Gamera vs. Zigra

Campy and low-budget, all the things that make the old Gamera movies great. This movie follows a creature named Zigra, who first destroys a moon base then threatens Tokyo. Gamera arrives late and generally just mucks things up. He does somehow save the day, in one of the cheesiest fight sequences ever made. If you like stupid old movies, this one's for you.

"Gamera is really neat, Gamera is full of meat, We believe in Gamera!"

1971's "Gamera vs. Zigra" was the last (no 7), and by far least, of Daiei's original Gamera series, eventually making the television rounds in the US over 15 years after the company went bankrupt (the other six all showed up on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater). With yet another batch of annoying children, and adults who behave just as badly, it's up to series veteran Reiko Kasahara to maintain intrigue, even if she has to run around in a fetching bikini! She had previously appeared in "Gamera vs. Gaos" (no. 3) and "Gamera vs. Guiron" (no. 5), the latter as one of the two alien women desiring to devour the children's brains (not that that could make them any smarter). Zigra is revealed as a kind of shark usually found in the deeper waters off Japan, but Gamera is just laughable. The previous color sequels, apart from "Gamera vs. Viras," had some merit, but this one has absolutely none, dumb characters coupled with dumber monsters.

An unconvincing model moon base is blasted by a spaceship (which looks like the crown of The Statue of Liberty has collided with a giant liquorice allsort); the spaceship proceeds to Earth and lands in the sea. On board the craft: a hot Japanese woman (Eiko Yanami) under the control of Zigra, an alien goblin shark/swordfish who causes massive earthquakes (that occur off-screen to stay within budget) in order to force the human race to surrender its oceans. Gamera isn't about to let that happen and steps in to sort out the uppity fish, but when the titanic turtle destroys the spaceship, Zigra grows to massive proportions...

If it wasn't for the presence of yummy Eiko Yanami, who cavorts in a sexy space outfit, a bikini, and a mini-skirt, I would have dozed off during this one: it's easily the worst of the Gamera films thus far, with a hum-drum seen-it-all-before plot, annoying kids, and very little in the way of monster action. Much of the film acts as an advertisement for Kamogawa Sea World, and we're treated to performing killer whales and seals. Meanwhile, Gamera spends a lot of the time face down in the sea, having been zapped by Zigra, and is only revived by a lightning bolt for the finalé, in which he teaches Zigra a lesson by playing his dorsal spines like a xylophone before barbecuing him.

2.5/10, generously rounded up to 3 for the salient environmental message: keep the oceans clean!

The space aliens are back but it's not as camp and silly as Gamera vs. Guiron (1969). Sadly this film is quite slow and boring although not the worst of the franchise but probably the second worst. The biggest problem was that they forgot to smash the city, maybe the models cost too much to smash them. The new kaiju is pretty cool, maybe my second favourite after Guiron. The human story is fairly routine. There is one really funny moment though where Gamera plays Zigra's spine plates like a xylophone. Worth watching for completionists only. And the xylophone think, that was memorable and funny.

After Gamera vs. Jiger this one is a definite upgrade to the level of previous Gamera movies. A real charmer, Gamera vs. Zigra features an alien who controls humans with hypnosis to get what it really wants. The plot runs into two children, the girl, Helen, who, with her older sister Maggie, appears to be bi-racial, and Kennie, who have a psychic link to Gamera. Avoid the non-Japanese print, this one is beautifully shot in wide-screen that is completely lost in the t.v. cut version. Also, the acting is much more restrained than the horrible dubbing would have you believe. It's sort of the ultimate expression of the Gamera idea. Gamera: it can never be said that he fails to get the job done when he racks up another impressive victory over a monster, here Zigra, who is creepy on the space ship (including cobwebs) but out of the ship (and full size) is more attractive than Gamera's other adversaries.