Gamera: Super Monster Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.5
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Gamera: Super Monster Blu-ray Movie Review

"One Gamera against a Star Destroyer?"

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 8, 2014

'Gamera: Super Monster' is currently only available as part of a four-film bundle.

There is an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called "Shades of Gray" that was the season finale during a writers' strike-shortened season two. It features a comatose Commander Riker flashing back to his past, or, better said, flashing back to clips from older episodes. "Clip episodes" for television programs are nothing new, and they're an easy out on a time crunch, a budget shortage, or, in this case, a writers' strike. They're usually not favorably looked upon, but if done with some sort of limited amount of flashing back and built with some coherent, worthwhile story around them, they can make for a passable reprieve from the expected norm. But a feature film built around clips? That's a little more novel, and frankly, disturbing. Consider Gamera: Super Monster, a 1980 film that rehashes a number of clips featuring Gamera, the oversized mutant turtle, fighting most all of his enemies from previous films. Meanwhile, a few human superheroes look on and randomly perform a quick-and-dirty dance routine to change into and out of costume while simultaneously looking after a boy who loves comic books and pet turtles. Yeah, it's pretty absurd, and rather cheesy, but honestly it's the perfect send-off for a series that was never really meant to be taken all that seriously in the first place.

Saturday morning Gamera.

Space is a really big place, according to the opening narration. And in that vast space are other beings who wage war against their own kinds and who are capable of deep space travel and summoning giant monsters meant to conquer alien worlds. On Earth, three female superheroes receive word of the aliens' imminent arrival. They are warned that any resistance will be met with the swift destruction of the entire planet. While they sort out their options, they must care for a young boy who claims the ability to communicate with turtles. He's also Gamera's biggest fan. When the aliens decide to send their monsters to Earth -- including Gyaos, Zigra, Viras, Jiger, Guiron, and Barugon -- to destroy the planet, the heroic Gamera, friend of children everywhere, does battle that's eerily similar to his combat with these same monsters in years past in a last-ditch, all-out effort to save mankind from its greatest threat yet.

Spaceballs could get away with it, but Gamera: Super Monster cannot. The film opens with a rip-off of the Star Destroyer flyover from the beginning of A New Hope, and the ship more or less resembles the real mccoy. Really? REALLY? It didn't seem possible for the Gamera series to get any stranger, but it's now reverted to ripping off Star Wars just as it has ripped off Godzilla. And, it's also now ripping off itself. The film, to its credit, is more new footage than old, but a trio of businesswomen who transform into caped superheroes isn't exactly what Gamera fans expect, but then again neither is just a collection of recycled footage (or the Spanish Inquisition, for that matter). It's nevertheless, and sadly, really, the best movie of the bunch, highlighting the best of the creature's battles while sporting the finest production values of the series, even if some of the special effects were obviously assembled on low-grade video and considering the mostly random appearance of video Gamera versus a cartoon spaceship.

Gamera: Super Monster Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Gamera: Super Monster is the best-looking film in the series, as far as the Blu-ray release is concerned. Though still only presented at 1080i, the image -- here framed at about 1.85:1 rather than the scope presentation of the other films in the series -- enjoys a fair film-like texture, including a light grain structure. Minor debris is present, but not enough to drag the image down. It's bright and nicely defined, with cheery colors -- particularly reds -- and solidly defined details. Clothes, faces, and various surfaces look great. Black levels are oddly pale and crushed at the same time. Skin tones, however, raise no alarms. Only light compression issues are evident, and combing effects occasionally appear with fast subtitle transitions. The older footage has been reformatted to fit the new aspect ratio.

Gamera: Super Monster Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Gamera: Super Monster arrives on Blu-ray with a Japanese language Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Note that the Blu-ray player reads it as an English track, but it is indeed in Japanese. Optional English subtitles are included. As with the video, this soundtrack may be the best of the bunch, but it's not a clear-cut winner. It remains stuck right in the middle and rather shallow to boot. It's not quite as muddled and undefined as the worst the series on Blu-ray has to offer, but listeners won't find it passing for reality, either. Music, sound effects, and dialogue all are rather puny and limited in clarity and stuck in a nothing of a range. Still, it's just well enough defined so as to not be a total sonic loss. Watch for a few humorous flubs in the subtitles.

Gamera: Super Monster Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Gamera: Super Monster contains no bonus content.

Gamera: Super Monster Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Gamera: Super Monster sadly rates as the best the series has to offer. Consider that it serves as, basically, a monster battle highlight reel with a strange but mostly polished new support structure around the kaiju fights. That's not even to mention the absurd Star Wars ripoff that greets audiences who probably think they've stumbled upon the wrong film. Anyway, it makes for a decent introduction to the series, even as the last movie in this block. Fans who like it will probably enjoy going back and discovering the real deals while those a little less enamored with this product can feel safe in just passing over the others. Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Gamera: Super Monster features decent video, passable audio, and no supplements. Check it out as a rental.