Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Gamera vs. Guiron

Gamera vs. Guiron (Gamera Tai Daiakaiju Giron) (1969)

Runtime: 82 minutes

Directed by: Noriaki Yuasa

Starring: Nobuhiro Kajima, Miyuki Akiyama, Christopher Murphy, Hiroko Kai, Reiko Kasahara

From: Daiei

What a run of weird children's films I have seen as of late: 

So, the giant knife monster can also throw out ninja stars? Why the F not?

This is actually the fifth film in the franchise but as it was the one I remembered the most due to sheer weirdness. After all, the plot is that a young Japanese boy and his American friend (OF COURSE it was the Japanese boy who was wearing the tiny shorts) end up on a spaceship controlled by two women on another planet, one you may call the Howard Johnson planet. Once arriving, the women (one of them named Barbella... no, not Barbarella, as the movie makes sure to clarify) first act friendly but they then try to EAT THE BRAINS of the children before taking over Earth and Gamera-by then a longtime hero of the children-has to save them while also doing battle with Guiron, a quadruped monster who has a knife for a head.

The series was deep into the era of being childish so there are plenty of goofy moments, the peak being Gamera at one point swinging on what was in essence a gymnastics high bar, but there also was Guiron doing battle with a doppelganger of Gyaos, the villain creature of the third movie. Guiron literally slices up Gyaos-including decapitation-which did put Knife Head over.

People will remember this best for the goofy dubbed version that was used for a season 3 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000... that dubbed version is for free at various locations, but so is the proper subtitled version. At least this zany motion picture has a modicum of entertainment.

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