Toshio, he's literally killed hundreds of people.
Yeah, right. Yeah, one time when Toshio says
that, it's like right after we see Gamera kill
a bunch of people with like a death ray and like
light them on fire. It's like, oh, kid, he's
not as great as you think he is. But I guess
I understand it. Hello and welcome to Camp Kaiju
Monster Movie Podcast. We are your hosts, Vincent
Hannum. And Matt Levine. And we're talking about
all of our favorite monster movies, the good,
the bad, and the downright campy, and asking
if they stand the test of time. Traditional kaiju,
creature features, space invaders, the supernatural,
and everything in between. All strange beasts
welcome here. Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zach
Linder and the Zach Pack, powered by Coldwell
Banker Realty. Your source for real estate, home
rehab, fixing and flipping for investor clients
and residential buyers. Reach out to the Zach
Pack today for real estate services. Follow the
Zach Pack on social media and contact the Zach
Pack for investment opportunities. Links in the
show notes, everybody. Pounding across the motion
picture screen comes the most terrifying monster
of them all. Gamera, the invincible. Gamera,
the super monster that even the H -bomb cannot
destroy. Gamera, the invincible. Gamera, consuming
raw atomic power. Power to destroy entire cities.
Open fire! Man's most destructive weapons have
no effect on Gamera the invincible. The mightiest
nuclear weapons ever devised are powerless against
Gamera the invincible. Is humanity doomed? Will
the world be destroyed? The United Nations is
called to emergency session in a last desperate
effort to save the world. We have one plan that
we think might work. We have discussed... Plan
Z with the Japanese authorities, and they agree
it is the best of our alternative plans. Is that
correct, sir? That is so. Plan Z is hope of the
world. A cast of thousands at the mercy of the
most terrifying monster that ever lived. Brian
Donrevy as General Arnold. The power of memory
is beyond comprehension. He must be stopped now.
Albert Decker as the Secretary of Defense. Will
Plan Z stop Gamera? Gamera, be invincible. Matt,
here we are, rocking and rolling with Camp Kaiju.
How are you? I'm doing pretty well. How are you,
Vincent? I'm pretty good. For everybody who doesn't
know, I'm a public school teacher, and summer
is two weeks away. And actually, when this episode
drops May 31st, One week away, so even better.
Cause for celebration, for sure. Oh, yeah. I'm
sorry about the wolves last night, timber wolves.
Yeah, it was a bad game. You know, we lost the
first game of the Warriors series as well. And
then we went on to win four in a row. So I'm
hoping we can turn it around. But the Thunder
are a really great team. It's going to be a tough
challenge. The Patriots and Knicks are playing
tonight as well as we record this episode. So
I'm making a sacrifice for Camp Kaiju. But I'm
very happy to be here talking about Gamera from
1965. Well, thank you for your time. I'm just
kidding. It's not that big of a sacrifice. I'm
always, you know, Camp Kaiju is more important
than basketball, but maybe not more important
than the Timberwolves. If the Wolves were playing
tonight, it might be different. But yeah, I'm
excited to talk about this movie. Well, yeah.
I mean, hey, I look folks listening. Me and Matt,
we live in Minneapolis. If we could get a championship
parade, that's all I want. That would just be
awesome. Absolutely. And I feel like Minnesota
sports fans, whether you love the Twins or the
Vikings or the Lynx or, you know, the Aurora,
all the different teams up here, I feel like
Minnesota sports fans know heartache very well.
So we just want one championship. You know, it's
not too much to ask. Just one. Well, maybe it
won't take 60 years, but it has been 60 years
since Gamera the giant monster graced the silver
screen. One of the big kaiju. I think in many
iterations, Gamera does rival Godzilla in terms
of popularity and franchise output. I mean, I
think there are 12 movies in the Gamera series,
which is which is a lot. They're not all masterpieces,
but it starts with Gamera, the giant monster
from 1965. I studios. I'm very excited to talk
about this movie. But we'll go through some nuts
and bolts. We have some news since last time
we'll get into. We'll talk about some upcoming
releases, both out in the general public and
on Camp Kaiju. Summer is upon us, folks, so we
have some exciting things. And we'll thank our
patrons, of course, take you through the production
history and cast and crew of Gamera, give it
our final rating, and then, I don't know, go
have a beer and watch some basketball. Who knows?
Yeah, totally. And then get ready for work tomorrow
and do it all over. Sorry, don't mean to be a
downer. That's all right. Have a beer, go to
work. That's what you should do, right? So it
goes. Yeah. Yep. Indeed. Until then, we have
a great night of film conversation ahead of us.
I honestly look forward to this every couple
of weeks. Totally. Me too. And then I get to
relive our conversation for like the next week
as I'm editing. the audio and I know I had strong
feelings about species, but you know, listening
to our episode, I would watch this movie again
with the right group of people. I think it could
be a lot of fun as a group activity. Yeah, for
sure. First of all, I just want to say you always
do such an amazing job of editing the episodes.
I mean, Vincent takes on that work here on Camp
Kaiju, obviously, and thank you for doing that.
Said that privately a lot, but I just want to
say it on the recording as well. You do a great
job. Thank you for that. I mean, it is fun to
like revisit our conversations and like the actual
episodes and like some of the stuff is like,
ah, I can't believe I said that. I probably could
have sounded a little more intelligent at times,
but it is a lot of fun. And on the subject of
Species, I sort of liked the first one. And a
couple of days ago, I watched Species 2, kind
of hoping that the sequels would be like fun
and trashy and like entertaining. It turns out
the second one is just really bad. So I'm probably
not going to continue with those, but I had my
hopes up. Maybe I'll try one more and see how
Species 3 goes, but I don't have very high hopes.
Okay. Well, thank you for doing that work. Someone
had to do it. Exactly, yep. Another sacrifice
I make for Camp Kaiju. Well, thank you all to
our listeners. We have some things lined up for
you this summer. We want to just, with our nuts
and bolts, first and foremost, shout out our
patrons. Jason, Chris, Sean, Peggy, our anonymous
patron. We appreciate all the support. And you
all on Patreon and anyone else just listening
out there, please rate and review Camp Kaiju.
It really helps us a lot. You can send us listener
comments a number of ways. Campkaiju at gmail
.com might be the easiest way, but you can find
us on Instagram at camp underscore kaiju underscore
podcast. And if you'd like to even be a featured
voice on the show, You can leave a voicemail
at 612 -470 -2612. Tell us about your favorite
monster movies, your history with Gamera. And
right now for the 50th anniversary of Jaws this
summer, we are hoping to collect a number of
voicemails from you listeners. Just telling us
about if you love Jaws, why you love Jaws, your
formative moments. Do you still have nightmares?
I know I do. And all those kind of fun things.
Please don't hesitate. Give us a call. Talk to
us about Jaws. And while you're at it, you can
check out our website, campkaijupodcast .com
for more reviews and special content. You can
find some merch at campkaiju .threadless .com.
And I think the best place to go, honestly, is
Patreon. You can join a cool club over at patreon
.com slash campkaiju. And we got giveaways. Priority
comments, discounts, maybe some live events.
Excited for sure. A couple of exciting things
I really want to talk about since last time.
Lots happened in two weeks. Number one, there's
news with the next Godzilla Kong movie. It has
an official title now. It's called Godzilla X
Kong Supernova. And it's currently in production
slated for. A May, 2027 release might be March,
but 2027 seems like a may, like early summer
kind of movie. True. True. So the Kaiju sphere
is a buzz with this title because supernova alludes
seemingly to an outer space theme, a cosmic threat.
And there are two, antagonists kind of bubbling
to the surface that fans are looking out for.
One, Space Godzilla, who's only appeared in one
Godzilla movie before, Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla,
and or Gigan, which is a very formidable foe
from Godzilla vs. Gigan from the 70s. Man, I
have to admit, I'm not very familiar with either
of those nemeses. I gotta watch those movies
for sure. They are, in my opinion, not the best
Godzilla movies, but the villains stand out above
their respective films, if that makes sense.
I could see that. Isn't there like a sea monster
from Terror of Mechagodzilla? I can't remember
the name of that monster. Yeah, that is Titanosaurus.
Yeah, there it is. Yep. That's another example
of a movie that I don't think is all that great,
but that monster is awesome. I love it. Yeah,
super fun. Yeah. So we'll see. Camp Kaiju listeners,
we will keep you abreast of events as they unfold.
Exciting. Yeah. Other exciting news. This is
totally random. So Matt, there is an award. It's
called the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards.
And there's a really great community. Like a
message board? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know
if that's exactly what you're looking for, but
that's how I look at it. Yeah, so the Classic
Horror Film Board, it's a great website, just
people chatting about all sorts of different
topics. But anyways, decades ago, they sponsored
an award called the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror
Awards. And it honors works in the horror genre
in all sorts of mediums, from podcasts to writers
in the field. and reviewers and even movies.
