Customer Reviews

Gamera Vs. Gyaos / Gamera Vs. Viras [Double Feature]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This review is for the Shout Factory Double Feature of Gamera vs. Gyaos and Gamera vs. Viras
Shout Factory has decided to pair up the Gamera series for the rest of the Showa series. There could be a few reasons. The later Gamera movies to me & many others aren't as good as Gamera,Barugon & Gyaos & feel they might not sell as well if sold separately. Gamera vs. Viras is considered inferior to Gamera vs. Gyaos as the series dwindled with that very film. Would Viras have the same sales as the others ? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe Shout Factory said maybe not. This thinking might be understandable however I think most die hard Gamera fans would buy them up anyway with causal fans passing on the ones they did not like. I will say that a lot of us bought the Celebrity Video VHS of them as well as the Neptune Media versions. Another reason could be to save time and money. The idea being lets not let the fans wait that long for all of the Gamera movies as single discs which saves time as well as saving a few dollars.2 movies on a disc with one packaging. I expect the quality to be the same as the rest of the Shout Factory Gamera series.
Whatever the reasoning is the idea of 2 Gamera movies ala MGM Midnight Movie double features isn't that bad to me. I dont care as long as the quality is up to the standards.
For those who haven't seen these movies - Gamera vs. Gyaos & Gamera vs. Viras - I will first mention Gyaos is a far better movie than Viras
GAMERA VS. GYAOS (AKA GAOS )Has Gamera fighting a giant bat like monster that spits out laser beams that slice things (& people) This is a very wild Gamera movie with lots of fighting & some pretty bloody (for a Gamera movie) with pink blood spurting around. Gyaos is /was Daiei's answer to Toho's Rodan I would guess. This to many is the best Gamera film, or least in the top 3. Non stop monster thrills.
GAMERA VS. VIRAS - Gamera fights a Giant Squid monster this time around. This is the one where 2 kids get kidnapped by a spaceship that looks like 4 bumblebees connected to each other. This film contained quite a bit of stock footage from the previous Gamera entrees and just was a little lackluster - this is the movie that the series started to decline. A lot had to do with the lack of budget for the movies. Out of the last of the Gamera movies, Guiron, Zigra and Super Monster pretty much stunk with the kiddie songs,some really atrocious dubbing from the Sandy Frank version (unless you owned the Neptune Video versions of Guiron/Guillon & Zigra)& goofy effects. And Gamera really acting quite campy in some scenes as well..
Also available are Guiron/Jiger and later on in 2011 Zigra/Super Monster will be paired
If the transfers are clean, this reviewer will be happy. We will be getting the Japanese & English language versions as well. Gyaos will have BOTH the AIP version and the Sandy Frank English language versiona (this was the one used for the MST3K version) as well as the original Japanese version.
Viras will have the AIP English language and Japanese language version.
With Shout Factory releasing Gamera, Roger Corman & MST3K on DVD I can say Shout has pleased a lot of us & hope they continue to do so.

Gamera vs Gyaos i would say is my 3rd favorite movie thus far. It really focused on the monsters and Gamera and Gyaos really fought it out. Gamera vs Viras though i thought wasn't that great. Now don't get me wrong Gamera is awesome but Viras was kinda of a trash monster. I didn't like it to much. But its still a good buy two Gamera movies for the price of one! You got my vote

For this and the rest of their Gamera DVDs, Shout! Factory decided to go the way of the double-feature, and it worked well. This DVD contains the next two movies in the Showa Gamera series. Video and Japanese audio quality are great, while the dubs aren't perfect, but are sufficient. The fact they included them at all is great. On that topic, Shout! interestingly chose to include BOTH existing dubs for Gyaos. In the case of Gamera vs. Viras, for the dub they restored missing bits from the dub with audio from the Japanese version. Extras are light, including a publicity gallery for each film, but no theatrical trailers, resulting in a 4/5 star rating. It's notable that this DVD is the first-ever official US home video release of Gamera vs. Viras (aka Destroy All Planets). Earlier this year the organization Retromedia released a bootleg version of the film, with questionable timing. This DVD boasts far greater audio and video quality. I'd highly recommend this DVD for any kaiju fan.

Gamera in widescreen, dubbed, and japanese audio. Gamera vs Gyaos is one of the better showa Gamera films. It's about Gamera fighting a bat like monster called Gyaos, fx were good for its time. Remember seeing all the Gamera films as a kid, Gyaos was always my favorite. Gyaos has quite afew cool fight scenes, and was pretty violent for a monster film, to see it remaster and widescreen is a dream come true. Gamera vs Viras is when the series start to decline, two boys are kidnapped by aliens, then the aliens emerged into a giant squid Viras. Gamera vs Viras is not the best, but it has its moment, better then some of the later Gamera films. Gamera vs Gyaos is the ONLY reason I'm buying this! Will not buy the others!

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!

