Gamera - The Ultimate Collection

GAMERA THE INVINCIBLE: A nuclear blast from a shot-down airplane releases Gamera, a giant mutated turtle.

WAR OF THE MONSTERS: Gamera must save Tokyo from Baragon, a freeze-ray spewing monster.

DESTROY ALL PLANETS: Aliens kidnap Gamera and attempt to control him.

Terrible Quality

The movies are what they are - decent science fiction that I grew up watching as a kid and still love to see. The quality of these movies are terrible though - they only provide a full screen version that cuts off stuff on the screen, despite trying different display options. I knew the first couple of Gamera movies were in black & white, but they are so 'washed out' that I can't even enjoy them. My son loves watching Godzilla movies with me, but I couldn't get him to watch for more than 10 minutes or so, which I don't think was because the content, but instead due to the poor quality...

I guess you get what you pay for! May 5, 2007

Great Films on a Poor DVD

The older Gamera films have never been treated fairly on DVD in the US, and this is a prime example. All we get are poor fullscreen copies. This release has 3 movies crammed on one disc. Artifacting is a bit of a problem. If you have to have the movies for your collection in one way or another, this is a cheap way to do it, but you should seek out the Japanese versions if you want great quality. October 29, 2005

Great for kids

My 5 year old son loves everything Godzilla or any monsters right around that time. He enjoyed this movie although he got bored waiting for the monsters to show up in the beginning. Since the movie is old, the color and picture quality is not that great. But if you're anything like my son, you will truly enjoy it! September 16, 2005

The original series!

I give this collection four stars
because of the great price - if you're
not a hardcore kaiju collector - or
even if you are - you're not gonna beat
the great price. The movies themselves
are classic "B" status and earn about
three stars each. The movies are presented
in full screen with English dubbing.
As for the movies, they include Gamera's
1st, 2nd and 4th movies (but are placed
on the disc out of order for some reason.)
Anyway, the movies are all intertaining;
my personal favorite being War of the
Monsters, Gamera's second movie.
The box also contains some nice interior
notes about the films (a consideration many
collections such as this omit) and a great
black & white fold out of the big Turtle
himself. I was delighted with this
purchase - recommended!

P.S - For any Speed Racer fans out there,
you might be interested in knowing that several old
Gamera and Godzilla flicks had English voices from
members of Speed's show. You can sit and say to
yourself "hey, thats Trixie's voice or that's Speed!"
I always prefere original scores and sound tracks, but
at least the English is made more fun to listen too:)
September 8, 2005

Gammera, Barugon and Viras

GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE(1965-Rated G)
Soviets and Americans clash bringing down a bomber on ice which explodes and awakens a giant turtle called Gammera who rampages Tokyo.
WAR OF THE MONSTERS(1966)
A giant lizard called Barugon attacks Tokyo but luckily Gammera returns to Earth and battles the overgrown reptile.
DESTROY ALL PLANETS(1968)
Now Gammera is changed to Gamera. Anyway, aliens attack Earth but are counterattacked by Gamera which forces them to release a giant squid which attempts to kill the reptilian hero.
Afterward:GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE and WAR OF THE MONSTERS deserve 4 stars and are good and exiting movies. DESTROY ALL PLANETS is just as exiting but overuses stock footage and is to campy and gets only 3 stars. July 2, 2005

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