Gamera vs. Gyaos is a 1967 Japanese kaiju film about volcanic activity that unleashes a bloodthirsty monster. It is the third entry in the Gamera franchise.
The movie was directed by Noriaki Yuasa from a screenplay by Niisan Takahashi. Produced by Hidemasa Nagata and Hideo Nagata. The soundtrack score was composed by Tadashi Yamauchi.
The Daiei Studios-Toei Company co-production stars Kôjirô Hongô, Kichijirô Ueda, Reiko Kasahara, Naoyuki Abe, Tarô Marui, Yukitarô Hotaru, Yoshirô Kitahara, Shô Natsuki, Kenji Ôyama, Fujio Murakam, Kôichi Itô, Teppei Endô and Shin Minatsu.
The special effects were directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Gyaos was designed by art director Akira Inoue. The Gamera suit was recycled from Gamera vs. Barugon, however, the eyes were modified to appear more friendly. The Gamera shell that Eiichi rides was a full-scale prop built at twenty metres square
Plot [contains spoilers]:
A series of mysterious volcanic eruptions in Japan cause chaos. An eruption at Mount Fuji attracts the giant turtle Gamera, whose arrival is witnessed by a young boy named Eiichi.
A research team of geologists is sent to investigate the phenomenon in Shizuoka Prefecture, but are killed by a supersonic ray emitted from a cave which slices their helicopter in two.
A reporter, Okabe, travels to a village nearby to investigate. The Chuo Expressway Corporation’s plans for a roadway face challenges when the local villagers refuse to leave. The resistance is a ploy to increase the bid on the land. The foreman, Shiro Tsutsumi, and his crew are turned away by the locals as Okabe sneaks past.
Eiichi finds Okabe in the woods and leads him to a cave where Gamera might be. Okabe abandons Eiichi as the cave collapses and is devoured by a winged creature. Gamera emerges and saves Eiichi from the winged beast but is wounded in the process by its supersonic ray.
While interviewed by Doctor Aoki and authorities, Eiichi names the winged monster “Gyaos”. Doctor Aoki deduces it was awakened by the volcanic eruptions, can produce a supersonic ray due to a forked tongue, and cannot turn its head due to having two spines. A daytime airstrike fails to neutralise Gyaos due to its ray. Meanwhile, Gamera recovers from its wounds beneath the sea.
During a meeting, the villagers become divided on whether to sell their land or not due to Gyaos. Shiro’s crew, save two, quit because of Gyaos. Despite Eiichi’s claims that Gyaos is nocturnal, Gyaos ignores military flares and attacks Nagoya. Gamera appears and battles Gyaos once more, biting off its toes in the process.
Doctor Aoki discovers that exposure to ultraviolet light, like the sun, causes the toes to shrink. A plan is formed to disorient Gyaos with a rotating platform for long enough for the sun to rise and kill it, using artificial blood as bait. Gyaos is lured out but the plan fails when the power station supplying electricity to the platform overheats and explodes.
After learning that the expressway would be rerouted due to Gyaos, the villagers blame the headmaster, who ordered them to hold out. The headmaster regales a plan to Shiro, inspired by Eiichi, to start a forest fire to kill Gyaos. Gyaos depletes the fire with a yellow vapour, however, the fire attracts Gamera and engages Gyaos in a showdown.
Gamera kills Gyaos by dragging it into Mount Fuji’s crater. As the authorities celebrate, Shiro affirms to the villagers that work on the expressway will resume. Eiichi bids farewell to Gamera as it flies away…
Review:
Gyaos is one of the great kaiju creations, a prehistoric giant vampire bat with a flat-top head who fires laser beams from his mouth. This was more like it – Gyaos was so close to monster perfection that it is hard to believe that he wasn’t designed by a committee of ten-year-old boys, and he is as scary and villainous as he is visually impressive.
Barugon never seemed much competition for Gamera, but Gyaos looked as though he could make turtle soup of him in no time. This is the first film in which a wounded Gamera has to slink off to recover – things would get worse for him in later movies. It’s also the first film where Gamera is fully lumbered with a small boy as a sidekick; this too would get worse as the series progressed.
There’s still an adult plotline supporting the monster action, though this time it is sensibly kept from overwhelming the action. The story of big business vs a small community is very ‘now’, though anti-capitalist viewers will be aghast to hear that it’s the villagers who are the bad guys here, standing in the way of progress while trying to line their own pockets. In this sense, the film is very much the kaiju Carry On At Your Convenience, or at least overtly modernist in its outlook, taking the side of progress and development over traditionalism and anti-globalisation. But I may be over-thinking it.
In any case, the film is the line in the sand between original Gamera and the later films, where the giant turtle is very much the hero – no ambiguity here – and posited as ‘the friend of all children’, something hinted at here and subsequently spelt out explicitly. These were more innocent times, when a small boy and a giant turtle could be besties without one being taken into care and the other added to a government register. And the balance between juvenile fantasy fulfilment and full-on monster scrapping is spot-on here, with the violent action remaining violent and dark enough to remain exciting. This might be Gamera’s finest hour and a half – every element of the film in balance, with a monster that is the right side of absurdity to be effectively scary for younger viewers.
David Flint – read David’s reviews of all the Gamera movies on his new website Desperate Living
Clip:
Free to watch online on YouTube as Return of the Giant Monsters [cropped, 480p]:
Choice dialogue:
Army officer: “Doctor Aoki, as a zoologist what would you say the beast is? Would you say it’s a bird, or is it a reptile?”
Doctor Aoki: “I would like to say there isn’t any recorded history of it… let’s just call it a monster.”
Cast and characters:
Kôjirô Hongô … Foreman Shiro Tsutsumi; Kichijirô Ueda … Tatsuemon Kanamura; Reiko Kasahara … Sumiko Kanamura; Naoyuki Abe … Eiichi Kanamura; Tarô Marui … Mite-no-Tetsu; Yukitarô Hotaru … Hachiko; Yoshirô Kitahara … Doctor Aoki; Shô Natsuki … Self-Defense Force General
Kenji Ôyama … District Police Commissioner; Fujio Murakami … Doctor Murakami; Kôichi Itô … Road Company Chairman; Teppei Endô … Road Company Local Affairs Director; Shin Minatsu … Okabe the Photographer; Teruo Aragaki … Gamera
Original titles:
大怪獣空中戦
ガメラ対ギャオス
Daikaijū kūchūsen: Gamera tai Gyaosu “Giant Monster Midair Battle: Gamera vs. Gyaos”
Recommended external trustworthy reviews:
1000 Misspent Hours and Counting
Brandon Tenold [YouTube]
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