Monster of the Day #76

Updated on July 28, 2010 By Ken Begg 15 Comments

Has any monster ever been reimagined more effectively than this guy?  I can’t wait for his original appearance to hit DVD in September, so I can do a double with his more recent incarnation.  Great stuff.

Pin It



Related Posts

  • Ericb

    In a way he’s what you’d get if you put Godzilla and Rodan into a brundlefly machine.

  • Gamera

    Ah yes my old friend Gyaos…

    I love the Japanese self-defence forces plan to stop him- lure him to a revolving restarant with a fountain of artifical blood, then spin it really fast so he loses his balance and can’t fly away. Since he is hurt by sunlight then hoping they can keep him woosy long enough for the sun to come up and burn him to a crisp.

    Best
    plan
    ever!

  • Ericb

    They should have tried that on Dracula.

  • Gamera — And the plan nearly works, too! That’s the cool part.

  • BeckoningChasm

    I think in the “bunches of evil squid” Gamera movie they showed almost all of this movie in the “know your enemy” section.

  • Gamera

    Gamera — And the plan nearly works, too! That’s the cool part.

    Ken: yeap, that’s why I love these movies!

    They should have tried that on Dracula.

    Eric: You’re giving me the picture in my mind of van Helsing and Harker grabbing Dracula’s arms and spinning him in place till the sun comes up. ;)

    Now that I think about the movie my other favorite scene is where Gammy bites off a couple of Gyaos’s toes when he tries to fly away. This reduces Gyaos to hopping around on one foot while shooting his death ray. Then Gyaos flies off to a cave to heal his wounds. After regenerating his toes he gets a smug look on his face and starts smashing his way deeper into the cave until he bumps a stalatite which falls off the ceiling to whack him on his newly re-grown soft and tender toes. Instead of roaring he rolls his eyes up in his head as if hes saying ‘Ah krap, alright, alright, that was my fault- ever have one of those days???’

    Sorry guys, don’t mean to give away the whole plot but I chuckle everytime I think about this movie.

  • John Campbell

    Oh wow Gamera! Now I remember this!!

    Especially the fountain O’ Blood!

    Great great movie.

    They just don’t make kaiju like they used to!

  • John Campbell

    Gamera – imagine if Van Helsing and Harker tried that in the Twilight universe. They’d be dizzy and blind, cause you know…sparklies…

    Yes I had to go there. Because, well, I’m EEEEEEEE-vil!

  • The Rev. D.D.

    I love that they decide the blood fountain is easier and more likely to succeed than an ultraviolet projector. Still, it’s so crazy that I can’t begrudge the movie, and as has been stated, it damn near works.

    I think Gamera vs. Barugon was the best of the original series, but this one had the best balance of good stuff and outrageously cheesy fun and is easily a close second. Gyaos was the only monster I liked better than Barugon (hell, I liked him more than Gamera until the reboot), and a large part of that was the toe regeneration scene. That priceless look he gets after the rock hits his toe…I laugh and laugh every time. Mostly, though, it’s because he seems more evil than the other monsters, in appearance and in deed, even though he’s just a hungry/angry animal as opposed to Zigra and Viras the calculating alien invaders. A simple design, an effective defensive measure and a wicked offensive weapon, sometimes shows a bit of cleverness, explicitly eats people…yeah, Gyaos is bad-ass.

    I was thrilled with his reboot in the ’90s; it did not disappoint in the least. Hell, he even kept that clever/evil streak; witness Gyaos leading the missiles into Tokyo Tower, then roosting on the shattered tower and shrieking his triumph.

  • Gamera

    Gamera – imagine if Van Helsing and Harker tried that in the Twilight universe. They’d be dizzy and blind, cause you know…sparklies…

    I’m afraid that once the ‘vampire’ starts spinning the lights would dim, sparkles would shoot everywhere, and the soundtrack would start pounding out ‘Disco Infernal’.

    Yes sir, you are EEEEEE-vil. I laughed until my sides are sore.

  • fish eye no miko

    I watched the second and third films in the Heisei series (the Gamera films made in the 90s; I’d already seen the first one), and HyperGyaos (the baddie in the third film) was pretty awesome, too.

  • Rock Baker

    Not to spoil the seat of so much amusement, but I remember the ‘stalagtite scene’ a little differently (but I do admit that I haven’t seen any version of this movie in many a year). I was always under the impression that he broke the stalagtite and hit his foot on purpose, like he was sort of testing his new toes or something. I’d have to see it again, though, so it may’ve been accidental. Thus far, The Return of the Giant Monsters has escaped my grasp, I don’t even own the Sandy Frank version of this one! Although, I do have both Destroy all Planets and Super Monster, so its not like I can’t get a Gaos fix if I need it.

  • The Rev. D.D.

    That’s an interesting spin on things. I confess I’ve not seen it in a while, either; however, I don’t think he knocked it on his toe, but knocked it down (purposefully or otherwise) and then kicked it, so maybe your interpretation is correct.

    Either way, his expression fills me with glee.

  • Rock Baker

    It is a nice character moment, isn’t it? Most giant monsters aren’t nearly as fleshed out!

  • Gamera

    Maybe he did do it on purpose, it’s been forever since I’ve seen the film. As the Rev. pointed out Gyaos was so hateful and mean I suppose I was kinda rooting for bad things to happen to him.

    I’ve thought about picking up the new DVDs Ken’s been posting but hope if I wait they’re put out a boxed set of all of them.