I have a specific fondness for Gamera that I'd have a difficult time explaining to someone who didn't feel the same way. He's a giant toothy turtle for pity sake, how is that not cool? I also like the battery of villain monsters he has to defeat (who designed these things?). In this double feature he must stop the rampage of Gyaos (a giant bat-like creature), and the spacey Viras (a bloated octopus?). Of the two, the first film is the better crafted offering. The plot involves a stalled highway project. There's both a village and Gyaos to deal with before the road can move on. As for the second feature, it's definitely aimed at a younger audience. The lead characters are two boys who are kidnapped by a fleet of spacemen flying around in this giant bumble bee contraption (very graphic, very 60's mod). The spacemen are shells harboring more hideous creatures (the sequence with them in a dark room, eyes lit up, was very creepy and easily the best scene in the movie, that, and losing their heads). Part of this movie is padded with battle scenes from previous Gamera movies. That the story wasn't as well thought out is evident but as a whole, it's really not that terrible. At worse, it could be dismissed as "cute."
Definitely a keeper for the collection.

Shout Factory continues their excellent release of the Gamera series with the next installments: Gamera vs Gyaos and Gamera vs Viras. Gamera vs Gyaos is arguably the best of the Gamera films and Gyaso would go on to become Gamera's main nemesis in the 90's Gamera trilogy (highly recommended for Gamera fans). Gamera vs Viras is where the series began to slide downhill a bit. Gamera battles a monster that looks like a cross between a squid and a silver banana (seriously!). About 15 min of the film is stock footage of the aliens scanning Gamera's memory and watching footage from the first two films.

Anyway, as usual the dvd looks absolutely stunning in its widscreen HD presentation and way better than the crappy Alpha Video transfers from the early 2000's. One thing I found a bit disappointing was the lack of extras on this and the Gamera vs Guiron/Jiger disc. The first two Gamera dvds had great extras (audio commentary by film historians, a couple of featurettes on the first disc and color booklets in the package. On these the only extras you get are publicity galleries(which is pretty cool) and the english dubs(which I don't really think is a special feature), but whatever. Another thing I was disappointed about was the booklet that came with Gamera vs Barugon had a bio and anatomy profile of Barugon. I loved it and bought these discs thinking they would have the same.

Wrong! The monster anatomies are in the still galleries on the discs, but with no biographies, just a look at their internal organs and labeling of the their body parts. Unfortunately the on screen print is so small that you usually can't read them, even when zooming in whith your TV. Gyaos' anatomy was the only one I could read clearly.

Despite the lack of extras, I'm still glad to own these films the way they were meant to be seen. A great buy for diehard Gamera fans. Thanks Shout!

Thanks to Amazon's amazing service I got this along with the other double feature of Guiron/Jiger in yesterday a day a before release date. The films themselves are going to be hit and miss with some people I happen to like Gamera vs Gyaos but I found Gamera vs Viras a little dull. What really shines on these discs is the picture quality. Shout Factory has once again outdone themselves for this release. This is the first time I've watched both films in quite awhile. In fact the last time I watched Gyaos was on the VHS tape from the late 80s and the last time I've watched Viras was on a bootleg tape I had gotten when they're looked like there was no hope of getting it in the states. I can't believe how clean and sharp the picture looked.

Another bonus is that these two feature the dubbed versions of the films with Gyaos having both it's AIP dubbing as well as it's "Sandy Frank" dubbing. Viras features it's "Destroy All Planets" dubb and for parts where there wasn't a dubbed line they switched over to the Japanese version. When they do this though they didn't have the subs going thankfully this was only a problem once and it was only for about five seconds max. Another issue with the dubb track was that the audio kept getting louder in some spots I assume this was from them switching over to the Japanese language and back again. Again it's only a minor problem.

So this release gets a 4 star rating for me actually I'd rate it about 4.5, the only reason it doesn't get a perfect five is because of the minor audio problem on Viras. So if you want so great Japanese monster action then look no further than the Gamera Double feature; featuring Gamera vs Gyaos and Gamera vs Viras.

Family friendly Godzilla-like Movie (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. Guiron (1969)/Gamera vs. Jiger (1970). On the setup menu choose the English Audio Dub #1, it is a clean English version that doesn't use words like "hell". In the Gyaos movie between about 30 - 31 minutes into the movie, when the planes are being attacked, it sounds like a man says "G-d" very slowly where the "d" is silent, but really he says, "Nooo" (the subtitles make that clear, and I think he might be saying the Japanese word for "no" sense the same word is uttered in both the English and Japanese audio, and I heard that they cut in the Japanese audio in a few of the English parts that lacked English audio, although this is the only one I noticed).

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.

This is not how Americans should see Japanese films and just add to the
bad reputations these films have in the U.S.A.
I loved the first two releases and enjoyed August Ragone's commentary.
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 noticethat, 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!!!
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. In fact,
I am reasonably sure that is what 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 dubbing is also way out of sink.
It's like a bootleg.
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 to it.
Add to this the fact that part of the Gyaos battle, the volcano sequence, is missing from Gamera vs. Viras.