General Gamera Thread

[Terasawa]

Cinematography is far more encompassing than just filming the monsters from low angles.

[ROMG4]

I feel like this is the inevitable ending of all compliment discussion on TK, lol

Spoiler:

also I just wanted to post turkey fish don't tell them

[daveblackeye15]

Yeah I like Godzilla 2014 and can understand the criticism of pacing but not the cinematography. I thought a lot of it was very well thought out.

[gottatalktothefake]

I guess I was late to the party, but when I finally watched the Heisei Trilogy I thought it was good, that's it, it wasn't holy shit amazing like people were telling me it was. Maybe the kaiju communities' constant circlejerking of it made me expect more but IDK.

Also I marathoned all of the Showa films in a day. And by god, the Showa Gamera series has to be my least favorite kaiju series I have ever seen. Average at best (Gamera the Invincible) and literally the worst kaiju movie I have ever seen at worst (Super Monster)

[Spuro]

I guess I was late to the party, but when I finally watched the Heisei Trilogy I thought it was good, that's it, it wasn't holy poop amazing like people were telling me it was. Maybe the kaiju communities' constant circlejerking of it made me expect more but IDK.

Also I marathoned all of the Showa films in a day. And by god, the Showa Gamera series has to be my least favorite kaiju series I have ever seen. Average at best (Gamera the Invincible) and literally the worst kaiju movie I have ever seen at worst (Super Monster)

Regarding the Gamera trilogy, it was the opposite for me. Before I gave it a try, I hated the idea of Gamera. I thought he was just a lame Godzilla ripoff, and whenever I heard the suggestion that the Heisei Gamera movies were better it pissed me off. But hey, I was a dumb kid at the time.

At around 16 or 17 years old, I finally decided to give a Gamera film a try. I picked the one that had the highest praise, Revenge of Iris, and watched it for free on YouTube — because hey, I wasn’t going to pay money for a Gamera movie of all things.

To my complete surprise... I fell in love with that movie. Before I knew it I had all three AVD Gamera DVDs shipping through Amazon. I watched them in reverse (because of course I did), I loved Legion just as much as Iris and thought GotU was decent (but I warmed up to it considerably over the years). I changed my tune completely around about the Gamera trilogy — to this day the trilogy is grouped together as my 10th favorite movie(s) of all time.

The Showa series on the other hand... I liked Barugon I guess? About it. I agree with you that it’s without doubt the worst kaiju series out there.

[SoggyNoodles2016]

I guess I was late to the party, but when I finally watched the Heisei Trilogy I thought it was good, that's it, it wasn't holy poop amazing like people were telling me it was. Maybe the kaiju communities' constant circlejerking of it made me expect more but IDK.

Also I marathoned all of the Showa films in a day. And by god, the Showa Gamera series has to be my least favorite kaiju series I have ever seen. Average at best (Gamera the Invincible) and literally the worst kaiju movie I have ever seen at worst (Super Monster)

They're good but they've definitely got the "Dark Knight/Star Wars" level of being praised and given no criticism that they're always seen as better then they could ever hope to be.

They are kinda dope though but they're not for everyone for sure.


besides, Gamera The Brave is the best one

[eabaker]

I pity anyone who cannot find it in their heart to love Gamera vs. Guiron.

That movie is sunshine, puppy dogs and cotton candy.

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

I pity anyone who cannot find it in their heart to love Gamera vs. Guiron.

That movie is sunshine, puppy dogs and cotton candy.

Agreed. It's a movie that really manages to capture how bonkers a kid's imagination can be and I love the surreal whimsy of it. And Guiron is cool I don't care what anyone says.

[tbeasley]

If everyone watched Gamera vs Guiron there would be no wars or traffic accidents.

[Terasawa]

So it's circlejerking now if the vast majority of a community likes something more than you did?

[Dino-Mario]

I pity anyone who cannot find it in their heart to love Gamera vs. Guiron.

That movie is sunshine, puppy dogs and cotton candy.

I second the notion. Guiron is like a big, shuriken-throwing puppy with a razor in place of a nose. How can you not love him?

[MaxRebo320]

You couldn't have hated the Showa films THAT much if you somehow stomached watching the entire series in one day.

