Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

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Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

Certainly one of the movies of all time.

I think other than Super Monster, this is the worst film in the Showa Gamera series. However, re-watching it recently in HD made me realize there are some things that make it worth watching and to compliment it for.

The main problem, which also makes it unique, is how little plot there is, and how little (original) monster mayhem there is compared to other Gamera films. Jim and Masao fool around and meet Gamera and are subsequently kidnapped by aliens. The aliens use them as hostages to control Gamera to take over Earth. Gamera goes on a rampage, but then the kids escape and free him. Gamera attacks and in a last ditch effort to beat Gamera fuse and form Viras. Much of the film is Jim and Masao flaffing about, either on the outside with their Scout Troop or inside the Virasian UFO, and the middle section features two-stock-footage heavy sequences with footage from all three of the previous Gamera films. Add to that the already short runtime (81 minutes or 71 minutes depending on the version, and you've got a pretty barebones film. Add to that very few new miniatures and relegated all of the scenes in cities to aforementioned stock-footage, and the film can feel very cheap and isolated.

Viras, the titular monster, unlike Gyaos or Barugon, isn't a major presence in the film and only shows up in the last ten minutes. Previous Gamera films had Gamera fight his foes at least twice (Barugon x2, Gamera x3). Here, Viras gets little build-up; just two short scenes showing him in a cage, before he's unleashed. The film also seems to be unsure exactly what it is; at first it seems like the film is setting up the lead Viras is a strange space-creature to that the Virasians captured, but then it's reveled to be the boss of them. It's weird and doesn't make a lot of sense. You'd think that maybe Viras was an alien separate from the UFO, a beast brought to Earth incase things go wrong, but instead it's their leader chilling out. Still, when Viras is unleashed it's a sight to behold.

Viras is a fantastic monster and sky-rocketed to one of my favorite Showa-era monsters after this viewing. To begin with, the suit is impressive. According to Wikizilla, the suit was made with a very flexible plastic, Urethane, which wasn't often used in the construction of suits. This coupled with the monsters blue color and squid-like appearance make it standout against all the other reptilian and quadrupedal Gamera foes. Even though it's a "man in a suit", and it's obvious in a few shots that it's being held up by two "main legs" and when looking at images of Viras directly, the film does a lot to hide this and make Viras way more squid-like. There's moments where we see only Viras's tentacles, or a puppet and other props of it, and the other tentacles move around too, making it feel much more squid-like an alien. It's frightening face, and savagery it displays in the fight make it memorable. Viras, unlike Barugon and Gyaos, doesn't have many unique abilities: all it really does is attack with it's tentacles and spear-like head. The scene of Viras impaling Gamera is super gory, even for a Gamera film, and it's painful to watch.

It's a shame the film doesn't live up its poster. While I understand there were probably budgetary reasons, I would've liked to see Viras a bit more before the final climax, or at least have the Virasian UFO destroy some cities itself directly. A big problem with the film is that it's main conflict, Gamera destroying cities, is entirely composed of stock footage.
Spoiler:
Image
Another thing to mention is the Virasian UFO itself. Even though I've just complained about the lack of Viras, really the film's antagonist are the aliens themselves who do have a presence throughout the film. The opening scene is fight between Gamera and the Virasian UFO, and for a monster versus a spacecraft it's done decently. The Virasian UFO makes up for the lack of Viras in the film. It's got a unique and trippy design, both internally and externally. The shots of Gamera poking his head through the UFO and breathing fire are great. The Virasians piloting the vessel are horrifying; they have these horrible glowing eyes, and the scene where Jim lassos one of their arms off to reveal a severed arm (with bone!) is super unnerving and frightening. For a rather magical kid's film there are a few moments like that which do up the tension and atmosphere.
Spoiler:
Image
So we've got a solid monster, solid aliens, that leaves...Jim and Masao.

They're...fine! They're silly children who like playing pranks. The actors in the Japanese version do fine enough, and contrary to genre stereotyping aren't annoying. Masao's defining trait is that he's an inventor, and Jim's defining trait is that he likes to take photos and has a lasso. All of their skills play roles in the story. The moment where Masao tries to trick the computer by ordering fruit, hoping it would give them a knife, is a silly but clever way to show his ingenuity. I suppose some people might blame them for switching the submarine controls, but the film is operating with kid-logic, where adults allow kids to take rides in submarines, so it's a non-issue if you just let it be.

Other than them, there's really not much going on the human side. The adults and backdrop of the troop don't serve any major function except to show who is worried about Masao and Jim getting kidnapped. It adds some humanity to Jim and Masao and makes the film seem far less empty. It also leads to one of the most dramatic emotional scenes in a Kaiju flick; debating whether to sacrifice Masao and Jim for the greater good. Really that scene with Masao and Jim telling the people of Earth to not surrender and attack even if they'll be killed, is one of the realest scenes in a film like this, surprisingly selfish for two child characters. It's a great scene, and does add a lot of emotion to the narrative.