So I happened to see that we had been nominated
and it's like a very open nomination process.
Somebody or some more than one person nominated
our podcast for this award. And I was very appreciative
of that and surprised. And we are in great company
in the category for best podcast slash multimedia.
You might recognize Friends of the Pod, Bill
and Tom from the Frankenstein Minute podcast.
They were actually given an honorable mention,
well -deserved to those guys. And then Derek
M. Cook at what's now called Bride of Monster
Kid Radio. He and I have collaborated on his
show talking about Jack Arnold movies. So really,
really esteemed company, I think, in the horror
film podcast community. So congratulations, Matt.
We did it. Congratulations, Vincent. That's awesome
news. Thanks to whoever nominated us. And yeah,
it's just cool to be part of that community,
like along with those fellow nominees. That's
pretty awesome. And feels good to just know there's
an audience out there and like share ideas and,
you know, nerd out about this stuff. So it's
pretty it's pretty cool for sure. Yeah, honestly,
I feel the same way. It's just like, oh, people
do listen. And people do find value in what we're
talking about. And I think we would just do it
regardless. But, you know, it does help. And
it is a nice feeling to be in conversation with
listeners. So, yeah, we salute you all out there.
For sure. Thank you. All right. This month in
monster movie history, it's still May. As of
this, you know, we're going to drop May 31st.
So. Any titles on here capture your imagination?
Oh, man. To be honest, I haven't seen a lot of
these. And the few that I have seen, I think
I talked about last time because I mentioned
Horror of Dracula, the Hammer Horror picture,
which is a lot of fun. I think I mentioned that
last time. Dog Soldiers, I think I talked about
last time. Maybe I'll just shout out. The Mummy
Returns. I know it's kind of obvious, but it's
a fun sequel from the early 2000s. A throwback
to like the Saturday matinee style of like adventure
horror movie. Yeah, it's fun. You know, I haven't
seen it in a long time. I don't know if it holds
up, but I've kind of been wanting to rewatch
those movies. So The Mummy Returns. Maybe it's
time for another watch. Do it. It's totally worth
it. Yeah. Love that cast. Love the cast. I love
the continuation of the story. Go for it. I do
remember like a really obnoxious kid in that
movie, which maybe is a good like segue to Gamera.
I'm sure we'll be talking about that a little
bit later tonight as well. So, you know, it's
a it's a running theme, perhaps for the night,
annoying kids in movies. I don't know what you're
talking about. I think Toshio was a very well
fleshed out character with strong motivations
for putting himself in all sorts of danger. yeah
he does love turtles that's a strong motivation
for sure okay yeah we're gonna have fun tonight
well in may of 1961 i want to shout out conga
conga is a british film i believe and if you
could guess by the title it is a riff on not
i don't know if it's kong exactly but it is about
a giant ape that rampages through london It's
been on my watch list for a long time. We'll
get to it at some point. But Conga from 1961.
I haven't seen that. I do also like The Black
Cat. I haven't seen that in a very long time
as well. But that came out in 1934. I remember
that being like a really fun, atmospheric, very
short. I think it's universal. I could be wrong
about that. But Karloff and Lugosi, that's a
great movie as well, from what I remember. Oh,
absolutely. Pre -code. Yep. It has some great...
Great horror visuals in that movie for sure.
Yeah, definitely atmospheric. Oh, so, so atmospheric.
So coming up this summer, there's a lot of monster
news. I'm only picking one, but we have two predator
installments coming out this year. I was aware
of one of these. I didn't know that both of them
were coming out there. Yeah. So which one were
you aware of? I was aware of Badlands, and I've
seen the trailer for that. It looks pretty cool,
but I was not aware of the other one. Yeah, so
Badlands comes out November 7th, and then Predator
Killer of Killers is actually an animated film
series directed by... Dan Trachtenberg, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So I'm not always the biggest fan
of animating a legacy series, but... you know,
it still could be a cool way to see the predator
in action in different scenarios. Yeah. Intriguing.
All right. Yeah. I don't know if I'm sold on
the premise either, but I'll, I'll definitely
watch it and hopefully I'll be pleasantly suppressed.
Yeah. I mean, the predator is awesome. I'll watch
anything with that, with that species. I don't
know. It's not one person. Right. Yeah. Yeah,
like, you know, I do generally like animation.
It's hard to imagine that being brought to like
the Predator franchise, but it could work. I'm
excited. Yeah. But also exciting coming up on
Camp Kaiju on this podcast, we have your pick.
And what is that? Yeah, next up on Camp Kaiju,
we're going to be talking about Swamp Thing from
1982 by Wes Craven, which honestly is a movie
I know almost nothing about. Like I know it's
a very famous comic book series, which I never
really got into as a kid, but I know it's very
popular. Wes Craven, of course, is a great horror
director, maybe a little bit uneven, but has
some really great stuff. So I don't know what
to expect. I'm really excited to talk about that.
Likewise. And then after that, we're going to
talk about Giant Robots in a cult classic called
Robot Jocks from 1989. It's directed by Stuart
Gordon, who's... Reanimator, I absolutely love
and is another classic. So Stuart Gordon knows
what he's doing. And on that episode, we hope
to have one or two guest hosts. Returning is
Sean Pryor, who helped us break down. Ooh, what
did he help us on? Oh, hi. No, Sean's last episode
was him talking about his great book called Kaiju
Unleashed. which is an illustrated reference
book for Kaiju in cinema. I actually have it
open right now looking at his info on Gamera.
Oh, nice. Such a cool book and such a great conversation.
That was a very fun episode and interview with
him. Yeah. So please, listeners, go back to that
in prep for Robot Jocks. And if we can, Sean
Childers, who brought Tusk to our show, we're
hoping to have him on the show as well for Robot
Jocks. Awesome. The two Sean's. Yeah, I know.
That'll be fun. Can't wait. And then the final
film to round out the first half of 2025. Wow.
I didn't realize it was the last episode of the
first part of the season, but the company of
wolves by Neil Jordan is the next movie that
I'll be bringing to the podcast, which I've been
wanting to see for like 20 years now. It looks
so surreal and like fantastic and dreamlike.
beyond that again i don't really know too much
about it i know there are some like themes about
like coming of age and female sexuality and stuff
like that that'll be a great conversation looking
forward to that definitely definitely and then
that'll take us into july and we have a we'll
bring you some traditional kaiju everybody for
kai july those titles are tbd matt we're going
to talk about those at some point and and and
announce the second half of 2025 at some point.
Can't wait. But it's, yeah, all of a sudden I
feel like we just did this. Like we just came
up with 12 films and here we are again. Yeah.
Time flies, man. Obviously in the best possible
way. It's, it's so much fun watching these movies
and talking about them. And I also wanted to
mention like, you know, earlier when you were
talking, I can't believe that Gamera, the giant
monster came out in 65 and Jaws came out in 75.
So those movies are only 10 years apart. but
they don't feel like it. Like to me, Gamera feels
like it's part of like the old school classic,
like, you know, early 20th century, even though
it's not actually early 20th century. And then
Jaws kind of feels like it like kicked off like
the modern blockbuster era a little bit. So I
was just thinking like, it's amazing. Those movies
came out 10 years apart and they seem to belong
to totally different eras of filmmaking, you
know? 100%. Because you think about 10 years
ago from now, I feel like. movie making is still
the same a movie from 2015 and 2025 or i don't
think are as far apart as camera and jaws it
definitely doesn't feel like it maybe in the
future like 2015 will feel radically different
from 2025 but right now it doesn't so i don't
know it's cool to step back and look at it like
that wild yeah well what's your personal history
with camera then So I watched the original Japanese
version, Gamera the Giant Monster, relatively
recently, maybe like a year and a half ago, and
liked it quite a bit. I kind of thought it was
just going to be a Godzilla ripoff, which it
kind of is in some ways, but it's like a very
good, charming, imaginative one, and I liked
it quite a bit. And then to prepare for the recording
tonight, I watched the American version, Gamera
the Invincible, Gamera spelled with two Ms. And
I'm sure I'll be talking more about this tonight.
The American version is terrible. I really hate
it. I'm sorry to be so blunt about it, but it's
just awful. And I'll explain why a little bit
later on tonight. But I couldn't believe the
disparity in quality between the Japanese and
the American versions. And then I rewatched part
of the Japanese version just like a couple hours
ago before the recording tonight. So, you know,
I tried to remind myself why I like the Japanese
one so much, because the American one... pales
in comparison. So anybody out there who hasn't
seen these movies, or even if you have, share
your thoughts. Maybe you like the American one
more than the Japanese one. That's totally cool.
