Customer Reviews

Gamera Vs. Guiron / Gamera Vs. Jiger [Double Feature]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This set will be a terrific double feature. "Vs Guiron" is a classic and "vs Jiger" is a great film and Jiger is one EVIL effin' monster, much more so than Gyaos or Guiron, don't let his dull brutish appearance fool you. It features one of the most horrific scenes in the Gamera films - where Gamera lays dying, bled white on the shore.

That used to utterly freak me out as a kid. If he was flame blasted or had his arms lasered off that was one thing, but to see him comatose and helpless really unnerved me as a little guy. Still does, too.

The trouble in paradise regarding these excellent Gamera releases is that SHOUT! Factory have combined two great films in one package and left the rather weak "vs Zigra" and "Supermonster" for the third double feature. SHOUT! Factory can count on my $17.49 for the last release, whenever that will be, I hope the fans won't penalize them for their poor choice and leave it unbought.

Okay folks, Neither one of these movies are worthy of any awards or critical praise. Not even by monster standards. But I do like what they did with this dvd. This is a one sided disc not a flipper. That's the first good thing. Another good thing is IT HAS ENGLISH DUBS! YES, THAT IS A GOOD THING! NOT A BAD THING! But you purists don't have to worry. Both movies are presented with Japanese language tracks in vibrant color in the 2:35.1 widescreen aspect ratio. Back to the English dubs. Unless you go to set-up and specifically select the English dub the movie automatically plays the Japanese version. So I don't see the validity of giving this dvd a bad review because of the available options to hear the movies in english. Gamera vs Jiger aka Gamera vs Monster X the second of the two has only one English dub. Take it or leave it. Gamera vs Guiron has two. I forget which number choice is which, but if you select a dub and the voice acting is absolutely dreadful you'll know you got the Sandy Frank version. Here's probably the biggest reason I like this dvd so much. Before this dvd came out you had the choice of either getting the AIP version (the superior dub) of this on dvd with the Space Gyaos getting sliced up edited out, under the alternate title ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS, not to be confused with WAR OF THE MONSTERS, the alternate title for GAMERA vs BARUGON (pronounced barooo-gon) not to be confused with Toho's Baragon (pronounced..well, baragon) ORRRRR, the unedited yet so horrible to listen to Sandy Frank version. This is what the makers of this dvd did to correct that problem. You can select the AIP voice track. When that Gyaos slice scene comes up you'll just briefly hear the Sandy Frank dub. Then it reverts back to the AIP. In closing, a quick assessment of both movies. Gamera vs Guiron, by far has got to be the worst Gamera movie ever made. It makes Gamera vs Viras aka Destroy all Planets look like a respectable effort. Gamera vs Jiger aka Gamera vs Monster X (oops, I mentioned that already, didn't I) tries to recapture the flavor of the first three Gamera films, but doesn't want to lose the bankable "Gamera friend to children" nitch. So what we wind up with is a fun to watch once in a while weak effort, that doesn't take itself too seriously, but somehow you wish it did. Oh... how you wish... it did.

