Monster of the Day #908

Updated on May 16, 2014 By Ken Begg 19 Comments

A giant! Finally!!

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  • Flangepart

    O-kay. Giant statue….I’ll live with that. Giant herd of killer fish…nah, that’s stretching the metaphore.

  • Gamera977

    At least it doesn’t have gemstones for eyes that they steal… that never goes well…

  • Beckoning Chasm

    Wait, are most of their antagonists giants, or are the Sea Devils really, really tiny?

  • bgbear_rnh

    The hair on the Aztec(?) makes him look like something out of Dragon Ball or maybe The Heat Miser.

    So, where do they keep their passports while exploring the bottom of lake Texcoco?

  • Rock Baker

    Is it a living statue, or is it just falling toward them? The base is broken and shifted forward. Really nice perspective work, by the way.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Oh, and I beg everyone’s pardon, this will be VERY OT, but at the local Barnes & Noble I just saw the ‘Gamera Legacy Collection’ consisting of all eleven of the Gamera movies from the original film down to the 90’s versions for about $15; can anyone tell me if this seems like a good deal or not?

  • Judging by what I see on Amazon, the collection contains the original Japanese versions of the films. So really, it boils down to how much you really want Gamera in your life.

    In my opinion, assuming what I’ve read is correct, the last three are worth buying the set for alone. Me, I’d be buying it for the whole series, and I’m not as big a turtle fan as I used to be.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Thanks. I’ve heard a lot of people praising the last three movies of the set.

  • Gamera977

    If I may jump in here- Eric the three ’90s movies are my favorite Kaiju movies. The third one, ‘Gamera vs. Iris’ is my all time favorite though ‘Gamera vs. Legion’ is almost as good. The first movie is a little weaker but still good.

    I’ve got the Sandy Frank versions already and didn’t pay much attention to the new versions when Amazon announced them, looking at them now they are the original Japanese versions- thanks Cullen for the head’s up!
    I haven’t seen the latest one, ‘Gamera The Brave’ and can’t comment on it.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Thanks for the information on the movies. I’d seen the older 60”s and 70’s Gamera films years ago on TV when they used to show all those old kaiju flicks, but the new ones are strange to me

  • The Rev.

    I wonder if they have an alternate set without the ’90s trilogy, since I already have that. However, knowing the original versions are on there, I may have to get it anyway. I’d like to finally see the one with Jiger just for completeness, since most people seem to have not enjoyed it much.

    Godzilla is still my favorite giant monster movie, but Gamera II: Advent of Legion is probably 2nd, even over King Kong (or at the very least tied with it). I seem to be in the minority on that series; most people like the last one the most. Maybe I expected too much after the first two, but I was a bit underwhelmed overall with it (not that I found it bad or anything). Also, nothing in it tops Gamera vs. Queen Legion for sheer bad-ass monster mayhem.

    I haven’t seen Gamera the Brave either; most people seem to think it was okay at best.

  • Gamera977

    Legion and Iris were pretty close to me.

    Jiger isn’t the last original movie was it? Not the one where 2/3rds of the movie is flashbacks from the earlier films?

  • Flangepart

    The 90’s Gamera flicks are the bomb. Effects that do the old boy justice, and actors that I can respect. The ‘Bird Girl’ is a hreatbreaker and she and the cop character kept the humans from being, as Joe Bob Briggs puts it, ‘furniture.’
    If this new Godzilla lives up to those three films…priceless.

  • Gamera977

    Yes, replacing Kenji with three beautiful young ladies was a definite improvement. The cop was pretty cool as well as the military officer in Legion too.

  • Flangepart

    I liked the Cop’s ‘story arc’, where he starts out a normal officer, goes for a ‘beer cop’ job because of his fear of monsters, and gets redemption from the ornithologist babe.

  • The Rev.

    No, Jiger was third to last, followed by Zigra and, years later, Super Monster, which is the stock footage bonanza you mentioned.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Is this the character a fried of mine who saw the films told me about — he starts out as a cop in the first 90”s Gamera movie, becomes a security guard in the second, and by the third has become a broken-down drunk in the streets of Tokyo?

  • The Rev.

    That’s the one. Poor bastard.

    That is one thing the Heisei Gamera films have all over the Heisei Godzilla ones: characters that are interesting and compelling. That guy (Osako), Mayumi (aka “Bird Girl”), Asagi (aka Steven Seagal’s daughter), Ayana…meanwhile, Godzilla’s movies had Miki Saegusa. No contest. Even if I include Lt. Kosugi, who while cool didn’t get enough screen time to make a big impact.

  • Gamera977

    And a drunk almost smushed under a falling, flaming Gyaos chunk. I yelled for them to look out no one seems to understand Turtle.