But for me, I was just surprised how vastly different
the two versions were. I'm going to ask you more
about that in a little bit when we get to the
release and legacy of this film. The last time
we talked about Gamera, we've talked about Gamera
twice on the podcast. The first time was Gamera
versus Gauss from the 60s, which I think is the
third entry in the series. So we completely skipped
the first two. And then we went to the Heisei
era and talked about Gamera Guardian of the Universe,
which the quality of those films versus the original
Showa era are just... radically different not
for better for worse just a product of the times
but i definitely wanted to get back to basics
with the first gamera fill that blind spot but
i i've been aware of gamera my whole life i remember
being quite young maybe maybe five four or five
and me and my family we lived in a small town
for a little bit in north carolina And these
are like some of my earliest memories. Like try
to think about your earliest memories. And mine
are going into like a one room video rental store
and looking for Gamera movies. That's awesome.
Yeah. Like about how old were you? Maybe like
five? Yeah, probably about five. No older than
five. Because I know when we lived in that town.
Yeah. Yeah, I guess. And I, and I guess this
small, and we were like in the boonies of, of
Appalachia, North Carolina, but I guess this
rental store had gambler movies. Go figure. I
love that story. It reminds me, my grandma had
a cottage in Montello, Wisconsin, a very small
town in the middle of nowhere. And there was
a similar video store that was like one room.
And like some of my earliest, fondest, like movie
watching memories were going in there and picking
a movie for the night and then watching it with
the family. Not too many monster movies, but
like, you know, some old horror movies. Ride
of Frankenstein, I think I saw back then for
the first time. So I can relate to the nostalgia
of that experience. Very cool. Yeah, I just think
watching these movies young, that's when it really
sinks its hooks into you. Yeah, it sets you on
a path for life, you know? Yeah, and then, you
know, I went away from these movies for a long
time. I did not get back into kaiju films until
my late 20s. I was just like, it just wasn't
what I was into. I was into, quote, high art
cinema. Yeah. Quote unquote. Right. But now I'm
like, this stuff's awesome. This is what I want
to watch all the time. Although I will say, and
I'm going off on a tangent, I have my Oscar movies
and arthouse films too. Yeah, totally. I've always
felt that like movies can offer many different
kinds of pleasure. They obviously are great art.
They like, you know, some masterpieces of cinema
are like some of the best. Artworks you will
ever experience in your life. And they can also
provide entertainment and like shocking thrills.
And like, you know, it can like bring you back
to childhood. And like, I think you need both.
As a movie fan, you need to have a diet of both
kinds of movies, I think. Impossible. Unbelievable.
Fantastic. But I tell you, it could happen. It
could happen. It could happen. Yes, it could
happen. For various authorities believe that
buried somewhere under the polar ice cap, in
a state of suspended animation, are the awesome
creatures, the leviathans that roamed the earth
at the dawn of time. And under certain conditions,
a nuclear explosion can free one from his icy
tomb. Then, guided by instinct, the beast would
come back. back to the caverns of the deepest
Atlantic where it was spawned. An armored giant,
wreaking his prehistoric fury on modern man and
his puny machines. Cities would be terrorized
by the cruel intruder from the past. Populations
crazed and panicked with fear by its destructive
force. Granite and steel would crumble. Soldiers
and their weapons would be powerless before the
onslaught of the beast. The beast. The beast.
The beast from 20 ,000 fathoms. Herald Square.
34th Street. Broadway. Every section of the city
is guarded. No one knows where the monster will
strike next. Godzilla, king of the monsters.
Alive. Surging up from the depths of the sea
on a tidal wave of terror to wreak vengeance
on mankind. Godzilla, king of the monsters. It's
alive. A gigantic beast. Docking the earth, crushing
all before it. In a cyclonic cavalcade of electrifying
horror. Raging through the streets on a rampage
of total destruction. Godzilla, king of the monsters.
Incredible titan of terror. Wiping out a city
of six million in a holocaust of flame. Yet flames
cannot destroy it. Bombs cannot kill it. All
modern weapons fail. Is this the end of our civilization?
Can the scientists of the world find a way to
stop this creature? Or the answer, the Godzilla,
king of the monsters. You may wish to deny it,
but your eyes tell you it's true. A tale to stun
the mind. More fantastic than any ever written
by Jules Verne. More terrifying than any ever
shown on the screen. Awesome. Incredible. Unbelievable.
A story beyond your wildest dreams. Dynamic violence.
Savage action. Spectacular thrill. Godzilla,
king of the monsters. Fantastic beyond comprehension.
Gripping beyond comparison. Astounding beyond
belief. The mightiest monster of them all. See
Godzilla, king of the monsters. From beyond the
universe, an invader who plans to conquer the
entire cosmos begins an attack on Earth. Mystifying
and terrifying events, and from outer space,
the age of the monster begins. The Earth is in
danger. Who can save the Earth? Gamera! Evil
savers? Gamera, super monster fighting savagely
for justice against evil. A space woman whose
task is to defend the Earth. Helped by the most
powerful monster of all time. A space battleship
and the Galaxy Express train never before seen
in science fiction movies. The Super Monster.
A space movie on a gigantic scale. Packed with
stunning effects. Super Monster. The most riveting
film in the history of motion pictures. Who will
win, Gamera or the enemies of the earth? Well,
then let's just dive into Gamera here with the
production history. We'll start with the select
crew and the select cast. Well, the director
of Gamera is Noriaki Yuasa, and he actually directed
all but one of the subsequent Gamera films of
the Showa era. The one he did not direct was
Gamera vs. Barugan. which was a sequel to this
one, but Yuasa did the special effects for it.
So he was involved from the first picture to
the last in this series, which was Gamera Super
Monster from 1980. In the 1970s, Yuasa moved
into directing TV dramas. And I'll add, Gamera
was his first real feature film. He was born
in 1933, so he was about 32 when he directed
this movie. He was born in Tokyo. His family
was in showbiz. And I pulled this following information
from an interview I found with him from 1996.
And I'll include that link in our show notes.
But like growing up in show business, he was
exposed to, quote, illicit affairs, which is
interesting because that led him, as he states,
to never direct a romantic film, which I included
because I did not find. the ostensible romance
in Gamera to be very convincing no not at all
so I was like oh maybe maybe he just wasn't interested
in that angle of the movie yeah that's kind of
interesting I mean like the movie and not to
get ahead of ourselves but like it's it has like
a childlike quality to it you know I mean the
character of Toshi right is that the kid's name
Toshio Toshio, sorry. You know, obviously that's
the main example, but even like all the other
relationships seem like little kids playing on
a playground or something. So unromantic is a
good way to put it. I kind of felt the same way.
Yeah. And, you know, you also also found this,
I just found this interesting. He didn't have
too much, too many positive things to say about
the Godzilla films, actually. He found them,
quote, contrived in this interview. and believed
that Ishiro Honda was too modest for a director.
I'm like, okay, Yuasa. I mean, sure. Yeah, well,
I mean, I can't speak to Ishiro Honda's modesty
as a director, but I don't know if he should
be talking about how contrived Godzilla is when
he made a movie about a flying turtle who looks
like a flying saucer. Like, you know, probably
shouldn't be making that claim, but... He made
a movie that... but is a ripoff of Godzilla.
Yeah, right. So maybe it's not too surprising,
but still I'm like, ooh, you know, you might
want to bite your tongue there a little bit,
you awesome. But I get it. Like maybe he's trying
to like distance Gamera from Godzilla a little
bit. I understand that. Yeah, yeah. And to his
credit, by the mid 60s, the Godzilla series,
I could argue, one could argue are contrived.
That's a good point. Yeah, that's true. Yeah.
I can't help but compare the first Gamera movie
to the first Godzilla movie. And those two are
in different leagues, I would say. But yeah,
by the 60s, the Godzilla movies, yeah. Maybe
there's not as much of a separation between those
and Gamera as the first Godzilla movie. Yeah.
Ooh, hot takes here on Cam Kaiju. Special effects
of Gamera are by Yonasaburo Tsukiji. He doesn't
seem to have a lot of credits in his filmography.
So, yeah, maybe not not super into the kaiju
films, it seems. Or at least I didn't have a
lot of experience in them, you know? Yeah. Who
is the producer behind this? Yeah, so the producer
of Gamera was Masaichi Nagata, who was the president
of Daiei Studios from 1947 through 1971. He was
instrumental in the studio's creation, which,
if you don't know Daiei Studios, is responsible
for many Japanese classics from the mid -20th
century. Some of those movies include Akira Kurosawa's
Rashomon from 1950, which... I think deserves
its reputation as one of the most influential
films of all time. Not my personal favorite Kurosawa,
but really an incredible movie. Daiei also produced
Gate of Hell from 1953 by Tenosuke Kinugasa.
This was the first Japanese color film to be
shown abroad. It made a huge reputation internationally.
