I love Heisei era Kaiju films. There is something about the style of Kaiju in that period. It would often be dark but not coming off as trying to be overly edgy dark to make a point or show off. It felt Genuine. It felt like there was an effort to remember these are monsters, and make them look like they could be real creatures. I’ve seen that in Ultraman, in the Godzilla movies of the period and more. But there is one series of Kaiju films that are considered a benchmark and what you would use them to introduce people to Kaiju films, and its not Godzilla related.

There’s something frankly amazing about the Heisei Gamera trilogy. It takes the ultra campy stupid pander painfully to kids Giant Turtle films (just look at any of them after the first 2) and makes a serious well written and epic story. It managed to take elements from those Showa Gamera films, like his bond with children, and transplant that into a then modern reimagination that still works. I can not praise enough how well director Shusuke Kaneko and writer Kazunori Itō succeeded in that.

Gyaos is used as the antagonist Kaiju of the film as it was viewed as Gamera’s most iconic foe, something this film further cements. Here, rather than some vampiric giant monster with no real origin given, it’s turned into a genuine horror whose story ties deeper into Gamera’s own. Both created by an advanced ancient lost civilization. Gyaos having gotten out of hand so Gamera was created to stop them, but it was too late and the civilization was destroyed by the monster who then laid eggs all over the planet waiting for the planet to get to a point where it could flourish again.

While the film is good, you will get annoyed at one plot point, in that the government decides to capture the Gyaos while trying to kill Gamera, this keeps up till the final act despite Gyaos openly killing and eating people. The main characters of the movie even call out how dumb that decision is.

The Gyaos do a good job here of subverting one of the main issues with Kaiju films. That is, that often you lose a sense of fear given how big they are, but just how much Gyaos openly target humans no matter how big they get remains terrifying and haunting, helped by their appearance brought to life by practical special effects. Gamera himself is not too different from his Showa era but had definitely progressed into a Heisei design getting a little more monstrous but still has those big eyes.

Of course what’s a good Kaiju film with multiple monsters without the promise of a big giant monster fight and the final one in the film is one of the greats. Bonus to the pacing and writing of the film is it doesn’t feel all truncated till the end. You’re not waiting the entire movie for the last act.

The Gamera Trilogy stands as a high benchmark to Kaiju movies and this is an excellent opening to it. Annoying small children? well they have a child that gets a bond with Gamera in this and it works. I randomly saw this movie one day long ago, I can’t remember when. Perhaps it was when they were showing Kaiju movies on the Sci fi channel back in the lead up to the 90s Godzilla movie? but it was well worth watching and I think you will too.

Rating: 🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