Nov 07 2008
Review: Return of the Giant Monsters (aka Gamera Vs. Gaos, 1967)
Many can argue that the Showa Era (1954-1980) series of Gamera films had a certain degree of integrity up until the release of Destroy All Planets (aka Gamera Vs. Viras, 1968). Although the films did not have all the advantages of a high budget and state-of-the-art special effects, an attempt was made to present the content seriously. After defeating the likes of Barugon, Gamera returned to the screen to face the bat-like dinosaur, Gaos, in Return of the Giant Monsters (aka Gamera Vs. Gaos, 1967). This was perhaps the last Gamera film (at least until 1995 with the arrival of the next series of Gamera films) that did not feature sleuth-like children trying to defeat aliens or the super-upbeat Gamera theme song.
Gaos, an odd variation on the character design of Toho’s Rodan (1956), attacks and feeds on the Japanese citizens. Gamera arrives to challenge the monster, as they engage in several battles throughout the film. This results in both monsters receiving serious combat wounds.
In between these battles, the military tries defeat Gaos with conventional weaponry and with scientifically-designed traps, but to no avail. It is discovered that Gaos is a nocturnal creature and has a weakness for sunlight, yet the creature possesses regenerative characteristics when his severed foot (bitten off by Gamera) grows back.
After fighting on land, in the air, and sea, the final conflict between Gamera and Gaos takes place overnight. When it seems that Gaos has the upper-hand, the sun reveals itself on the horizon…..
One characteristic of the Gamera films (and Return of the Giant Monsters is a prime example) that sets them apart from their Godzilla counterparts is the level of kaiju action contained within. It would seem that the Godzilla films have a respectable frequency of monster action and battles, balanced by what is sometimes an intense and complex human storyline. The Gamera films, on the other hand, are heavily driven by action. Return of the Giant Monsters consists of mainly action sequences with a disproportionate amount of story development. However, the target audience for the Gamera films was likely to be that of a demographic with a lower attention span - in particular, children. This is most probably the reason that the series took an aesthetic turn for the remainder of the series. Sequences where Gamera swings on a pole like an Olympic gymnast or beats the spikes on the back of a monster to make xylophone-like music set the 1968-1980 Gamera films apart from the first three, practically breaking the series up into two finely-defined halves. Yet the same audiences came back for more…..