It won an honorary Academy Award for Best Foreign
Language Film, as well as the Palme d 'Or at
the Cannes Film Festival. My personal favorites
on this list, Daiei Studios released a lot of
films by Kenji Mizuguchi, who is one of my favorite
filmmakers of all time. Two of the films that
he made for Daiei Studios were Ugetsu and Sancho
the Bailiff. Really amazing movies, long takes,
kind of a poetic, beautiful style. Pretty deep,
heavy dramas, so not always the most lightweight
movies, but just among the best movies ever made.
So Daiei Studios, really a lot of masterpieces
throughout the years that they released. You
know, maybe on the other end of the spectrum,
you know, all the good movies in their own right.
But Daiei also distributed the 1952 Japanese
re -release of King Kong and 1953's The Beast
from 20 ,000 Fathoms, which we recently talked
about on the podcast. Yeah. So yeah, a wide gamut
of movies of different quality levels or at least
different categories. Both, you know, both kinds
good, both kinds of films good in their own way,
I would say. Yeah, and as we know, it was that
re -release of King Kong and the distribution
of The Beast from 20 ,000 Fathoms that in part
inspired Toho to come up with their own giant
monster because those two previous movies were
so successful at the box office. And watching
Gamera, I picked up on another kaiju movie that
Yuasa's film was riffing on. other than Godzilla.
Imagine a giant reptile in the Arctic being woken
up by atomic bombs, and then it destroys a lighthouse.
Man, I feel like I should know this. It's not
The Thing, is it? No, you just mentioned it.
It's The Beast from 20 ,000 Fathoms. Oh, I'm
sorry. I thought that was too easy. Yeah, I got
you. It makes sense. I wouldn't have picked up
on that if we hadn't just watched The Beast from
20 ,000 Fathoms. Yeah, sorry. I thought you meant
a different one that wasn't on the list here.
But yeah, like definitely. I mean, the opening
in the Arctic, even like the appearance of the
monster almost feels like verbatim. Very, very
similar between the Beast from 20 ,000 Fathoms
and Gamera. So yeah, totally. A lot of influence
there for sure. Yeah. Sorry, I don't think I
said that very well to you. But yeah, I was like,
oh, this is clearly the Beast from 20 ,000 Fathoms.
Yeah. Yeah, totally. You made a good point, though,
that like, you know, the re -release of King
Kong and the Beast from 20 ,000 Fathoms influenced
Toho to make Godzilla. And then Daiei kind of
in turn is like ripping off, maybe not ripping
off, paying homage to Toho Studios a little bit.
So it's like kind of reciprocal in a way, you
know? Yeah, it's just, you know, genre cinema
just builds off of the successes of before. And
there's nothing wrong with that. And I think
Gamera does its own thing enough. clearly to
make it stand out. It's not a total, you know,
uninspired imagining of Godzilla. Yeah, I agree
for sure. Yeah. Well, oh, and I'll just mention
Dai Studios would bankrupt in 1971, a time when
the Japanese film industry faced severe losses
of audiences across the board, which is a common
theme when we start getting into later Godzilla
films. When you wonder why they get so bad so
quickly, it's because there was no money. No
studio had money in the series. That's sad. Man,
sad but not surprising. I wish I knew a little
bit more about this history, but Gamera was a
very popular series, right? The first couple
movies did pretty well for Daiei, I thought.
But aside from that, the studio was not doing
well from my understanding. Yeah, the Gamera
series is the only thing keeping Daiei afloat.
by the late 60s and 70s. But you see this diminishing
loss of budget with each subsequent Gamera film.
Until by the end, I mean, we will talk about
these movies, Matt, but there's like Gamera versus
Zygra, which is, I hate to say it because I love
Gamera so much, but it's one of the most boring
movies I've ever seen starring giant monsters.
Yeah, that's sad. It seems like it would be impossible
for them to be boring, but as we know, it can
happen sometimes. Yeah. You're talking about
one out of five stars. We'll talk about them
one day. Do you know, like, so the later Gamera
movies, like from the Heisei era, right, from
the 90s, is that Heisei? I think it is. Yeah.
Did Toho, like, get the rights to Gamera then,
or was that a different studio? Do you know that?
I believe that was still Daiei. However... they
did not have the, they didn't have, they did
not have the resources to distribute the movies.
And I, and I could be mistaken on the details,
but Toho did distribute those movies at the very
least. Gotcha. And they did. Toho did share artisans
and, and artists on the creative process as well.
So there was some overlap. Yeah. Okay, cool.
That's interesting. No, but Toho is never. There
have been some talks in the late 90s and 2000s
of actually putting Godzilla and Gamera in the
same movie. But they're two different properties
from two different studios. So it would have
taken a lot of work and it just kind of fell
through. But that's the matchup I think we would
all love to see. That would be amazing. I would
love to see Gauss in a Godzilla movie too. Gamera
versus King Ghidorah. Oh, wow. Yes, please. Make
that happen somehow. I'm calling on you, Vincent,
to make this happen. You can do it. No, call
on the listeners. All of us together can make
it happen. Amazing. All right. So in the movie,
we have first and foremost, E .G. Funakoshi playing
Dr. Hidaka. He's a scientist doing research in
the Arctic and later wishing to learn more about
Gamera. Funakoshi was a noted Japanese actor
at the time, and he later starred in the fourth
entry of the series, Gamera vs. Giron, from 1969.
The film also stars Michiko Sugata as Nobuyo
Sakurai, a young woman living with her father
and kid brother Toshio. Yeah, and then Harumi
Kintachi as Kyoko Yamamoto. is Dr. Hidaka's assistant
and maybe romantic interest of a Aoyagi. So Harumi
Kiritachi is the female love interest of the
movie. She plays Dr. Hidaka's assistant. Yeah.
Nope. The goddess of good luck, according to
Aoyagi, who is played by Junichiro Yamashita.
Aoyagi is a journalist tagging along with Dr.
Hidaka. And Vincent, like you just said, seems
to have a romantic interest in Kyoko. It does
seem to be a very innocent and kind of, in my
opinion, like I said before, kind of a playground
romantic interest in Kyoko. Definitely. And then
the real star of this film is Yoshiro Uchida.
He plays the boy, the little boy, Toshio Sakurai.
And this kid is deeply attached to his pet turtle
named Peewee. At least that's the American translation
of his turtle's name. But Toshio is so attached
to his little Peewee that that came out wrong.
I hope he's attached to it. Sorry. You know,
sometimes I just say things and, you know, we
do with it what we can. But his father and sister
are really pressuring Toshio to release Peewee
into the wild. Yeah, yep. Toshio, you know he
loves his turtle. He seems to love science, which
kind of is one of the charming themes of the
movie as it goes on. This kid, he keeps on showing
up in the most dangerous situations possible.
If there's a train heading right for Gamera that's
about to blow up, that kid is going to hop on
that train. You know it. He's going to be there.
It's ridiculous, but it's very funny. You know,
Toshio is going to climb a lighthouse. Right
when the giant monster is going to destroy it.
Because of course he is. Yeah. He's just up to
all kinds of hijinks, this kid. Now here's Toshio's
motivation. He believes, I believe he believes,
that Gamera is Peewee. Like he releases Peewee,
the turtle disappears, and then the next turtle
Toshio sees is Gamera. And mind you, Toshio is
not like... two years old he's like a 10 year
old boy who should know better but he instantly
views the city destroying people stomping monster
as his pet who can do no wrong And to like all
the soldiers who are like bombarding Gamera with
like, you know, electricity and nuclear radiation
and like all this, all these weapons. And Toshio
is just like, stop shooting him. He's not so
bad. He's not mean. He like means well. Toshio,
he's literally killed. Gamera has killed hundreds
of people. Yeah, right. Yeah, one time when Toshio
says that, it's like right after we see Gamera
kill a bunch of people with like a death ray
and like light them on fire. It's like, oh, kid,
he's not as great as you think he is. But I guess
I understand it. It's very funny. Yeah. More
to say about that at the end of our podcast here.
That's Toshio and kind of the synopsis of the
movie in a nutshell. Yeah, indeed. That's all
you need to know. Yeah. All right. The production
history of this here film. Talked about it a
little bit, but after the success of Toho's Godzilla
series and actually the birds, Hitchcock's The
Birds was also a recent hit. All right, let me
let me let me back up. OK, so let me put this
a different way. Gamera was not the first monster
movie that Daiei attempted. They had a failed
movie about giant rats called Giant Beast Horde.
Yeah, Giant Horde Beast Nezura in 1964. This
movie was directed by Yuasa. This movie did not
finish production. It was canceled by the health
department because the live rats were wild, uncooperative,
and infested with fleas. I love that story. It's
insane. And you know what I love even more? There's
a biopic from 2020, a Japanese film called Nezura
1964 that apparently dramatizes this whole shambles
of a production. And I can't wait to watch it.
