its mode of handling things.

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.