Finally, I want to talk about Gamera. The scene with Gamera, Jim, and Masao underwater is magical. The lengths Gamera will go to save the boys is also magical. Some people won't like this turn for the character, but I kind of dig it now. There's this force of unbridled positive energy, that isn't always honest, but I like it as a fantasy. This was the film that turned Gamera really into a hero of the children and every film from here on out would be very child-oriented. It's a weird paradox though where this film Gamera appears a lot, but a good chunk of it is stock footage. Still, loved Gamera in this film.

Overall, I think this film is FINE. I used to think it was trash, but I see a lot to appreciate about it. The emotional core of Gamera and the children is great, Viras is cool, and the antagonistic alien force is creepy as well. It's a shame how reliant it is on footage from the past films and how simple the plot is, otherwise it would probably be just as good as the previous entries.
Last edited by LSD Jellyfish on Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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Re: Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

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LSD Jellyfish wrote: Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:54 am Certainly one of the movies of all time.
One of the WHAT?! movies of all time! After reading your review, I can't tell what word is suppose to be in there!
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Re: Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

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I wish I could remember all the details about the origins of Gamera vs Viras. I believe a lot of how it turned out had something to do with stipulations from AIP. I know August Ragone has gone on at length about it.

It's nice to have at least one classic Gamera movie outside of the first one where Gamera is the actual star of the damn thing. Viras might not get a lot of screen time, but after two films of "Let's spend most of the running time trying to get rid of this new monster", it's refreshing.

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Re: Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

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darkcancer wrote: Sat Jan 14, 2023 7:16 pm
LSD Jellyfish wrote: Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:54 am Certainly one of the movies of all time.
One of the WHAT?! movies of all time! After reading your review, I can't tell what word is suppose to be in there!
I left that out as a joke to just point out how it's not great, but not necessarily the worst thing ever. It certainly is a Gamera movie!
Legion1979 wrote: Sat Jan 14, 2023 7:44 pm It's nice to have at least one classic Gamera movie outside of the first one where Gamera is the actual star of the damn thing. Viras might not get a lot of screen time, but after two films of "Let's spend most of the running time trying to get rid of this new monster", it's refreshing.
That's true, and I think that's why it feels relatively unique amongst the other entires in the series. It does serve it's function as properly re-introducing Gamera as a children's hero, which is indisputable for the next few films.
Last edited by LSD Jellyfish on Sat Jan 14, 2023 10:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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Re: Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

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I'll confess that I haven't seen this one. Everything I've read about the film make me reluctant to see it. I do like the Viras design, and the moment where Gamera gets speared is a shocking one. If LSD finds value to this film, then maybe I should check it out.
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Re: Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

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Starting my first viewing of this movie now. The "Theatrical Version" on Arrow's Blu-ray, which apparently doesn't have the twenty minute stock footage slog that is part of the reason I haven't seen this movie yet. With Viras set to make a return in Gamera Rebirth, I figured now would be a good time to watch his debut film. Having been a fan for so long, I wouldn't feel right about seeing the new anime version before the tokusatsu original, and of course the inevitable callbacks and references would go over my head.

I watched the August Ragone introduction already. I really appreciate Arrow including those on their releases. They're super informative for people like me that care about this kind of background info but haven't done much reading or research into it. I have to say, Noriaki Yuasa is a freaking legend for working twenty-five days straight on this movie. That would probably kill me. :lol: It's interesting that Viras was the effects director's favorite monster, too. I've always had the impression that the fandom has a low opinion of Viras, but apparently he was uniquely challenging to execute on-screen. So that's kind of cool. Time to finally see him in action...

EDIT: Okay, big round of applause for the fun opening sequence! I love the design of the spaceship, internally and externally. Very colorful and unique. It's kind of a shame there was no visible crew, but low budget and rushed production and all. Gamera fighting the ship off was a blast. The moment where he keeps popping his head in and out of his shell to bash through the hull was a highlight. And then we launch into the Gamera March!

EDIT: Of course the American kid knows how to use a lasso freakishly well.

EDIT: The shot of Masao and Jim running on the beach with Spaceship #2 and Gamera flying in the background actually looks really good. Surprisingly convincing.

EDIT: I guess one of these movies had to acknowledge that the aliens look exactly like Japanese humans. That's been a plot point before with people like Miss Namikawa blending into human society, but I've never seen a movie directly talk about it like this.

EDIT: Oh. So that's why they made a point to focus on the aliens looking Japanese. Very dark. I like it.

It's over. It's very fun, I'll say that. A very charmingly silly and nonsensical kids' movie, exactly what it set out to be. It would have been nice if the previous films' budget could have been retained, but this shift in tone and quality has its own brand of appeal.