Same. I had never heard about that movie before,
but yeah, from your notes and then doing a little
more research about it, it sounds fascinating.
I can't wait to see this movie. Yeah, I guess
it's on Tubi. I just Googled Nezura 1964. So
it's out there in the trailers on YouTube. Yeah.
It's not as obscure as I thought. So I'm definitely
gonna watch that at some point. For sure. Yeah.
So anyways, I could have like unleashed the next
bubonic plague if their production hadn't been
shut down. That's crazy. So they got rid of the
rats, but they kept the sets and all the miniature
cityscapes. So they repurposed those for Gamera.
And the idea for a giant turtle came from producer
-president Nagata, who anecdotally, at least,
got the idea for Gamera while on a plane. And
he imagined a giant turtle flying alongside.
He also allegedly saw a turtle -shaped cloud.
And that fed into this imagination that eventually
became what we see now. I also read that one
of the early titles for that production was A
Lowly Tortoise Flies Through the Sky, which I
love. That's a great title. I just wanted to
point that out. No, it's so on the nose that
it's poetic. Sounds like kind of a bittersweet
movie. Yeah. Speaking of titles, Gamera. So I
guess the Japanese name for turtle is camera,
but they changed the K to a G because camera,
like the English word camera also is the Japanese
word. So they didn't want to confuse audiences.
So they changed it to camera. And that's, that's
how you got that name. All right, so one of the
ways that Yuasa wanted to distinguish Gamera
from the Godzilla movies was by making Gamera
a little bit more of an animal as opposed to
the anthropomorphized beast that we see in the
Godzilla movies. And some of the ways that Yuasa
did this in the Gamera movies was the depiction
of violence and in later films, blood, as well
as Yuasa shooting the monsters from the waist
up or on all fours as much as he could to emphasize
their kind of animal aspects. I think a good
example of that is when the turtle Gamera is
on its back and you think that it's kind of screwed
and its head and all of its limbs pull back into
its shell. But then, of course, Gamera kind of
starts spinning around in a circle to fly up
into the air. I thought that was a cool example
of a monster that seems to be basically a giant
animal, but then we see this cool new superpower
that we totally weren't expecting. I thought
that was a cool moment. I think that's one of
the best movies. Or sorry, best moments in the
movie. Just an iconic moment because nobody's
expecting it. The characters aren't expecting
it. I wasn't even expecting it. I mean, I know
Gamera flies like that, but I would have loved
to have been in the theater in 1965 and just
like, what? The turtle has rockets that come
out of his leg holes. This is wild. Yeah, such
a great scene. I love that part. And then, so
I die. They had two tiers of films. They had
a, a budgeted pictures and B level movies. Gamera
was, was budgeted as a B picture, which is why
you see this film in black and white. The film
obviously repurposed sets from Nezuda, but Gamera,
the production also struggled with outdated equipment.
Props broke like. The flying Gamera we just said
would actually burn through its wires with those
pyrotechnics. And here's something fun. When
ice was trucked in for the Arctic scenes, it
melted, of course, and flooded the set for three
days. Yuasa faced stiff criticism, not just from
the executives, but also from his crew. And I
am thinking, here is this young director. Who's
already helmed a failed production in giant horde
beast Nezura. And now here he is with another
sinking ship. I'm surprised he wasn't fired,
but maybe they just couldn't afford to fire him.
I don't know. Yeah, that's a good point. And
I. You know, we'll probably talk about this a
little bit later, but I think like despite all
the struggles and challenges, like the movie
looks really good. I love the black and white
cinematography. I think the special effects and
the suits and everything, the model work all
looks pretty great. So, you know, hats off to
Yuasa. I think he did a good job in the end,
especially when faced with so many challenges.
I agree. I would never have guessed it, guessed
all these struggles based on the finished product.
I think like the camera work. is is really dynamic
in this movie the the action is really compelling
the the human characters i think are serviceable
but but that's all you need in a movie like this
as long as they're not distractingly bad yeah
that's a win yeah yeah toshio is definitely distracting
but not distractingly bad i wouldn't say yeah
so i i agree with all that for sure You know,
I read, I don't know if you saw this as well,
but like I read that when they were making the
film, Yuasa was maybe going to enlist the help
of A .G. Tsuburaya, who did the special effects
for a lot of the Godzilla films that Toho released.
So Yuasa was going to. seek out the help of Tsuburaya,
but sort of as a matter of pride, like wanted
to do it all himself, wanted to stick with the
resources that Daiei Studios already had. I thought
that was really fascinating. I don't know if
you read that or like what you took away from
that, like why you thought that he made that
decision. I did come across that. Well, now I'm
thinking, you know, he didn't have like the highest
praise for Ishiro Honda. So maybe he... Not that
he didn't respect Honda or Tsuburaya, but maybe
he had a little too much pride to work with a
competing studio. Yeah, that was my takeaway
as well. And in a way, I kind of admire that.
He's a young director trying to make his mark,
and I think he did so on this movie. Yeah, I
think so too. It's just as good as any of those
Godzilla movies being released at the same time.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I love Ghidorah, the
three -headed monster, which I think is like
62, 63, somewhere around there. Yeah, yeah. So
I would say maybe that one is a slightly higher
level. But yeah, overall, I would agree with
you for sure. Yeah. Listeners, if you have a
different take, let us know. I just felt like
the cry of 100 ,000 souls yelling, no, Godzilla's
always better. Yeah. We'd love to hear that,
for sure. I'm sure, yeah, some people have strong
opinions out there. And I would love to hear
them. Well, this movie, Gamera Giant Monster,
was released in Japan in November 1967. It was
popular. A sequel was put into production, Gamera
vs. Barugan, which was then elevated to an A
-picture level. So that was in color. From here
on out, Daiei made a Gamera movie every year
until 1970. Here, I painted myself into a corner.
But they made a Gamera movie every year until
about 1971 or 72. These are all in color. And
the success of Gamera ushered in kind of a second
wave of Kaiju films. So if you think of Godzilla
in 54, that was like the first big wave. But
by 65, the genre was kind of waning with audiences.
Gamera proves otherwise. And then you had other
studios jumping on the bandwagon. Two prominent
examples from the studio Nikatsu. They released
Gappa, the Trifibian Monster, in 1967. And Shochiku,
the studio, released The X from Outer Space,
also in 1967. So Gamera is really kind of to
thank for... these films. And then Matt, I'd
love to hear you, your take on the, the history
when, when Gamera comes to the West, what happens?
Yeah. Yep. So for better or worse, American distribution
rights were acquired by Harris associates, Inc
and world enterprises corporation to very forgettable
studio. They kind of re -edited it. They added
a lot of newly shot scenes featuring new American
characters, speaking English for the most part,
as well as other footage that was like re -cut.
The whole film was kind of re -edited to some
extent. So that version of the film was released
in the United States as Gamera the Invincible
in 1966. And Vincent, I just wanted to make sure,
I think the Japanese version was released in
65, right? It says 67 on here, but I think it
was 65. It was 65. Thank you for correcting that.
I just wanted to make sure, because, yeah, the
American one was then released a year later.
Gamera has two M's in the American title, Gamera
the Invincible. The U .S. distributors wanted
to kind of, I guess, like Daae, they wanted to
not confuse the title with the word camera, so
they added another M to it. And, yeah, they tried
to create a more American perspective. I don't
know if they really succeeded with that. I, to
me, they added a lot of boring scenes of like
generals and scientists, like debating things
in boardrooms. And that's like really like the
extent of what they did. And they, like, they
kind of, so there's, well, I don't know if I
should get into this right now. I'll just say
at this point that they took out a lot of the
things that I think make the original Japanese
version so imaginative and striking and unique.
The American version kind of did away with a
lot of that stuff. So anyway, I'm getting off
topic a little bit. I'm allowing my personal
opinion to interfere with the conversation. I
apologize, but yeah. The American version came
out in 67. I think it was the only Gamera film
that was released theatrically in the United
States was Gamera the Invincible, for better
or worse. Yeah, that's what I read too. But hey,
you're, I mean, what are we doing here if not
giving our personal takes? I, with the American
cut, Gamera the Invincible, I was also watching
it and I just noted. I noted a positive and a
negative. My positive is that the American actors,
as boring as the scenes themselves are written,
the American actors are better actors than the
Americans in the original Japanese release. So
that is worth. Yeah, that's true. I do agree
with that. Although also I think, you know, in
my campy category later on, probably will be
those American actors from the original Japanese
version because. As like, they're not great,
but like they have some like really amusing stilted
line readings and they're very, very funny unintentionally.
