Gamera: The Showa Era

Gamera, The Giant Monster (1965)

Eager to copy rival Toho’s success with Godzilla, Japan’s Daiei studio created its own monster...Gamera, a 200-foot, flame-breathing, flying turtle! Freed from the Arctic ice by a nuclear accident and heading for Tokyo, Gamera lets nothing--save for a precocious little boy named Toshio--get in his way, in this original Japanese version of the terrifying terrapin’s debut. Eiji Funakoshi, Yoshiro Uchida star. 78 min. BW/Rtg: NR

Gamera vs. Barugon (1966)

Second entry in the popular kaiju series finds a spacebound Gamera’s rocket diverted, sending him back to Earth--Japan, to be precise--and an encounter with Barugon, a prehistoric behemoth with arctic breath. Will the terrapin terror win...or will Gamera land in the soup this time? Kojiro Hongo, Kyoko Enami star. 106 min. C/Rtg: NR

Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)

The super snapper and turtle titan is at it again, taking on all comers, especially the giant atomic kind. This time it’s Gyaos, bad-guy bat from another world. Don’t miss this heart-stopping battle for world domination! Kojiro Hongo, Kichijiro Ueda star. 86 min. C/Rtg: NR

Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

The mean, green flying machine must save two youngsters from aliens and go up against a squid-like creature with three tentacles and six legs. Hongo, Toru Takatsuka, Carl Craig, Jr. star. 81 min. C/Rtg: NR

Gamera vs. Guiron (1969)

Two precocious young boys steal aboard a flying saucer and are taken to a planet inhabited by brain-eating gals in silvery skintight suits (is that bad?). Can our shell-backed hero defeat the aliens’ pet monster and get the kids home in time for supper? With Nobuhiro Kashima, Christopher Murphy, and Kon Omura as "Cornjob." 82 min. C/Rtg: NR

Gamera vs. Jiger (1970)

The titanic terrapin battles a creature that injects him with its parasitic offspring. Can two kids in a micro-sub enter Gamera’s body and get rid of the mini-monster before it’s too late? Tsutomu Takakuwa, Kelly Varis, Katherine Murphy star. 83 min. C/Rtg: NR

Gamera vs. Zigra (1971)

More mayhem from the country that tortoise how to make a giant turtle movie. Only flame-footed Gamera can stop female invaders from the planet Zigra and their giant shark/bird/fish creature from taking over Earth...or at least an aquatic theme park. Reiko Kasahara, Koji Fujiyama star. 87 min. C/Rtg: NR

Gamera: Super Monster (1980)

The final entry in the original Daiei series finds the towering terrapin in a stock-footage battle to the death against his most fearsome foes. 92 min. C/Rtg: NR

Widescreen; Soundtracks: Japanese Dolby Digital Lossless, English Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English; audio commentary; featurettes; interview; theatrical trailers; image galleries; bonus short "The 4th Nippon Jamboree" (1966); more. In Japanese with English subtitles/Dubbed in English.