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Gamera, Japan's favorite jet-propelled giant flying turtle, was Daiei's child-friendly answer to Toho's Godzilla franchise. This decidedly juvenile staple of the 1960s became a modest success, but those early features, with cut-rate special effects and gooey child stars, rate little beyond camp nowadays. With such a legacy, his 1995 rebirth Gamera, Guardian of the Galaxy, is a delightful surprise. Now taking over the franchise, Toho comes through with an old-fashioned giant monster adventure in candy colors with excellent special effects and an attitude that straddles serious science fiction and outrageous spectacle. Gamera, still a hero of the people, is given a mythic back-story and a foe of apocalyptic dimensions, the flying people-eating lizard Gyaos that the government, in all its misguided wisdom, decides to protect while attacking the misunderstood Gamera. There's romance (featuring the best come-on line ever: "Someday I'd like to show you around a monster-free Tokyo"), bureaucratic satire, and a well-meaning environmental message, but that's all gravy to the movie's meat: giant monsters battling it out in the traditional Tokyo war zone, laying waste to acres of lovingly detailed miniatures. That's what Japanese monster movies are all about. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (60)

Giant Monster Fans - Enjoy!
This is a qick paced Japanese giant monster movie that fans of the genre will really enjoy. The story is good, though fairly silly fun that fans of the old Godzilla movies will welcome with open arms. The movie is the first in a trilogy of great Gamera movies.

The DVD features very good picture quality and offers the option to view the film in the original Japanese language with English subtitles or with and English dubbed soundtrack. The picture quality is very good as is the audio. Bonus features include an informative 31 minute interview with the director of special effects, footage from the Gamera announcement press conference & the Japanese opening of the movie, behind-the-scenes footage, 3 theatrical trailers, 6 TV spots & more!

All in all a great disk to own.

Gamera almost rivals Godzilla as King Of The Monsters.
Most gamera fans have seen the cheesy 60s and 70s versions of the turtle that tried to be godzilla. But now, Gamera actually defeats Godzilla in FX. The Godzilla series from 1989-1995 (The Hesei series) had excellent to mediocre FX. Now Gamera beats the FX in this one! But not only do FX makes this a good movie, but the plot actually clicks without plot holes, and, IMHO, is well explained.

Synopsis: A floating atoll is discovered and a research team chases after it, while three giant bird-monsters appear and chow down on people. The atoll cracks open and releases a monster turtle called Gamera, a dragon created by an ancient civilization to destroy the evil Gyaos. All but one of the birds are killed, and the survivor grows to a size equal to Gamera's. The bird has been dubbed Gyaos and the military decides to stop attacking Gamera and turn towards Gyaos. Gyaos and Gamera meet in Tokyo and fight to the death.... I can't tell you who wins. END

Gamera: Guardian of Kaiju Credibility
Long ago, back when there were plenty of Godzilla-ripoffs, there was one series that stood above the rest: Gamera. Gamera was the most popular of these, most likely because it appealed largely to children (outside of Gamera vs. Barugon, which may have been the best of the older series.) By and large, the Gamera series was a joke. With cheap, often-poorly designed costumes, poor and predictable plots, and an over-reliance on Gamera, "Hero of the Children," it's amazing it went on for as long as it did.

In 1995, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe was released, with a completely different approach. This new Gamera, directed by Shusuke Kaneko, abandons the old plotline, as Godzilla 1985 did with the Godzilla series, and brings the audience into a new, darker Gamera, relying on myth rather than children.

The story begins when a Japanese vessel carrying radioactive material runs aground in the middle of the sea. A mysterious floating atoll has been found and is heading towards Japan. On an island elsewhere, Dr. Nagamine has discovered a giant species of "birds" that have eaten the entire population of the island and one of her fellow scientists. Back at the atoll, a science team led by Professor Kusanagi finds many comma-shaped stones on the atoll, as well as a large 2001-esque monolith buried in it. When the professor's assistant touches the monolith, it breaks apart, as does the atoll. Back with the "birds", the Japanese government stages a plan to capture them as an endangered species, but their efforts are thwarted when Gamera, the creature within the atoll, arrives to destroy the creatures himself.