And I would kind of rather have that than these
like bland American actors just like droning
on and on for like minutes on end. So I agree
with you, but I also still would kind of prefer
the American characters from the original version,
even if the actors are not quite as good. I also
agree with that because these inserted scenes
just kill the momentum. By the time we got to
Toshio, I was thinking, where is Toshio? We have
just spent so much dead time in boardrooms. And
I was like, oh my God, I forgot that this movie
does have action and it does have humor. And
then we finally got to those scenes. I was like,
wow, this took a long time. Yeah, way too long.
The Japanese version just moves so much more
quickly. It's really atmospheric. It's entertaining.
And the American one is just boring. Like, hey,
yeah. And like, you know, so now I am going to
pop off a little bit. I apologize. But like.
I noticed a couple examples of really striking
shots and scenes from the Japanese version. When
Toshio is calling after Pee -wee, in the Japanese
version, there are three shots in really quick
succession that show Yoshio from different camera
angles. The American version totally cuts that
part out. There's also a really great overhead
shot in the Japanese version of some Japanese
scientist going into a boardroom. I think that
entire scene is cut out of the American version.
There's like an introductory scene between, I
forget her name, the love interest in the film.
The goddess of good luck. Yeah, exactly. Kyoko,
that's her name. There's like an introductory
scene where she is talking to, oh no, no, no,
I'm sorry. So it's Sakurai, Toshio's sister.
There's an introductory scene with Sakurai talking
to like a teacher in the village, Toshio's. And
like it adds a level of depth to Sakurai that's
like totally missing from the American version.
Those were just like the main examples that I
noticed of like the American recut or re -release,
like cutting all the interesting stuff out of
the Japanese version. It's very unfortunate.
Absolutely. And that's what I'm talking about.
Like there is like that overhead shot and they're
like those, the three quick shots you mentioned,
like there's, there's competence behind this
camera. compared to the american inserts where
there seemed to be no interest in you know compelling
filmmaking it's just like point the camera and
shoot exactly right yeah it's very unfortunate
and yeah i'm again it's you know i'm i feel like
i'm uh talking at length about this because the
Japanese version I really like a lot and the
American version is terrible. I feel strongly
about this, but I'll stop for now. All right.
Well, folks, if you had any reservations about
the American release, you were correct. You should
have all the reservations. Indeed. All right.
Well, Camp Kaiju is sponsored by... Let's go
ahead and get to our break here. before we talk
more about Gamera. So Camp Kaiju is sponsored
by Zach Linder and the Zach Pack, powered by
Coldwell Banker Realty, your source for real
estate, home rehab, fixing and flipping for investor
clients and residential buyers. Reach out to
the Zach Pack today for real estate services.
Follow the Zach Pack on social media and contact
the Zach Pack for investment opportunities. Links
in the show notes along with some of these other...
that we're talking about here tonight, that interview
with Yuasa and other sources. So, for Minya's
mailbox, I have one comment I'd like to read.
It comes from Kevin. Kevin on Spotify commented
on our Dracula's Daughter episode, which I just
want to shout out because we had a lot of great
feedback from that episode. with Naomi Osborne
guesting on that. And Kevin says, love the podcast.
Glad to see a thoughtful, entertaining, and informative
look into the monsters we all love. Thanks. Wow.
Thank you, Kevin. Honestly. Yeah, thanks, Kevin.
That's great. That's great to hear. That's all
I'll say for tonight. Listeners out there, please
write in on Spotify or Instagram or campkaiju
at gmail .com or leave a voicemail. And we would
love to share your feedback on the show. Absolutely.
Vincent, how's Peter Lorre doing these days?
Last I heard, he watched a terribly boring movie
called Black Dragons. But, you know, I'll let
Mr. Lorre talk about that. He did so in our last
episode. This week, he's talking about a movie
with another great title. But I don't know how
it's going to turn out. It's called The Corpse
Vanishes from 1942. Ooh, that is a great title.
Yeah. Where did it go? Yeah. Good question. Hopefully
Peter can tell us. I hope it's, and of course,
Bela Lugosi's in this movie. He's in all of these
Poverty Row films. But I hope it's just Bela
Lugosi around a haunted house yelling, where
did it go? It'd be sort of like an art movie
from Poverty Row, you know? Like, it's Bela Lugosi
in one room for an hour and a half. Actually,
it'd probably be like 58 minutes knowing these
Poverty Row movies. Oh, yeah, at max, yeah. But
Peter's good, you know? He's doing things in
his room that, you know, I hope he's doing okay.
There's glowing radiation coming from his room.
I could see it right now behind you. Whoa. Down
the hallway. Yeah. Radiation. There's the smell
of lilacs. Maybe he's going to turn into Gamera.
He's unleashed from the Arctic ice. That would
take a turn. I did. I'm sorry. I didn't mean
to cut you off there. No, Hey, we're just, we're
riffing here. So, uh, you know, poor Peter, man,
keep the fish heads a common. Yeah. They're going
to start mutating, though, with all that radiation
coming out of there. Start flopping around on
their own. All right. Well, on that note. Welcome
to Poverty Row Studios on the other side of Hollywood,
where the stars were dimmer and the red carpets
dripped with blood. Together we will watch the
best of the worst. Movies known for their limited
budgets, outlandish concepts, and questionable
performances. But with enough haunted houses,
zombies, ape men, and devil bats to keep you
up at night. I am your host, Peter Lorre. You
may remember me from such films as The Beast
with Five Fingers and Voyage to the Bottom of
the Sea. This week, I am bringing to you a wonderfully
campy picture called The Corpse Vanishes. Where
did it go? You will have to see for yourself.
But rest assured, this movie delivers the goods.
My blood -sucking contemporary, Bela Lugosi,
but devil's a wise -cracking reporter who is
investigating a rash of murders involving would
-be brides on their wedding days. The common
clue linking the deaths is a dubious orchid that
we come to understand was grown by Lugosi's mad,
horticulturist character. But it is not just
the chemical compositions of flowers he is meddling
with. but also his ancient wife, whose youthful
complexion is rejuvenated with the blood of the
murdered brides. The film is altogether diabolical,
and yet it does not know just how silly it is
all presented. The Corpse Vanishes was produced
by Monogram Pictures in 1942. It co -stars Elizabeth
Russell as Lagos' wife. Desperate for the anti
-aging serum. Now Russell had a reputation in
the 40s for playing strong characters with nefarious
intent. Her brief appearance in Val Luton's Cat
People, for instance, remains a highlight of
that film. Now the corpse vanishes as no Cat
People, but it remains worth your time if only
to witness a mystery that leaves your... that
leaves characters and audiences alike in stitches.
Yes, my lovely lilac. Of course, the real star
of the corpse vanishes is the orchid. I did not
mean to presume otherwise. Hey, whoa, whoa, hey
now. When did you grow such fangs? Here, have
a fish head. Yikes! Listeners, this lilac is
certainly testing its limits. If you'll excuse
me, it is feeding time now, and I have learned
that at this hour in the moonlight, my not -so
-little lilac tends to have a mind of its own.
But I will return next time with a picture called
Mad Monster. Back, lilac! Back! Get back! am
your master. I have transformed you into a giant
of great strength, and you must obey. This innocent
-looking greenhouse is the secret workshop of
Dr. Decker. These unusual foliages are insectivorous
and carnivorous, man -devouring plants, and contain
a rare chemical of growth of as yet unknown powers.
Conga! Towering, terrorizing threat to civilization.
I'm a beast of immeasurable strength. Let me
go! Please let me go! I said let me go! Fantastic.
There's a huge monster gorilla that's constantly
growing to outlandish proportions, loosing the
streets. Let's get into the themes here of Gamera
the Giant Monster. I wrote down a few. But I'd
love to hear your thoughts, what jumps out at
you. Well, yeah, maybe I'll start with like the
coming of age element of Gamera, the giant monster.
I think what sets Gamera apart from Godzilla
is this element, this kind of like childlike
wonder provided mostly by Toshio. I think it's
very charming to see this child character who
loves his pet turtle. And then Vincent, like
you said before, he thinks that Gamera is his
pet turtle grown to like gargantuan proportions.
I kind of like made fun of this character before.
And it is ridiculous that he just like does whatever
he wants. And all these like military commanders
are like, oh, Toshio, you can do whatever you
want. We'll protect you. It's ridiculous, but
it is charming at the same time. And I think
Gamera, friend of all children, right, is like
what the monster eventually became known as.
And so it's kind of like a softer family friendly
version of Godzilla to some extent. And I think
the ending of the film where Toshio. It's like,
oh, I'm not lonely that Gamera was trapped in
a rocket and then flown up to Mars. Because Toshio's
like, oh, I'll just become a scientist someday
and then go up and visit him. And it's like...
You know, it's silly and campy and all that stuff,
but it is really charming. And I think it's like
an optimistic worldview that like, you know,
if we have great young kids like Toshio who loves
animals, loves science, and like wants to like
protect creatures, then maybe we'll be okay.
