Wonderfully offbeat film!

Best movie ever!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

In this outing, our colossal, jet-powered guardian-turtle has to deal with both a giant, knife-headed advisory and a pair of brain-eating space-babes. Briefly, two boys sneak onto a flying saucer that takes them to a 'counter Earth' (a planet orbiting unseen on the other side of the sun) inhabited by Barbella and Florbella, the two sexy, silver-clad aliens, their enslaved monster Guiron, and a host of 'space-Gyaos' (similar to the one that attacked Earth in 1967's "Return of the Giant Monsters"). The women, ostensibly kindly and courteous hosts, turn out to be evil and only Gamera can save the two boys (and perhaps all of humankind) from consumption. The movie is a budget concoction, with time-filling clips from previous films (as the girls study the boys' memories for weaknesses) and all of the kaiju 'action' taking place on a single, inexpensive looking 'alien world' set. Like most of the original Gamera films, kids are the target audience but the movie has a surprisingly brutal edge. The opening battle between Guiron and one of the Gyaos ends with the flying monster being dismembered while still alive (this scene seems to be commonly edited out: it is not on my DVD or on the free on-line versions I checked, and I don't remember it from way back when I watched this movie on TV, but its purple-gruesomeness can be found on You-tube). There is also a scene where one of the boys has his head shaved in preparation for cutting open his skull to get at his brain (stopped just in time) and numerous shots of a wounded Gamera bleeding. The special effects vary in effectiveness. The scenes on the alien planet and in the spacegirls' base are imaginative examples of budget-tokusatsu, with 'teleportation' booths and a surreal backdrop, but the monster brawls are simplistic and silly (relatively speaking), with one scene of Gamera doing a number of rotations around a 'high bar' before proudly sticking the landing in front of a bemused Guiron. I watched dubbed version that was an odd of mix of (sort of) scientifically correct (it would take a many years for an Apollo spacecraft to get to another star) to ridiculously wrong (the boys, both amateur astronomers, mix up 'star' and 'planet'). In addition to the aliens and the boys, we get a little sister continuously pouting because no one will believe her about the UFO, a comic-relief cop, and the boys' mothers, one of whom keeps offering amateur child-rearing psychology. The story is pretty typical of the first generation Gamera films and the movie is on par with the rest of the series, so if you liked the towering turtle's earlier adventures, you'll probably enjoy this one as well (but try to find an edgy, uncensored version for maximum impact).

Fifth Gamera film continued the astonishing decline in quality, as three children are abducted from their neighborhood by a spaceship piloted by two alien women who claim to be friendly, but in reality are anything but, as they plot to kill the children before turning their attentions to Earth. Meanwhile, Gamera flies into outer space to rescue the children, and save the Earth, but first must do battle with a strange monster called Guiron who has a giant knife for a head, which it uses on another Gyaos, then turns on Gamera... Childish entry(with gruesome elements) has a memorable monster in Guiron, but is otherwise idiotic.

This is a very hokie movie but it is also entertaining because it is so lame-o. Gamera is the defender of children in this one. Two kids, one Japanese and the other white and I guess American end up on another planet where two women, obviously Asian, want to eat the kids brains so they can learn about Earth because their planet is dying and they want to go there. The aliens have their own monster that looks like a cross between a crocodile and a great white shark. Any way once the kids show up on the alien planet things start to happen. Gamera shows up and fights sharkodile more than once finally winning. The alien women are defeated and the Gamers returns the kids to earth. Very trite but hey so is the old Godzilla movies.

What? Is that logical? Absurdity takes new meaning with is film. The year is 1969, so at this point both Godzilla and Gamera were in the pits. Hell, 1969 was the fateful year Toho released "Godzilla's Revenge" and I'm quite sure Godzilla would never sink so low again. However, the worse had yet to come for the original Gamera series. That's not to say "Gamera vs. Guiron", also known as "Attack of the Monsters", isn't a bad movie because yes, yes it is, but compared to crapfest like "Gamera vs. Zigra" this film excels. At one point a child hypothesizes Gamera can reach speeds up to Mach 60…I'll be damned.You would've thought the company Daiei and its writers would've learned from "Gamera vs. Viras" that children and spaceships don't go together. However, at the very least we are shown a new planet, Tera, in an attempt to divulge a better plot. For all its campy ridiculousness, it's an admittedly interesting story for a monster movie sucker like me. Making children the protagonists is probably its greatest blunder. Guiron himself is a weird monster, but I suppose more attractive than Jiger. Still, Guiron looks like something you'd see in, I don't know, Pokémon? The Space Gyaos are an interesting facet of the story and some frightfully odd yet amusing action sequences take place. Zany and peculiar, definitely cheesy as hell, but a gas to watch and scrutinize.