Retromedia Entertainment has released two films from the popular Gamera series as a double feature DVD, using prints and titles from their American International television release from the early 1970s. Gamera is a giant monster turtle with the power to fly via jet propulsion and breath fire, created by Daiei Studios in 1965 to compete with the hit Godzilla series. However, Daiei recognized the monster movies' appeal to children, and designed their monster to target the pre-teen audience from the start. With each sequel, the kid factor was only increased.
By the fourth entry in the series DESTROY ALL PLANETS (originally known as GAMERA VS. VIRAS), all pretense of seriousness were abandoned in favor of pure juvenile fun, resulting in some of the most surreal concoctions ever recorded on film. The universe is full of greedy alien species eager to invade the Earth. Fortunately, when the latest of these hostile forces comes sneaking around in a spaceship (which looks like a bunch of striped beach balls hitched in a ring), Gamera flies into space to destroy the ship, prompting the aliens to signal home base on planet Viras for a second ship. Meanwhile, a Japanese Boy Scout troupe that includes a large number of kids from American families is visiting a marine research site. Rascal boy genius Masao Shimada and his pal Jim nearly ruin everything by switching the controls on a new mini-submarine. While the boys are frolicking in the sub with friend-of-all-children Gamera, the second alien ship directs their "super-catch ray" at the giant turtle, trapping them all in a force field dome. Gamera lifts the edge of the force field with a claw enough for the boys to scoot to freedom, and while the monster takes a nap, the aliens watch clips from previous Gamera movies. Noting the monster's "unusual affection" for kids, the invaders kidnap Masao and Jim, and affix a mind control device to the giant turtle.
While the boys eat octagonal sandwiches and try to find a way to escape from the spaceship, the aliens order Gamera to attack the Earthlings (and bore the audience with more monster stock footage). The boys guess enough about the Virian technology to reverse their controls and escape, setting Gamera free to attack the ship. In a last ditch effort, the Virians who look kind of like pointy-headed squids merge their bodies with their leader's, increasing in size and power so they can challenge Gamera.
As wild as the imagery gets in the meantime, it takes too long for the giant from Viras to appear, leaving all the monster action to the stock footage while the scouts wander around the spaceship and the adults fret. As imaginative and intriguing the look of the aliens is, their faces are too inexpressive to carry much personality, leaving director Noriaki Yuasa to rely on shadowy camerawork to carry the mood of menace. Once the Virian grows to titanic size in the light of day, it doesn't look all that scary.
ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS (originally GAMERA VS. GUIRON) is even wilder. Akio (Nobuhiro Kajima) and his American pal Tom (Christopher Murphy) are typical little boys, interested in science and dismissive of Akio's little sister Tomoko (Miyuki Akiyama), whom Akio repeatedly refers to as an "idiot." But Tomoko's not dumb enough to climb inside a flying saucer the boys find settled in their play lot. While the boys play spaceman (inside a real spaceship) the saucer takes off, abducting them to the planet Terra. The boys' captors are female, twin beauties named Barbella (Hiroko Kai) and Flobella (Reiko Kasahara), who are decked out in costumes straight out of the Buck Rogers comic strip. The women at first seem friendly, letting the boys play with their teleporters and explaining that they represent the last survivors of an advanced civilization that failed in an attempt to flee the planet. But the alien gals' friendly pose is a ruse. Before long the boys learn their true plan: to take the saucer back to Earth to conquer it, supposedly. Barbella and Flobella are cannibals, planning to take the boys along on their trip "as rations"! But luckily, Gamera has tagged along with the boys, and throws a turtle-wrench into the aliens' plans, attacking their giant "watchdog" Guiron. After a rough tussle, Gamera is knocked into a coma by Guiron's poisoned ninja stars. Will Tomoko convince her mother that the boys took off in a saucer? Will Gamera revive? Will Barbella and Flobella make shishime out of Akio and Tom?
Previously available from Neptune Media on tape in its original widescreen aspect ratio under the title GAMERA VS. GUILLON, ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS is a minute or so shorter in running time. What's missing? The climax of an encounter between Guiron and flying monster Space Gyaos, in which Guiron chops his foe to pieces with his knife-like head. Except for the editing mentioned above both versions are preferable to the re-edited video version released by Sandy Frank Productions in the 1980s. Taken from 16mm television prints, the colors are vivid and the image is reasonably sharp on both features, but the image crops off a great deal of the sides of the picture.
Each feature is accompanied by a different image gallery. One contains Japanese posters and video packages for the Gamera films, plus some curious anatomical drawings of the series' monsters. The other gallery contains stills (often heavily retouched) from American International's Gamera press kits. Understandably, Retromedia decided to forego their usual "Drive-In Theater" introductory footage for this release, perhaps feeling shots of naked starlets would be inappropriate here.
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