I think that's like a touching theme. And I think
it does set it apart from the Godzilla movies.
Yeah, I love that. You're touching on themes
of unity and nature. I picked up on, you know,
obviously there's like a deep sense of international
unity in this movie. There's like a United Nations
-esque organization that is trying to bring the
world together to defeat Gamera. And I think
that's a common theme in the 1960s post -war.
strive for this sort of utopia of world peace
which unfortunately i think in today's world
we are farther away from that than ever so it's
nice it's it's inspiring actually to go back
to in a decade where these themes were taken
seriously in otherwise popcorn flicks and it
and it's not treated sentimentally or like And
naively, it's like, no, this is the way our world
is working. We have international unity. This
is going to work, everybody. Let's go. And I
don't know. It's just I wish we can go back to
that. Yeah, I know what you mean. And like the
context in like the 1960s was like the Cold War
was going on. So even though there's this theme
of international unity, I think there was like
the threat of nuclear war like behind that the
whole time, you know? So, and I think that just
makes it more powerful that like we need to protect
the entire planet and like not start a nuclear
war for no reason, you know? And yeah, like I
think the movie's themes, you know, you have
like Soviet, Japanese and American scientists
and militaries working together to solve this
crisis. It's kind of an idealistic view of what,
you know, global humanity could and should be.
And that's actually something that's like more
powerful in the Japanese version than the American
version. I think in the American edit, they kind
of take out some of the references to like, oh,
we should like ally with the Soviets for like
a greater good. Like they cut some of that out
of the American stuff. And I guess I kind of,
you know, historically that's not surprising,
but it is unfortunate. One of many things that
makes the Japanese cut better, but totally agree
with you, Vincent, that like the optimistic view
of different nations working together in this
movie, it would be nice if that's how things
actually went, but I don't know. It's hard to
believe sometimes, you know? Yeah. Same with
like the ecological message of this movie, which
didn't really come into play. I found until maybe
towards the end when Gamera is on his full rampage
and Gamera's presence in like Tokyo Bay causes
flooding and it causes fish to die. And there's
just that kind of warning of this is what our
humanity's meddling in the atomic age has these
unforeseen detrimental forces on our planet.
But then Gamera serves as a warning, like a bellwether
of don't do this. I appreciate that. It's not
lost to me that a lot of the themes we're talking
about here are also present in Godzilla movies,
but I don't want, I don't want that to take away
from Gamera's effect either. I feel bad. I'm
like, sorry, Gamera. We can't not talk about
Godzilla. It's impossible. Yeah. And, you know,
I'm a little bit ambivalent because like the
themes, I mean, it's exactly what you just said.
Gamera's themes of, you know, atomic weaponry
and like protecting the environment, totally
ripped off from Godzilla. Like, it's hard to
look past that, but also like Gamera is its own
beast. I think like formally, you know, visually
and with some of the special effects and stuff
like that, it definitely is radically different
than Godzilla. So they're distinct, but to a
certain extent, there is some of that rip -off
element. And not to get too far ahead of myself,
that makes it hard to really, truly love Gamera
for me, but still extremely important themes.
And if you're going to regurgitate that message,
it's a good one to repeat. I mean, audiences
should probably hear that, you know? Yeah, right.
Couldn't have said it better myself. I think
those are the strongest themes for me. I love
the coming -of -age aspect that you talked about
because I think that is what truly makes Gamera
unique as a property. Well, here's our breakdown,
everybody. The good, the bad, and the downright
campy. I was taking notes fast and furious in
my viewing here, but I'll try to keep it relatively
concise. The good for me... There's a lot I like
about this movie. I think the pacing of this
film, and I'm speaking about the Japanese cut,
is fast and furious. I mean, Gamera's entrance
is dramatic. And from there, it doesn't let up.
I mean, some of the set pieces, it's like, I
was laughing because it's like Gamera or Yuasa
just doesn't give a rip. That's what I wrote.
There's an airport. sequence where Gamera's flying
around the tower oh yeah yeah and the people
in the tower are like whoa that was a close one
whoa that was a close one and then boom Gamera
annihilates them with no mercy I love that scene
so much. And meanwhile, Toshi was like, he's
not so bad. Don't hurt him. I love that. Oh my
God. It was amazing. I love it. The camera shows
no mercy in this movie. He's a Swiss army knife
of, of weaponry and he breathes fire. He can
fly with his rocket boosters. He's got these,
this like really fearsome. set of jaws he's yeah
this is a really unique kaiju and use it and
use to full effect i think toshio's story at
its best is touching if a little overly sentimental
and and back to that fire because that's what
i'm really into with this movie it looks so good
in the black and white The cinematography here
is used to full effect. And yeah, that's where
I'll leave my good notes. I think that's a good
segue to my good category because visually, I
think this movie is really striking. I love the
cinematography in this movie. It's in kind of
like stark black and white, high contrast, very
dark blacks and like very bright whites and like,
you know, a lot of shades of gray in between.
And like, even though the original Godzilla is
also in black and white, I still think Gamera
looks very, very different. It's like really
shadowy. It's kind of weird to me that like...
the story is pretty sentimental with the Toshio
character, but like the visual style actually
is pretty dark and grim and like, like sort of
like menacing and scary. Sometimes there are
several scenes that I think look amazing. Like
when Gamera first crawls out of the ice towards
the beginning, I think it looks fantastic. There's
all this like fake ice and snow flying everywhere.
And it's just very, very beautiful. I think the
lighthouse attack scene is really, really great.
And the part where like Gamera kind of like,
peeks over the cliff at Toshio for the first
time. It kind of reminded me of the movie Them,
when like the first giant ant appears to the
audience, like crawling over the sand dune. Both
really great scenes, I would say. And yeah, I
think like the special effects, I kind of alluded
to this before, but they look really great in
this movie, especially considering all the challenges
that Yuasa and the crew did have in making it.
I think the Gamera suit looks pretty good. I
think like the animation when Gamera is like
flying through the night sky and like, Like the
airport example that you used is probably the
best one, but there are a lot of other striking
scenes of like, you know, Gamera and this kind
of like trail of fire, like hovering over these
mountains and like city skylines and stuff. All
that looks fantastic. So yeah, there are just
too many examples to list, but I think overall
it's a beautifully shot movie. And I think it
really conveys a sense of like. suspense and
horror even though again like the story's pretty
silly and the characters are like you know not
not very deep or like dark or anything like that
but but the visual style is just very very compelling
and very well done on a small budget i would
say definitely and great talking about the visual
effects because i don't find them cheap looking
at all i mean there's use of a lot of rear projection
I think I'm using this jargon correctly, but
in a lot of like composite shots where like Gamera
will be in the background towering over little
humans running in the foreground. And I'm like,
these are blended really well. It's like in the
Arctic when the ship is stuck in the ice and
Gamera is lumbering towards the ship. That's
an instance where little people in the foreground,
Gamera in the background. The scale, the ratio
is perfect. Everything is like a wide shot. I'm
like, this is a really awesome use of, I don't
know, of special effect filmmaking. Yeah, absolutely.
And one more example that I would cite is like
the attack on Tokyo towards the end. Like that
entire scene is really great, I think. And there's
one shot where Gamera is attacking like a skyscraper
and you see like the shadows of people. Going
through like a lighted window, like just the
silhouettes kind of like frantically leaving
the building. But it's all like model work. So
I think that must have just been like little
cutouts of people that they like flash in front
of the windows. And it's like a split second
shot, but it's so convincing. It's really great.
I love that moment. Yes. And that made me think
about a really harrowing scene. Cameras attacking.
He knocks over a building or something. He breathes
fire on a group of people and they're roasted.
And I'm just thinking about the atomic bombings
of real Japanese people. And I'm like, this is
this got real dark real quick. Yeah. For sure.
And like in, in that scene, like when the people
are roasted, then the image suddenly becomes
like, it's like a negative image, you know, where
like what, what was black and white then suddenly
like the, those shades flip. So then like the
dark colors become light and the light colors
become dark. I think probably everybody out there
knows what like a negative images, but it's,
it's used really well in that scene. It's, and
it adds to that like horrific element for sure.
Yeah. Cause you just know, and you're reminded
of all these other historical images. Yeah. This
movie. this is a horror movie straight up. It's
not, yeah, it's, it's not like later incarnations
of Gamera, whatever Toshio says, this, this monster
is not a friend of children. Right. Yeah. It's
funny to have those two sentiments side by side,
but like visually it is like a very frightening
movie at times. Like not, you know, it's like,
it might not actually scare you, but like the
images are like pretty intense. Yeah. All right.
Well, Speaking of the bad, I actually don't have
a lot because here's the thing. Anything I could
easily critique, I just take it for what it is.
