DOOMSDAY

Kaiju eiga, or giant monster movies from Asia, have captured the imaginations of both science fiction movie buffs and film makers. A popular character that had made multiple appearances on both the silver screen and television is Gamera. The majority of Gamera’s films can be found on St. Clair Entertainment’s Giant Monsters DVD set.

The films are spread out over three discs; there are nine movies in the set. The films included in the set are Gammera: The Invincible (aka Gamera, 1965), War of the Monsters (aka Gamera Vs. Barugon, 1966), Gamera Vs. Gaos (aka Return of the Giant Monsters, 1967), Destroy All Planets (aka Gamera Vs. Viras, 1968), Gamera Vs. Monster X (aka Gamera Vs. Jiger, 1970), Yongary: Monster from the Deep (1967), The Giant Gila Monster (1959), Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (aka Gappa: The Triphibian Monsters, 1967), and Warning from Space (1956). The Gamera films are presented out of order, with Gamera’s first adventure appearing on the third (and final) disc.

Strangely, Gamera’s fifth film, Attack of the Monsters (aka Gamera Vs. Guiron, 1969), is not included in this set; this leaves The Giant Gila Monster awkwardly placed on the last disc. The quality of the audiovisual presentation is low, suffering from high compression artifacts. However, when one considers the price of this set (this relatively comprehensive set of nine movies – and most of the Showa-era Gamera films – can be found for less than seven dollars), it is a bargain.

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