The beginning of the movie is very disjointed, thus the shaky plot summary. However, once the two halves meet, the rest is solid, involving the confused Japanese government trying to capture the birds and defeat Gamera, Gamera's origins as a bio-weapon in Atlantis, and professor Kusanagi's daughter, Asagi, who provides a human link to Gamera and an homage to the giant turtle's earlier role.

If it's different from the older movies, then it must have better special effects, right? At the point of this film being made, Gamera had never looked better (though the sequels continued to improve his look.) His "flying saucer" flight looks spectacular with CG flames, though his half-jet flying won't look good until the next film. The suit is also a bit fatter than in the old series, which is good, since turtle's don't have flat shells. The birds are based on the old Gyaos from the old series, and while they look very good, they're still clearly hand-puppets and marionettes. There are also several other effects with missiles explosions, and the Gyaos's laser.

The music is good as well. While a little hokey at times, the main theme fits wonderfully with Gamera.

While the movie itself manages to reach Godzilla's level of achievement, the DVD far surpasses it. Most Godzilla discs are complete bare-bones; some don't even have chapter-stops. ADV has included making-of featurettes, videos of opening night, a Japanese language track with subtitles (as well as the dub), and a multitude of other goodies. It's everything a fan could want. And there happens to be this box set out. While it's a little more expensive than the movie by itself, it's nice to have a small case for when you get all three films.

And after seeing this one, you will want the rest. A very good kaiju film , high above Gamera's usual standards, and the best is still to come.

Not Your Father's Gamera
Before I review the importance of this film, allow me to digress.
Why is a film that incorporates CGI considered to have "better special effects" than effects done using minitures and costumes? To this point, within a couple frames:

a> You can tell "immediately" if a creature is done in CGI.
b> You can tell "immediately" if a creature is a costume.

In both cases, the effect is ineffective in that you know it's a special effect. Something either looks convincing, that is "real" and you can't identify the technique used to create it, or it does not. It's a boolean thing. Having said that, the Japanese effects >tradition< of using minitures and costumes is as equally unconvincing as CGI - however, the live action style is more vivid, and interesting. I prefer the elaborate minitures, costumes, and physical effects and find them far, far, more entertaining than something produced on a laptop with a 3D software package.

Secondly, realize that most Japanese kaiju flicks are done on a 10 million dollar budget. It was amazing in the 60's as it is now that an effects film can be realized at all with such a paltry budget. The shooting schedule of this films is also break-neck.

The reason this Gamera film is important is that it re-defined a genre. Many films and filmmakers try, few succeed. It's "The Unforgiven" (western) or The Excorsist (horror) of kaiju.

Most negative reviews of this film cite effects techniques and dubbing (it's nearly impossible to accurately dub english/japanese it's a different language, of course the lips won't synch...) These reviewer are xenophobic.

In summary, Gamera is an IMPORTANT film as it redifined an entire genre. Critics who point to effects technics and dubbing are xenophobic. Long live minitures and rubber suits! The Japanese (not the US) make the best anime and big bug, saturday matinee sci fi from the 50's to today.

Gamera is back!!!
Despite the Gamera in the 60's that was aim towards kids this turtle is back!!When i first saw this I was Blown away I mean The SPX effect are ten times better the Newer godzilla films.
This suits and all were just Damm thats look cool.I mean who ever created this new gamera environment had the right idea and Meen damm he did a good job.All i have to say this on the other 2 Gamera films are a 5 star in my book. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Amazing Lyrical!
My first introduction to "Summer Vacation 1999" was in 1991, I was a newly living in Madison, Wisconsin. Surrounded by crystal blue lakes, that reflected the summers heat. I was also, startlingly alone, watching the beauty of the land and people around me.

I happened upon Summer Vacation and was fully amazed by the lyricism of loneliness in the film. The story provides an almost mystical view of four boys away at a Japanese school. They are all haunted to a degree by the suicide death of one of their friends. These repressed emotions are brought to a head by the arrival of a new student who looks amazingly like the dead friend.

All the boys, in one manner or another loved the dead youth, and while the story of why he committed suicide is never fully resolved, the emotional resonance of the film is astounding. Director Shusuke Kaneko embodied the film with a stunning beauty and poetic lyricism that I hadn't seen before. Only recently with films by Ang Lee have I seen films that have surpassed its reach.

