DVD Review: GAMERA The Giant Monster  By Dave Dreher - FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER OR FACEBOOK	Email this article  Printer friendly page
Source: May 9, 2010, 2:38 PM

There are very few companies out there right now putting out discs that are even close to doing as good a job as  SHOUT FACTORY.  These folks know how to do it and then hit another home run with the release of GAMERA The Giant Monster.

Sure, the movie is laughable at times particularly at the beginning where the original shots of an Air Force general attempting to gain control of the situation are just horribly acted have been reinserted but really, that's part of the charm of films like this.  I love that horrible stuff.  It's the best.

Any self respecting monster fan knows the story of GAMERA.  He is of course the giant flying turtle who breaths fire and other assorted cool things.  He particularly enjoys destroying things like lighthouses, power plants, cities.

As the film opens a jet fighter crashes and causes a small nuclear explosion as it was carrying nuclear war heads.  The explosion awakens the sleeping giant GAMERA who promptly eats a ship and heads toward shore.

What happens next is pretty self explanatory  if you have ever watched a Japanese monster movie.  GAMERA destroys everything in his path as the military fumbles around attempting to destroy him and the scientists watch knowingly as they develop a way to end GAMERA'S reign of terror.

This is really a fun film.  I enjoyed revisiting it and SHOUT FACTORY has done a fantastic job of bringing the original Japanese version to DVD.  It looks great, the transfer is beautiful and they've included a couple of pretty kick ass special features that include a commentary track and a retrospective of the GAMERA franchise.

The retrospective is of particular interest as it really gives an in depth look into the making of a Japanese monster movie back in the day when they were in their prime.  Fascinating and well done.
This film was originally released back in 1965, 45 years ago.  YIKES!

It's still a great piece of cinema history and it's great to see SHOUT FACTORY giving the film the respect it deserves.

GAMERA The Giant Monster hits DVD from SHOUT FACTORY and wades ashore on May 18th. 

You can CLICK HERE and get the film directly from the folks at SHOUT.

Here's a couple of clips that the fine folks at SHOUT FACTORY sent over, enjoy and make sure to pick up you copy on the 18th.

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