Shout Factory continues the Gamera series with 2 more in this double feature DVD
At this point in the Gamera series, the movies began to decline and rely heavily on the use of children as the main focus. With lots of kids, children singing the Gamera song, goofy music Gamera doing some weird tricks against his foes,the movies got odder and odder...
This set is of no exception - 2 more 'way out there' Gamera movies coming up !
Gamera vs. Guiron aka Guillon aka Attack of the Monsters has Gamera fighting off a giant knife monster on the Planet Terra. 2 kids accidentally fly out into space & land on this planet where 2 alien ladies want to eat their brains. On this planet is also a species of Space Gyaos (one of which gets hacked by Guiron which is cut in several prints)
There are many transfers to this title such as the AIP version was used by Alpha and was a cut crummy transfer while on VHS The Celebrity Video version (Sandy Frank version) was uncut and used by Mystery Science Theater 3000. The dubbing is atrocious in my opinion. So was the hammy music. Listen for the kid (Akio) going on throughout the film about traffic accidents. And he gets his head shaved in this too. And of course there is the character "KornChan" (office Kondo) which on the MST version he's Cornjob by Joel & the Bots. He's in Gamera vs. Jiger too.
Recently, various websites are reporting that the DVD for Gamera vs Guiron will contain 2 English language versions (Sandy Frank & The AIP version) + A Japanese version will be included.
After watching it - the Sandy Frank dub can be heard during the AIP cut of the film where Guiron is chopping Space Gyaos into pieces. This was originally cut from the AIP due to its content.
Neptune Video had a great English language widescreen VHS version which this reviewer hopes was hoping that it be used for this DVD release. It isnt, so keep your tapes :)
Gamera vs. Jiger aka Monster X has a monster coming to life to destroy Expo 70 when a statue is taken off sacred ground releasing this monster. This monster is a quadruped that can fly, float , spit spears..its like something from a Johnny Sokko movie. Retromedia released the AIP version on DVD and it was just OK - some of us were thankful that someone finally released it to home video. I expect (& we do get) a MUCH better transfer from Shout on this title. This DVD will have the AIP English language version along with the Japanese version.
Thanks again Shout for getting the rights to genre titles that many Gamera and Kaiju fans have waited a long time for
Not only do we get Japanese and English language versions but we also get some very sharp clean transfers for all the titles..the widescreen transfers are excellent. You wont find a cleaner transfer on any DVD anywhere, anytime except of course the Japanese DVDs.
Also the titles for both English dubs are the Japanese title of the movie..

"Messages from outer space?"
That's the premise behind Gamera VS. Guiron, an unabashed children's movie about a space ship landing on Earth. Two boys hijack this space ship and take off with Gamera in hot pursuit (apparently, besides being a friend to children, Gamera is also psychic and knows when they're in trouble). They land on a planet just in time to witness a knife-headed monster hack another monster into pieces, literally. The planet is called Terra and is a twin to Earth, occupying the exact opposite orbital position as Earth, which explains why it's never been seen (an idea that's been used before). The last remaining inhabitants are two women, desperate to get to Earth; will the two boys help them?
Wonderfully absurd, inconsequential fluff, the two greatest revelations in this film is that Gamera knows gymnastics and the villains of this piece aren't the monsters but the two women (with gruesome appetites)!
Not bad, as Gamera films go, but I could have done without the "stop wars" message tacked onto the end.

The second feature has Gamera battling a different monster: Jiger. Jiger is particularly vicious, able to shoot quills, an energy beam; she also has a special suction feature and a secret weapon: the ability of injecting her victim with an egg. This plot device allows 2 boys to enter Gamera and kill the baby Jiger inside....while Gamera lies comatose on a beach, quietly turning a whiter shade of pale. It's a tossup as to which scene is the creepiest; this one or the sight of Gamera shoving telephone poles into his ears!
I can do without the weird theme song, but that aside, two enjoyable entries in this series. A keeper.

Shout Factory is to be commended for its treatment of what many consider to be, second rate Godzilla movies. These are the ultimate versions of these films for western monster fans.

The prints are beautiful and the options to watch original Japanese or one of two dubbed versions (Sandy Frank) makes this a must have for any Kaiju (Giant Monster) fan.

Now if only they would go back and do this with the first two films in the series then I would be content.

Bless you Shout Factory!

Family friendly Godzilla-like Movies (No cussing, no using the Lord's name in vain, and no sexual content)! Some of the monster to monster violence might be too scary for smaller kids (shows purple monster blood). Gamera is a good monster that defends children, and so the main characters are children, and that aspect draws children into the movie. I also highly recommend the double feature DVD from Shout! Factory of Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)/Gamera vs. Viras (1968). On the setup menu choose the English Audio Dub #1, it is a clean English version that doesn't use words like "hell".

I also recommend the family friendly 2006 movie Gamera the Brave.