The films deals with the awakening of emotions-love, lust, jealousy, and even fear. The boys, innocent in their beauty, but somehow lost in the torrent of their emotions, offer a concomitant homoeroticism and sexual repression, portrayed in the context of newly awakening sexual emotions. The beauty and confusion is only amplified as the viewer realizes that the young boys are all played by Japanese girls.

The films pace is slow, almost languid. Like watching heat rise of a lake on a hot summer's day. You revel in the beauty of the journey, not the speed in which you arrive at the final destination. Kaneko manages to portray a world, out of time. A futuristic view (the film was made in the late '80's) that seems almost periodic. It harkens memories, allusions, and allegories- touching upon the viewers emotions to complete missing components of the film.

I readily admit this film may not be for everyone. I was more than emotional available for it to play on my feelings of isolation, loneliness, and need. But that said, I can still to this day, place the video in and be swept away into a land where love is new, emotions are burgeoning, and pain has a beauty that can encompass and transpose. The film provided a strength to me, something that propelled me back outside, to the lakes of Madison. But this time not to watch, but to meet, to touch, to participate in the joy and beauty that surrounded me.

After 9 years, I still place this in my top ten films of all time.

Boarding school lonliness and despair
A well-acted Japanese film, Summer 1999 approaches a strange subject using strange actors: A foursome of schoolboys, from ages 11 or so to 16 or so are left alone for the mid-year holiday, lamenting over their repressed love for each other and the suicide death of one of the younger players. This film is remarkable in that, at least in the case of the older, androgynous teens, boys are being played by girls. The plot is rather clear, but muddled in its message: the new, younger schoolboy comes to the school, and bears an identical resem- blance to the boy who committed suicide. The rest of the cast are haunted by their feelings for each other, for the new boy, and for their dead friend. Intended as a futuristic piece, without any reference to such, it is actually a "period" piece, exploring the emotional/sexual/social repression of boarding school, Japanese style. Artistically, this film is well-done, yet long. It views as a filmed play, which could have been done in an hour onstage with two or three set changes. The karmic message of the final scene leaves more questions in the viewers' minds; did the schoolboys hallucinate the return of their dead friend, or will he keep coming back again and again? ... Read more

Description

Journey into the pit of hell with horror master H.P. Lovecraft (Jeffrey Combs) in this chilling thriller. An intoxicating thrill ride filled with gruesome special effects, Necronomicon combines the classic horror of Evil Dead with the gothic pleasures of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Year: 1993 Director: Brian Yuzna, Christophe Gans, Shsuke Kaneko Starring:Bruce Payne, Belinda Bauer, Bess Meyer ... Read more

Reviews (25)

H.P. Lovecraft Lives!
What a film. While not a great film in Acamedy Award level production values, this is a really good movie. Seldom has this reviewer seen the power and atmosphere of Lovecraft's work placed on film. HPL purists have good reason to complain that the 3 stories in this anthology style treatment have very little to do with any specific Lovecraft work, but the overall chemistry of the film has captured the distilled essence of HPL even better than Re-Animator did. It is as if HPL himself was left to do the cinematography, set decoration, casting, foley, ADR and scoring to this film. Those not familiar with Lovecraft might be quite confused, but more open-minded fans of his work will recognize elements from a dozen or more HPL stories permiating the film. The venerable Jeff Coombs plays HPL himself who locates the evil book in a library. Other great faces include David Warner in an unforgettable role as well as Richard Lynch and Bruce Payne. SFX are above passible and the whole film is a gory joyride. Necronomicon is an overlooked gem of a horror film that deserves a view. Can't wait till it makes it to DVD!

Entertaining
This has all the makings of a good Lovecraft adatpion, namely Jeffery Combs and the Necronomicon. 3 stories linked together by the mysterious black book called Necronomicon. Really gory, but doesn't take itself too seriously. Combs is the actor king of H.P. Lovecraft adaptions and Brian Yuzna is also a really good contributor to Lovecraft films, namely his skills as a producer and the more recent Beyond Re-Animator. Worth a look for anyone even casually interested in modern horror films.