The final battle smashed my expectations. I'd gotten the impression that it was short and uneventful, but no. It was long and reasonably well done, with a lot of memorable moments. Viras is kind of a standout monster for the series. He's a puppet rather than a suit, and (aside from the weird lackey absorbing ability he used to grow) is the only Showa Gamera enemy with no special powers or weapons. He's entirely melee oriented. His pointed head is actually a seriously devastating weapon; Gamera's broken endurance was the only thing that saved him there. Being skewered like that would kill almost any other kaiju. Gamera defeating him by flying him into the upper atmosphere and freezing him was cool and unique, but his actual death was super lame and undermines the whole scene. Why drop him into the ocean? Ideally they would have had him hit the ground and shatter due to being frozen. I understand why that might not have been possible, but was the budget really not there to just drop him on the ground and close his eyes? Seeing him die in any way would have been more satisfying than having him fall in the ocean where he'd been perfectly at home a few minutes earlier. Oh well.

Story-wise it was the Showa Gamera standard. Adults and aliens are braindead, kids are always right. Bare-bones and just enough to move us between monster scenes. The United Nations surrendering to save two kids is one of the all-time cheesiest moments in the kaiju genre. Absolutely glorious. And then the aliens' followup was just to kill everyone, anyway. :lol: Truly bottom level writing. I love it, but wow. The stock footage was egregious even with the AIP additions removed. Inserting black-and-white Daikaiju Gamera footage into a color movie... again, wow. In some ways, this is probably the single worst Japanese Kaiju movie by one of the studios that specialized in this genre. Super Monster at least was built around stock footage from the ground up, so it's kind of a special case.

I will say that the spaceships were very cool, though. I already mentioned the unique design, but they were loaded down with flashy equipment. Laser cannons, fire extinguishers, Super Catch Ray, brainwave control device, gravity lift connecting tunnels, Star Trek replicators. The Virases may have been idiots, but they were well equipped. Off the top of my head, I'd say their ships are my new second favorite tokusatsu alien spaceships after the Planet X saucers from Monster Zero.
Last edited by JAGzilla on Thu Aug 24, 2023 3:22 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

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Hopefully Rebirth does Viras justice since they're making him the endgame boss for season 1.

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Re: Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

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I've heard Viras is supposed to fire some beam from his head, so it does up the alien squid's danger factor.
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Re: Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

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Two quick things, JAGzilla.

1) There WAS a Viras suit. You didn't see it? All his scenes inside the space ship use the suit, as well as a few shots during the battle.

2) I'm pretty sure Viras doesn't just fall into the ocean frozen. Looks like when he hits the water he basically disintegrates.

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Re: Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

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Legion1979 wrote: Fri Aug 25, 2023 6:25 pm Two quick things, JAGzilla.

1) There WAS a Viras suit. You didn't see it? All his scenes inside the space ship use the suit, as well as a few shots during the battle.

2) I'm pretty sure Viras doesn't just fall into the ocean frozen. Looks like when he hits the water he basically disintegrates.
In hindsight, the scenes on board the ship were more obvious that it was a suit. I forgot about those. The camera and effects crews did a good job hiding any suit scenes in the final battle, though. That, and on the first viewing I was focusing much more on what was happening than how it was being executed.

I didn't catch the disintegration moment at all. I'll have to watch for it next time.
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Re: Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

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JAGzilla wrote: Thu Aug 24, 2023 12:38 am EDIT: Okay, big round of applause for the fun opening sequence! I love the design of the spaceship, internally and externally. Very colorful and unique. It's kind of a shame there was no visible crew, but low budget and rushed production and all. Gamera fighting the ship off was a blast. The moment where he keeps popping his head in and out of his shell to bash through the hull was a highlight. And then we launch into the Gamera March!
Yeah, that opening impressed me as well. While the titular monster doesn't appear until the end, I think that spaceship opening makes up for it. I agree that the Virasian spaceship is colorful and unique, and I like how the 2nd one is more of the antagonist/monster of the film, with the final form Viras coming out in the last minutes.
The final battle smashed my expectations. I'd gotten the impression that it was short and uneventful, but no. It was long and reasonably well done, with a lot of memorable moments. Viras is kind of a standout monster for the series. He's a puppet rather than a suit, and (aside from the weird lackey absorbing ability he used to grow) is the only Showa Gamera enemy with no special powers or weapons. He's entirely melee oriented. His pointed head is actually a seriously devastating weapon; Gamera's broken endurance was the only thing that saved him there. Being skewered like that would kill almost any other kaiju. Gamera defeating him by flying him into the upper atmosphere and freezing him was cool and unique, but his actual death was super lame and undermines the whole scene. Why drop him into the ocean? Ideally they would have had him hit the ground and shatter due to being frozen. I understand why that might not have been possible, but was the budget really not there to just drop him on the ground and close his eyes? Seeing him die in any way would have been more satisfying than having him fall in the ocean where he'd been perfectly at home a few minutes earlier. Oh well.
Yeah, I'm a big fan of the Viras monster. I like how it looks, both design wise and suit. It's very rubbery, in a way that works to its advantage. It feels like something that could really grab onto Gamera and drag him around. Like you, I agree its unique that Viras doesn't have any super special powers or abilities, yet puts up a good fight.

Glad someone else watched this and gave it a fair chance. It's not a great monster movie or genre defining by any means, but it's got some good moments that make it worth a watch if you're a Gamera fan.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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