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

I think the Showa films are overhated. I get that they might not be to everyone's tastes, but this whole mentality of them being "some of the worst kaiju films ever!" is ridiculously overblown and I feel like it stems from people expecting everything in the genre to be exactly akin to Godzilla (because let's face it, in terms of perception Godzilla basically has a monopoly on the genre). Or people who think regurgitating MST3K quotes qualifies as having a legitimately formed opinion.

In general I find it's difficult to see any criticism of Gamera that doesn't try to drag Godzilla into the mix. I understand why to a degree, especially among the west, but it is a bit excessive and leads to some rather poorly formed discussions and views on the series.

[Terasawa]

I think the Showa films are overhated. I get that they might not be to everyone's tastes, but this whole mentality of them being "some of the worst kaiju films ever!" is ridiculously overblown and I feel like it stems from people expecting everything in the genre to be exactly akin to Godzilla (because let's face it, in terms of perception Godzilla basically has a monopoly on the genre). Or people who think regurgitating MST3K quotes qualifies as having a legitimately formed opinion.

In general I find it's difficult to see any criticism of Gamera that doesn't try to drag Godzilla into the mix. I understand why to a degree, especially among the west, but it is a bit excessive and leads to some rather poorly formed discussions and views on the series.

(Not left or wrong but this is the best I could do in a hurry.)

[Spuro]

I pity anyone who cannot find it in their heart to love Gamera vs. Guiron.

That movie is sunshine, puppy dogs and cotton candy.

I second the notion. Guiron is like a big, shuriken-throwing puppy with a razor in place of a nose. How can you not love him?

The design of the monster is great – but the shoddy suit distracts me every time. That's not exclusive to Guiron, though; apart from Gamera himself and Barugon, I don't really like most of the monster suits. And even Barugon has some wonky proportions given the sheer size of its head, although that's partially explained by him being based off the prehistoric crocodile, Baru darrowi. And Barugon's head isn't as disproportionate as Jiger's anyway.

Added in 2 minutes 56 seconds:

[YouTube][/YouTube]

Hah, I've been looking for a youtube meme for that line for years. Thank you.

Added in 7 minutes 34 seconds:

I think the Showa films are overhated. I get that they might not be to everyone's tastes, but this whole mentality of them being "some of the worst kaiju films ever!" is ridiculously overblown and I feel like it stems from people expecting everything in the genre to be exactly akin to Godzilla (because let's face it, in terms of perception Godzilla basically has a monopoly on the genre). Or people who think regurgitating MST3K quotes qualifies as having a legitimately formed opinion.

I've only seen two MST3K episodes, and none of them had anything to do with Gamera. And claiming that people dislike these movies just because they're "Not like Godzilla" is some serious strawmanning. Gamera: The Brave is both geared towards kids and nothing like a Godzilla movie, but lots of people, myself included, love it.

We dislike those movies because we don't think they're very good. That's it. I can't believe I had to type something that obvious out, but there you go.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

I find all the Showa Gamera films to be goofy campy fun, I agree they are overhated.

[UltramanGoji]

I don't think their opinions are invalid, but I do think calling them "[some of] the worst kaiju films ever" shows that they probably haven't seen very many non-Toho/Daiei kaiju films if that's the case. There are a lot of other films I would classify as objectively worse than some of the Showa Gamera films

[Gigantis]

Honestly i didn't think even the more lower rated Showa movies like Jiger were that bad. The only one i actuall came out disliking was Super Monster, and even i don't think that's the worse thing on Earth. Though definately the worst Gamera movie.

[Spuro]

I don't think their opinions are invalid, but I do think calling them "[some of] the worst kaiju films ever" shows that they probably haven't seen very many non-Toho/Daiei kaiju films if that's the case. There are a lot of other films I would classify as objectively worse than some of the Showa Gamera films

I've seen a decent sample size, mostly from the 60s. Gorgo, The X From Outer Space, Gappa, Yongary, and Reptilian if that counts. Reptilian was pretty terrible but I think Super Monster beats it out.

Haven't yet seen The Magic Serpent, Pulgasari, or any of the 2000s "drought period" films, though.

[Gigantis]

Reptilian was pretty terrible but I think Super Monster beats it out.

Yeaah i''m gonna have to disagree with this. I straight up HATED Reptilian. Super Monster is bad, but in a boring way. Heck i'd even say all four Mega Shark films beat Reptilian in the entertainment factor, and even when special effects despite all of them not having nearly as big of a budget!