Nothing's really distracting to me. Sure, the
special effects, you could say, yeah, I could
see the strings on the airplanes. But that's
what I watch these for in a way. So I'm not going
to pick those low -hanging fruit. But I will
talk about Toshio because I think on one hand,
his character is very campy. But by the end,
I think it just gets distractingly bad. His motivations
or lack thereof. Because I think this kid is
delusional, honestly. Like, I don't see any reason
why the military is letting him, first of all,
inside these perimeters and these dangerous situations.
Because the point, like, he's there every time.
I'm like, is nobody watching this kid? This kid
would be on, like, the government's radar at
this point. hazardous off -limit prohibited you
know sections of of places so it was a little
unbelievable for me yeah and i'm like to shio
you need help because you're delusional honestly
and you're gonna get yourself killed right yeah
it's like realistically he like the first time
he saw gamera he would have been dead within
like 10 seconds you know uh And like, yeah, like
he's an annoying character for sure. And like
towards the end when he keeps on popping up in
these dangerous situations, I'm like, oh, what
a brat. Like where's his big sister? Like is
she not supposed to be watching him right now
or his dad for that matter? Yeah. And where's
his mom? See, I think if this movie wanted to
explore that family unit, that could really enrich
the film dramatically, which I think there's
room for it. However, obviously, that's not what
Daiei was going for. But I could see a version
where we get the sense of a broken home life
for Toshio. Yeah, I think there's a brief line
of dialogue towards the beginning where his dad
says that Toshio's mom died a while ago. But
I don't think they say exactly why. Like, I don't
know if it was in World War II. I don't think
that's ever really explained, but I don't think
she's in the picture anymore. So to your point,
like they could have elaborated on that a little
bit more. Yeah. But I mean, that's the, you know,
the longest short of it for me with the bat category.
Yeah. Well, I'm just going to pretend that Gamera
the Invincible doesn't exist, like, for the rest
of my life. So I'm not going to talk about that
at all. Don't watch the American version. I'll
just say that one more time. But with the Japanese
version, Gamera the Giant Monster, I would agree
that the Toshio character is, like, amusing,
but also pretty annoying. And, like, you know,
it just stretches believability. And I know you
could argue, like, this movie's not supposed
to be believable. But, like, there should be,
you know. The military would not allow this kid
to do this over and over again. So I'm repeating
what you said, Vincent. That is a hindrance for
me, for sure. And, you know, I guess I'll just
kind of, I also mentioned this briefly earlier,
but like. For me, I think my favorite kaiju movie
will always be the 1954 Godzilla because it was
just so original. It blended political commentary
and this kind of fantastic sci -fi storyline
like it had never been done before. And Gamera
has a lot of strengths, but it's a cash grab.
I think it's trying to capitalize on Godzilla's
success. Not to mention the birds and Beast from
20 ,000 Fathoms and all those other movies. And
the lack of originality does knock it down a
little bit in my estimation. But again, there's
still enough distinct and charming imaginative
stuff in this movie to compensate for that, in
my opinion. I'm really interested in where we'll
land with our final ratings. Yeah, me too. For
the campy, yeah, I mean, this movie's full of
them, but we talked about Pee Wee. which is just
so silly. I love that they shoot Gamera into
space and to Mars. They, it's just such like,
like it's plan Z plan. Z is very campy and it's
very indicative of the space age of this movie.
But yeah, it's just like. That's it. We're just
going to lure him into our rocket and shoot him
off into space to Mars. No less. It's just such
like writers at a table thinking, well, I got
nothing else. Let's just shoot the guy to space.
Yeah. Are we going to wrap this thing up now?
Yeah. and it's funny because they make such a
big deal out of plan z like they mention it over
and over again but they don't explain exactly
what it is and then like you finally find out
at the very end of the movie and it's yeah it's
like you just said like oh that's it and they're
just gonna like trap him in a rocket and shoot
him into outer space all right yeah a little
anticlimactic at that point there's one more
it's just like a line that made me laugh where
dr hidaka I think it's him. They're talking about
they can freeze Gamera and Hidaka. It might have
been this other scientist. He's like, well, that's
it. We could freeze him and we can in Operation
Deep Freeze. Is this the way he says that line?
It's like he's had that line in his back pocket
his whole life. And now he's like, we could call
it Operation Deep Freeze. Yeah. Everyone's like,
okay, yeah, that's a good name. Glad you came
up with that. Yeah, I know what you mean. His
line delivery there is like very proud of himself.
This is his pet project. Deep freeze. Saving
it for years. It's not as good as Plan Z, but
it's still pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, I love that
whole scene. You know, in Dr. Hidaka, like...
even though he's supposed to be this brilliant
scientist, doesn't really seem to have a good
understanding of physics or nuclear radiation
or how they're going to affect Gamera. He comes
up with these questions and ideas in that same
exact scene where the other soldiers are like,
oh, that will not work. Let me tell you why.
And I just kept on thinking, who is Dr. Hidaka?
What is the medicine that he specializes in?
Because he's not very good at this particular
line of work. He's a great idea, man. Yeah, yeah.
Operation Deep Freeze. That's his one idea. I
love all that stuff. For me, I think the campy
scene that I want to mention is like the Tokyo
nightclub with like the kind of like surf rock
band. And I guess I do have to mention the American
version one more time because the song that's
played during the American version actually became
kind of a hit in the United States, even though
the lyrics are just insanely stupid. It's just
like, Gamera, Gamera, over and over again, and
that's the entire song. It's really dumb. In
the Japanese version, there's a similar song.
It's a little bit different. But then anyway,
the police come in and they're like, Gamera's
coming. Everybody has to leave. And these young
hooligans in this nightclub are like, oh, this
shindig's never going to end, man. We're going
to dance the night away. So they keep on dancing.
And almost immediately, Gamera just tears the
roof off of this nightclub. I really love that
scene in both the Japanese. Yeah, it's so dumb.
And I'm saying that in kind of a complimentary
fun way. I don't know if it's supposed to be
a satire of like, you know, the youth in Tokyo
and how just like backwards they are or like
irresponsible or something. But I don't know.
It's a very fun tangent. It doesn't make a lot
of sense. And it's so satisfying when like they
start dancing and immediately Gamera just like
presumably kills all of them. I love that moment.
Again, Toshio, Gamera is a murderous beast. Yeah.
Except with children, apparently. Yeah. I mean,
why he saves Toshio from the lighthouse, we'll
never know. Yeah. Friend of all children, apparently.
Although you would have to assume that Gamera
inadvertently kills a lot of children during
his assault on Tokyo. That is true. Who knows?
I guess we don't see that. All right. Let's give
this monster our final rating. Yeah, so as always
on Camp Kaiju, we have four ratings that we give
at the end of the episode. Number one, it's a
timeless classic. It definitely stands the test
of time. Number two, there may be some antiquated
moments, but overall it's great. It stands the
test of time. Number three, it may be historically
significant or just fun, but it does not stand
the test of time. And our lowest rating, it is
not worth revisiting. It definitely does not
stand the test of time. Okay, I'm going to let
you go first. Okay. What do you got? Well, all
right, sorry, one more time. Gamera the Invincible,
the American version, gets lower than our lowest
rating. It's terrible. It's like it's the fifth
rating. It's off the list. That's how much I
just like it. But more to the point, the Japanese
version, Gamera the Giant Monster, I'm going
to give it our second highest rating. There may
be some antiquated moments, but overall it's
great. It stands the test of time. You know,
it would be nice if it was a little more original,
if it wasn't such a blatant ripoff of Godzilla.
But there's so much to love about it. It's very
charming. It looks fantastic. The special effects
work, again, is great. It launched so many, like
such a popular series. I really love Gamera vs.
Gauss, which we've talked about on the podcast
before. This is just a really hard movie to dislike.
So yeah, it stands the test of time. The Japanese
version is very, very fun. Absolutely. I am going
to give it... The full classic stands the test
of time, despite exactly what you say. I mean,
this is in some ways a carbon copy. You picture
a kaiju movie. This is it. With that said, I
think it's done exceptionally well and stands
above many of its peers. And Gamera's design,
that's what tips it into true classic status
for me. His design is so memorable. It's so unique.
so bonkers that you can't help but just for me
like i'm obsessed with gamera whatever like subsequent
movies you know with how terrible they are but
this monster i love and and will never top godzilla
in my heart but is he's on the mount rushmore
absolutely yeah someday I'll have to ask you
what your Mount Rushmore is. I don't know if
now is the best time for it, but I love how much
you love this movie. And Gamera, the character,
yeah, he's definitely very high up there for
me, for sure. Yeah. All right, man. That was
Gamera, the giant monster, everybody. Go check
it out. And when you do... Let us know what you
thought about it. We'd love to hear your thoughts
here on Camp Kaiju. Rate and review wherever
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-Felts. Thank you, friends. And until next time,
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