Gamera Double Feature:
Gamera vs. Guiron/Gamera vs. Jiger
Studio: Shout! Factory
US DVD Release Date: September 21, 2010
Theatrical Release Year: 1969/1970
Rated: Not Rated
Running Time: 82 minutes/83 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (Japanese, English)
Subtitles: English
Movie:
Gamera vs. Guiron: 2 out of 5
Gamera vs. Jiger: 2.5 out of 5
The Gamera films continue their descent into utter nonsense with the next two entries in the series, Gamera vs Guiron and Guiron vs Jiger, released together as a double feature DVD from Shout! Factory.
In Gamera vs Guiron, two young boys see a spaceship land on the outskirts of town, and when they find it in an open field, seemingly abandoned, they decide to enter it and explore. The next thing they know, the ship has launched and begins travelling into space towards a planet on the opposite side of the sun. Have no fear, as Gamera is not far behind, following their trail in outer space. When they arrive, they find that Gyaos is wrecking havoc on the planet, but not for long, as Guiron quickly and quite literally makes lunchmeat out of him. As we wait for Gamera to arrive and save the boys, they are then captured by two female citizens of the planet who want to devour their brains to digest their knowledge before attacking Earth. In many ways, Guiron is a retread of the previous entry in the series, Gamera vs Viras, continuing the evil alien premise (the girls even have the same glowing eyes as the men in Viras, and even the sets are very similar), and Gamera doesn’t show up to battle Guiron until the last 30 minutes. This is perhaps the silliest plot for a Gamera film (Jiger will come in a close second).
Gamera vs Jiger begins as a commercial for the 1970 Exposition Fair in Osaka, as the audience is taken on a tour of the fairgrounds during the first ten minutes or so. Archaeologists are planning to bring to the Expo an artifact from Wester Island (not to be confused with Easter Island), the Devil’s Whistle, which has a supposed curse attached that brings doom and destruction to anyone who removes it from the island. Gamera shows up, trying to stop the scientists, but fails to do so. Jiger is unleashed from the bowels of the island, and sets off in pursuit of the Devil’s Whistle, and eventually wrecking havoc on Osaka. Similar to Barugon and Gyaos, Gamera takes a beating in his first two rounds with villainous monster, coming quite close to death this time out, only to be saved by two boys who do their own Fantastic Voyage inside the big turtle to do battle with a parasitic offspring of Jiger.
These films are not for everybody, but Gamera still has a loyal following around the world. Shout! Factory has provided the original Japanese language version of these films in this DVD release, which I believe is the first time they have ever been available here in the US.
Video: 4 out of 5
The video on this disc is outstanding. Taken from a new HD master from original elements, the 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer has deep blacks, accurate flesh tones, and well-saturated colors without bleeding. Detail is very good, and compression artifacts are minimal.
Audio: 3 out of 5
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono Japanese soundtrack, encoded at 192 kbps, has very good fidelity, but don't expect it to knock your socks off. Hiss, crackle, and pops are almost non-existent, obviously cleaned up for this release.
Special Features: 2 out of 5
Since both films have been included on one disc, the special features are very minimal compared to the previous Gamera DVD releases from Shout! Factory. Both films include a brief Publicity Gallery, consisting of international posters, lobby cards, and promotional stills. Gamera vs. Guiron includes two English dubs, I’m assuming one is from the American International Pictures release, the other created for the Sandy Frank version. Gamera vs. Jiger contains only one English dub. All three dubs have not been restored, so I’m also assuming they have been included here at the request of fans for archival purposes. Sadly, there are no commentary tracks or liner notes to accompany the films.
Overall: 3 out of 5
Shout! Factory continues to put out beautifully restored versions of the Gamera films, thanks to their licensing deal with Joyplex. The special features, though, are slim. Still, these are marked improvements over what has previously been available, so fans should be pleased.
