Search - Attack Of The Monsters (aka Gamera vs. Guiron) on DVD

Matt B. from GETZVILLE, NY
Reviewed on 10/5/2011...

This was fifth Gamera movie. The jaded movie-goer knows the fifth entry of a franchise may as well be the fiftieth, we can hear the gears grinding so badly. This effort is so bereft of ideas that the director cobbles together footage from the previous movies.

At least, the outtakes do serve as a review of an important theme. The monster Gamera assumes the role as the friend of children. According to tradition, he does make friends with the three tykes in this one. Mercifully, they are bearable, not annoying. The girl Tomoko (Friendly Child, probably) is concerned about her brother not getting hurt or into trouble (sweetly calling her brother, “Brother”); the American boy Tom is just a normal kid; and the Japanese kid Akio feels idealism we like to see in kids who, unlike adults, still believe in stuff. In this case, Akio (Man of Autumn, if anybody cares) wants to work toward a world with no war and no traffic accidents. Even better, there is no song dedicated to the monster and the music is cornily upbeat, as we’d expect a Japanese soundtrack from the Sixties to be.

Anyway, the two boys take a flying saucer to a dying planet even though Gamera tries to warn them off. They meet what they call “groovy space girls.” For reasons I don’t want to spoil in a review, they plan "And while they are sleeping, we will eat their brains raw." While fighting the monster Guiron (the Japanese is Kiron, which seems to me easier to say) to save the boys, Gamera spins around on a high bar.

Approached in the right mood – mild boredom - and the right spirit – innocent openness to silliness – this movie is okay.

GAMERA - SUPER turtle (!)

01/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gamera is the most charming of all the suitmation monsters. The bozo's who can't appreciate the effects in this movies are really missing the point. A+++"

Gamera, Guiron, and Gaos! Oh my!

Robert S. Clay Jr. | St. Louis, MO., USA | 04/19/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"To paraphrase Shakespeare, the gods look down on this uncertain event and laugh. For anyone who thought that the lesser Godzilla movies were the bottom of the Japanese sci-fi barrel, this movie is a reality check. Gamera wars against Guiron, a knife-headed giant lizard that crawls around on hands and knees. Guiron also slices through Gaos earlier in the film. (Who comes up with these names, anyway)? Two reckless pre-teens, Akio and Tom, journey to a counter-Earth planet inhabited by warring monsters and two space babes in svelte togs. For some viewers, the girls are the best part of the movie. Especially when the Japanese Thelma and Louise get the idea they need to eat the kids' brains. Akio's preparatory haircut adds a definite style statement. It does nothing to diminish his concern that road accidents are one of the great banes of life. He asserts this theory at least three times in the film. Great dialogue is evident when Space Babe #1 says, "Let's fix the ship first and then eat their brains." The dubbing and technical qualities of the DVD transfer meet low rent expectations. The FX are clumsy and rubberized, as usual. This juvenile sci-fi flck is strictly for indiscriminate kiddies, and steadfast fans of cheesy movies. It's fun in a reverse sort of way. ;-)"

A charming space drama

Patrik Kullman | Skåne Sweden | 11/06/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Gamera vs Guillon, is the fifth film of the original Gamera series. This film is mainly aimed for children. This is a monster film from the worst period of the Kaju films; Shoe string budget, silly story, silly monsters - But a lot of charm!Story; Did you know that there's a kind of "anti Earth", a planet orbiting the sun on the same distance as Earth? Now you know! This planet called Terra, mirrors Earth's orbit and is invincible to us, because it's on the opposite side of the sun. But Terra is a haunted and a dying planet; Space Gyaos roams its surface!
2 boys, investigate a strange landed spacecraft - Suddenly, the spacecraft takes off!
But the trip seem to be cut short; A huge interstellar rock is on collision course to their space ship...
Suddenly Gamera appears, and saves them! But something doesn't seem to be right; Gamera don't like the way, where they are heading...
At Terra they discover a horrible world of monsters, and Guillon seems to be the worst brute of them all...
They also meet two beautiful women; Barbella and Flobella - They seem to be nice, but there's more than meet the eye... I've given this film 3 stars - Mainly because of its charm. The film has also very few reused monster scenes from earlier films. (Which was a very common in the end of the 1960s)
Technically this film is bad; Small budget, bad miniatures, bad monstersuits and some silly monsters designs.This edition is a quality one; Hard video box, trailers and theatrical stills after the film, and a lot of info on the two sided cover sleeve. It's also is subtitled, not dubbed - Which me, from a non-English speaking country, without tradition of dubbing - Appreciates a lot!
Thanks, Neptune media!"