Here is why I didn't like the other Gamera movies: The 1st original movie was in Black & White and he doesn't fight anyone, the 2nd movie Gamera vs. Barugon has a lot of human to human ugly violence and a lot of cussing (and the fights with Barugon are re-shown in the Viras movie, so you won't miss them), Gamera vs Zigra was just terrible and had bad dark underwater lighting the whole movie (I think it used the Lord's name in vain, but can't remember), Super Monster was terrible (90% of it was clips from the previous Gamera movies) and had cussing in it and a girl wearing a very skimpy bikini, and the whole 90's Trilogy was not for children at all (it was much darker) and had cussing in it.

I like the way Shout!, along with Classic Media and Tokyo Shock are finally giving these old monster movies the respect they deserve. Even though this looks like a $5.00 movie bin double feature at Wal-Mart or Target, don't be fooled. You get a picture gallery for each movie, and like it says, both english and uncut Japanese versions for both movies. I haven't even watched the english versions yet...I'm afraid to. After Gamera vs. Gyaos, they got really bad in terms of dubbing, especially the Sandy Frank versions. Everyone knows these movies are stinky, but when you hear everyone's voices as they really are, they aren't as annoying. 10 year-old kids don't sound like teenagers on dope, and the grown-ups don't sound like they have frogs in their throats. Even bad movies, when given a good representation can be much better. If you like this kind of movie, this is worth buying. And the price is good, too. Thank you Shout! for this great deal, and hopefully everyone who is interested will buy this. It's much better than any of the other releases I've seen so far.

I have been buying all of the Gamera Dvd's that Shout has been making and this one is my least favorite. I watched it as a kid and it was filled with more excitement but when i watched Gamera Vs. Guiron again it was focused more around humans than Gamera. Guiron is a pretty cool monster and when Gamera and Guiron did fight it was more than awesome. Gamera is like a five medal winning gymnastic in the movie. The only thing you really have to get used to is the english dubs but if your a fan of monster movies you will deal with it. I suggest you buy it just so your collection is complete.

This is not how Americans should see Japanese films and just add to the
bad reputations these films have in the U.S.A.
As I said in my review of the last Gamera release:
I likd the first two releases of Gamera The Giant Monster and Gamera vs.
Barugon and enjoyed August Ragone's commentary very very much.
I was at first disappointed that these new discs would not have a commentary,
but was then elated when I found out that these would have English dub tracks.
It is pretty common knowledge, I believe, that some of the Gamera films have
not just one, but two, existing English vocal tracks. One superior track
recorded by American international on the second through fifth films and
a very inferior set of tracks released on the the first three, fifth and
seventh films. I wondered why they had not utilized one one the first two disks.
Well, printed on the covers of this disc and its companion release was a notice
that, not only did they have the English vocal track, but where applicable
they would have both existing English tracks. Well, I thought to myself
that its about time someone got this smart with these things.

THEN I WATCHED THEM. HORROR AND FRUSTRATION!!!

Both English tracks are out of sink with the movies. Sometimes as long as
six seconds off. Its as if they simply played the English tracks against
the visual and didn't even bother to try to edit or make it fit, and I am
reasonably sure that is exactly all they did. They just started the sound
and the film at the same time and let them play to the end. It is terrible
and a blight on Japanese films in America.

DID THEY EVEN CARE!!

We have characters moving their mouths and nothing coming out. Then voices from
out of nowhere when no ones lips are moving. It is frustrating in
the extreme. It is especially bad on the already inferior tracks, but the
superior American International track is also way out of sink.

IT"S LIKE A BOOTLEG. THE ENGLISH AUDIO IS OF PIRATE QUALITY.
I cannot stress this enough.

American's already think that dubbing is terrible on Japanese monster
movies. Now they are right. Congratulations on this major screw up.
I can only shudder when I think of what the next release, Gamera vs. Zigra/
Gamera Super Monster, will be like. Both of those films are pretty bad already
they sure as hell dont need bad dubbing to add t it.

I have some DVDs I bought at a convention, where they had the Japanese Laser
Disks of Johnny Sokko dubbed over with English audio some kid had recorded
in the early 70's by holding a microphone up to the TV speaker. It never really
matches except once or twice. Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.
That is what these are like.

This is pretty much just yet anothe rreissue of these Gamera movies with little extra on the disk, not worth it.