Gamera vs. Gyaos

Today, we're discussing the 3rd in the Gamera series. We skipped the second one because I don't have time for literally every kaiju movie, and this one is the introduction of Gamera's most enduring enemy: Gyaos.

Apparently inspired by Frankenstein Conquers the World, Daiei decided to also adapt a classic monster and make it a kaiju: in this case a vampire. Directed once again by Noriaki Yuasa after he was skipped over for the 2nd Gamera film (which apparently did not perform as well as desired), the giant turtle monster also gains himself a credited actor: Teruo Aragaki. 

Intentionally written to appeal to children, it becomes more clear in this film why Gamera is eventually known as "Friend of All Children." With a child being, once again, central to the plot and seemingly the only person able to understand the simplest things about Gamera, they directly interact once but are the best of friends. More on this later. So, let's observe Gyaos' introduction, because we're going to see a lot more of her for the rest of Kaiju '22, so hopefully it starts well.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- A series of volcanoes erupt around Japan and Gamera appears near Mount Fuji when it erupts. Predictably, this draws attention from the scientific community.

- While flying above Mount Fuji, a helicopter of researchers is literally split in half from what looks like a laser.

- Exploring the area, the bat-like kaiju Gyaos awakens. Gamera appears and saves the day, but not before nearly losing an arm to Gyaos' laser.

- Humans try to prepare for Gyaos' next awakening but fail. Gyaos attacks, killing many people before being confronted by Gamera once again. They fight until dawn breaks, at which points Gyaos lasers off her own foot to escape Gamera and the rising sun. Badass.

- With Gyaos' foot to study, humans realize that it is weakened by ultraviolet light. They develop a plan to lure Gyaos to be hit by the sun by using fake blood to cause it come out.

- The plan fails because while Gyaos is spinning on the blood deposit, the power station is overwhelmed and the plan to make Gyaos dizzy fails when the deposit stops spinning. It's a...weird plan.

- With no hope of stopping Gyaos, the little boy who has been the crucial intelligence agent for the humans (questionable that this 8 year old or whatever is smarter than all of the adults in this movie) comes up with a plan to attract Gamera by starting a forest fire. Since Gamera loves and eats fire while Gyaos hates it and is weakened by it, Gyaos will be defeated by Gamera.

- The child's plan works almost perfectly, with Gamera rocket legging it over to the fire to feed and deciding the murder Gyaos in the process.

Kaiju Notes

- The first shot of Gyaos is truly awful. Also, she is the most plastic looking kaiju we've seen thus far. Not a bad design by any means, though a little basic. Gyaos seems a bit like an improved Rodan: winged and with more distinct features and abilities.

- Gyaos' laser is ridiculously powerful and actually a lot of fun to watch as it splits things in half. Explained as a supersonic wave produced by Gyaos' throat, it's a good way to lean into the bat-like features while not making it a simple "vampire bat" monster. She also has a special yellow mist that puts out fires, which makes sense for a creature that apparently hates fire.

- While not as innovative as atomic breath, Gamera's fire breath is a very cool effect to see, mostly because flamethrowers are literally always cool and easy enough to make.

- Gamera and Gyaos both get credit for being more of "whole body" monsters than Godzilla. Fire breath, an apparently impenetrable shell that he can retreat into, and rocket legs, Gamera in particular is a force to be reckoned with from any angle or situation.

First off: this movie is significantly less bonkers than the first. That does not mean "not bonkers," but definitely less. And while it may just be a natural inclination to root for the underdog, I feel like Yuasa's passion for making a giant monster movie is obvious while watching. With another tiny budget and even the concept of the movie being a riff on another Toho film, Gamera vs. Gyaos is another project made by studio demand with a director who just wants to make a rad kaiju movie and does his best to do so.

The helicopter getting split in half is a cool effect that I like a lot. The last person onscreen that we see "fall" to his death definitely jumps though, and it's hilarious. There's not enough gifs of all of these movies, for real. Whether it's Kamacuras playing volleyball before smashing Minilla's face or a not-great version of falling from a helicopter, there's great shots in all of these movies. Gyaos also splits a moving car in half and some fighter jets, and they're all equally impressive effects. The car in particular is honestly great: a goofy context, yes, but pretty badass to see half of a car drive away from it's other half.

Another major point: this is much bloodier than most kaiju movies. I mentioned in my Son of Godzilla post that the fights were growing in brutality, but apparently Gamera movies are the place to be for bloody violence. When Gamera nearly loses his arm it spurts blood and later when he's trying to either drown Gyaos or force her into the sun, her foot bleeds quite a bit when he bites it and then even more when she slices it off. We even see Gyaos blood when she grows it back! The final fight also ends with both Gamera and Gyaos covered in each others blood. While the blood is all a color that is not the traditional human red (Gyaos' even changing color from an earlier scene where it was green to purple), it is still notable that the blood level is actually quite high compared to every other kaiju movie we have seen so far. Even Gamera's execution of Gyaos is pretty violent, throwing her into an active volcano. Bloodless, sure, but brutal.

As mentioned above, it's well-known that this (and other Gamera movies) was designed to be more appealing to children: this might explain why a literal child who's obsessed by giant monsters has the only good ideas in the entire movie. There is an entire military intelligence apparatus in this movie dedicated to stopping Gyaos and the child is the only one of all of them who ever has a plan that's not entirely terrible. Not to say that children can't be wise or know something that adults don't, but in this instance it makes every adult look like a complete idiot because the child's plans aren't super innovative or complex. Gamera almost killed Gyaos once... attract him... he'll kill Gyaos. Done. This wild plan to make Gyaos dizzy using a spinning centrifuge of fake blood is like a prime example of supposedly smart people overcomplicating something to the point of ineffectiveness. Maybe that's the real message of the child in this movie: lateral thinking.

Overall, I like this one. It's far from amazing and not particularly innovative in any capacity, but despite Gyaos dumb face and Gamera's still strangely creepy yet friendly appearance I find the whole endeavor entertaining. Even the human scenes are amusing because all of the adults are rank idiots and it's amusing to watch their ridiculous plans come to fruition. Like Plan Z from the first Gamera film, watching humans come up with a plan to spin a giant vampiric monster around really fast until its dizzy is endlessly entertaining. As far as an introduction to Gamera and his enduring foe Gyaos, there are definitely worse films out there, and some of them are Godzilla movies.

Next: King Kong (1933)!