Entertaining B Movie
I got this on the cheap, and if you're a fan of cheesy, B movie horror with lots of gooey special effects and can find it cheap, do so. Don't expect a legitimate Lovecraft tie-in: Lovecraft appears as a character in a "wraparound" uniting three unrelated stories, but it's not Lovecraft the historical character--there's a disclaimer at the end of the film admitting as much--nor do the stories themselves reflect Lovecraft's ethos. Lovecraft was about understatement and suggestion; this film takes the opposite track with dripping gore and monsters in full view. To me, that's no bad thing, but as you can tell from the reviews here, plenty of hard-core Lovecraft fans disagree. What the movie does offer is plenty of slime covered latex masks and monsters, and you get good views of them; one pretty good story, one mediocre story, and one gross-out fairly stupid story; lots of mediocre to bad acting, and a quick, totally gratuitous and titillating (so to speak) shot of one of the actresses naked in the shower. If that's what you want to pay your money for, go for it. I admit to my own amusement and entertainment.

Good Entertainment
Aside from the Lovecraftian aspects, this movie is good for entertainment value. If you want to watch a horror movie that is different from the rest, Lovecraftian adaptations seem to be a lot more interesting than the average flick.

However, on the Lovecraftian aspects, the movie title is misleading. The plot may be constructed around the book itself, but the movie gives absolutely no audience to the story Lovecraft put behind it. I give it three out of five - the movie impliments Lovecraftian ideas, but does not deliver the actual story Lovecraft wrote about the Necronomicon.

The Harsh Hands of Lovecraft Fans
For some reason, people give this movie such low marks without giving actually viewing the movie as a movie. Perhaps its because the name HP Lovecraft was attached to yet another adaptation failure, and they thought, quite foolishly, that this meant that there would be a Lovecraftian film that was actually Lovecraftian. Well, that never happens and the H.P. is almost always attached to sell more movies and to get more bad reviews. Still, while not a standout jewel in the forum of monster movies (and what really is in the true monstrosity arena?), it does hits 4.5 star highs and 2.2 star lows to make it worth seeing. You just have to forget that nefarious little label.
This movie is set in 1932 with everyone's favorite actor, the immortal Jeffrey Combs, as a strangle Indiana Joneseque version of H.P. Lovecraft. In it, Lovecraft decides to steal a view (and the book itself later) of the infamous Necronomicon despite the wishes (and warnings of its keepers). Taking a key from one of its monk keepers, he finds his way to a secretive chamber where he finds the book and begins to transcribe three stories - The Drowned, The Cold, and The Whispers - from what he sees here.
The Drowned, a story borrowing from Lovecraftian themes and mingling in some ideas from differing stories, is about a man returning to an inherited hotel and finding more than he bargained for. Our main character looks over a letter from his Uncle that, in flashback sequencing, finds his family dead and denouncing God for it. After throwing his bible to the ground, he is visited by a good looking Deep One who replaces the book with another. Reading from it, he finds his family returned, but only in a small sense of the word. Well, our main character, seeing only the "raising the dead" and not the lesson in the tale, decides to liberate the book from its hiding place and resurrect his long lost wife, leading us to a showdown with a huge one-eyed monster (I can't call the thing great cthulhu).
The Cold, a good piece adapted from Cool Air, begins with a reporter who is investigating a series of murders going to a house and speaking to the current owner. After loosing her tongue her with a series of threats, she reveals a story involving her mother and a doctor with a "Skin condition" that first owned this place. This story's ending is actual good, plus the body of the tale is also an interesting piece. I would have to say it also pulls its weight with a 3.5 to a 4.0 rating.
Wanting to forget The Whispers, I'll only break it down briefly. Here is a tale about a female officer chasing a criminal who turns out not to be a criminal unto a cavern (more like an abandoned sewer) of terror (and yawning). It has a little gore, some scary homeless people - one of which is blind -, a lot of crawling and chasing, and some really, really bad acting. I would give it a 2.2 only because I had to spit on the other two pieces here.
If you haven't seen this movie before, its not really a bad addition to anyone's growing horror selection. Just don't build a house of expectations on it. ... Read more