User reviews

"And this is a track of our new album" as if anyone cares. Just play the hits...

A truly awful pastiche of the previous 7 movies with an incoherent central narrative that relies on magic and fantasy to link the best bits from the previous 7.

From the cheap looking Star Wars ripoff opening, the use of still paintings to tell the story, to a cheap looking ultra stiff flying Gamera that never touched down because they didn't have a suit, to the magic cheerleading squad that can fly and sell Mazdas.

Of course an evil witch alien does literally nothing with a magic wrist watch and gets in a girl fight keeps things moving along as her incompetence at being evil precipitates a change of costume before her boss stops threatening to kill her.

It's not grounded enough to be interesting and not impressive enough to be exciting. It's both boring and stupid. Magic solves every everything and luck happens.

Everyone is trying really hard, maybe too hard to polish this rubbish into anything other than a clip show which is what it is, the footage from the previous adventures putting the boot into the new footage by being the most entertaining parts of the movie. If you stick with it there's a horrible ending and more rubbish SFX and music over the credits.

The first film was low-grade and low-budget, but still fairly enjoyable as it was. The second film of 1966 had its own faults, but clearly benefited from more resources and hard work, and it was genuinely good. From there onward, however, the Gamera franchise struggled heavily to be so much as middling: in a condescending effort to directly appeal to children most all earnestness, judiciousness, and careful consideration was stripped from the writing as child actors were centered, and the fundamental execution became all but sloppy and heedless. The seventh film of 1971, 'Gamera vs. Zigra,' was the worst nadir of all. Fast forward to 1980 after studio Daiei had gone bankrupt and was trying to salvage itself, and here comes filmmaker Yuasa Noriaki and screenwriter Takahashi Niisan with another entry in the series. One may well wonder if another installment ever had a real chance in the first place at finding success if it followed the same pattern, but just as much to the point, with the particular approach that was taken here, it definitely did not.

The first minutes aren't filmed footage, but still images with narration over top; the art looks fantastic, sure, but it's an inauspicious start. So is the design of the enemy spaceship, and one of the first glances we get of it, which are both obviously pulled from a certain Hollywood space opera of 1977. The first new post-production visuals we're treated to in this installment are jaw-dropping in their artificiality, being plainly outdated, and many instances to follow are no better. Before ten minutes have passed we're introduced to our young protagonist Keiichi who will invariably have an extra super special connection with Gamera, and like his predecessors in 'Zigra,' Maeda Koichi was clearly instructed to be as cutesy and boyish as possible - often giving off airs of mid-day television for kindergarten kids who only have half days at school. For good measure, add questionable treatment of animals. Though appearing out of the blue for this entry, and curiously exercised, the one interesting idea that this flick had was the "Spacewomen" superheroes who... are powerless to stop the villain.

I feel bad for everyone who got roped into participating in this, but especially Fumiake Mach, Kojima Yaeko, and Komatsu Yoko, who are forced into such small corners as the Spacewomen. From one scene to the next we're commonly subjected to writing and direction that are confounding for how weakly thought out they were. It is, in fact, possible for kids' movies - those centering kids, and those intended to appeal directly to them - to be good. But that doesn't happen by sacrificing meaningful craftsmanship, or by talking down to your target audience, and as with its antecedents, that's what happened in 'Gamera: Super monster' more than not. There are decent notions here for a story, perhaps, but they are not treated well, least of all nearly all footage of Gamera or his kaiju opponents is recycled from the previous features. One sequence seen here is shown to viewers for what is now the third time in the franchise. I can appreciate that Daiei was desperate to pull in some easy revenue with minimum expenditure, but the construction for this piece just feels like an outright insult to viewers. That is, more than the kitschy, ham-handed forebears of 1967-71 already were.

Ninety-two minutes feel inordinately long. Incredibly, however, even as a glorified clip show, this title manages to notably better than expected. Some of the acting is unexpectedly solid; Fumiake, Kojima, and Komatsu are charming despite the limitations placed on them, and the skills of Kudo Keiko and even Maeda do shine through every now and again. Some of the scene writing is surprisingly smart. There are tidbits of cleverness throughout, and it's also worth mentioning that by focusing on what are generally, somewhat, the best aspects of the franchise, the kaiju fights sometimes come across with more vibrancy than they do in the films they're drawn from. The concept of a veritable kaiju gauntlet is not new, and we would see it again in due course ('Godzilla: Final wars' is one of my favorites of that series), but it's splendid all the same, and I wish only that the doing here were more than mere recycled footage. And, hey, overall the new footage boasts strong production values. And still there are too many other examples in the writing and direction that all too apparently did not receive the same attention or care across the board, including the repeated cutaways to Giruge before and after each battle, a preponderance of the dialogue, the most lighthearted scenes with Keiichi, and the abrupt but temporary turn in the plot entering the last third.

The sad fact of the matter is that no matter how generous we wish to be while watching 'Gamera: Super monster,' it's not very good. It's not fully rotten. In light of what it does well, I want to like it more than I do; a short fight scene in the third act is an unlikely but welcome highlight. Given its most ignominious troubles, on the other hand, including decidedly forthright storytelling and plot development, maybe I'm being much too kind as it is. There is truly more strength in this picture than I would have ever assumed, all told - which just makes its sorriest qualities all the more vexing. No matter how you look at it this can't possibly be said to even rise above "below average" when all is said and done, and while there are worse ways to spend your time, there's just not enough lasting value to make this especially worthwhile. I suppose if one is immensely curious, or a completionist, this is just passable enough to provide mild entertainment for a quiet night. That's about the best that can be said for 'Gamera: Super monster,' however, and this is a movie best left in the archives of cinema history.

Gamera, what a movie........ My mom and my brother took me to watch this film when I was very young and it has never left my psyche since! For me, it was one of the best films I've ever seen. Not just with the mindset of a child from the 80's, but also because I believe that you gauge a good movie by assessing how much it affected you....... In my case, It started a whole new genre for me in being a great fan of Japanese movie making and writing. No matter how cheesy the script was back then, Gamera and the 3 hero chicks in that movie instilled in me a fascination that only a true blue child fan would absorb, a lifetime of fantasy! Thus, all I have to say is, lucky are you few to know of such a movie.......... You are not alone.

In a last attempt to cash in on the titanic turtle's waning popularity, Daiei Motion Picture Company produced this incoherent clip-show in which Keiichi, a young Gamera fan (played by Koichi Maeda), and three benevolent spacewomen thwart an attack on Earth that involves the appearance of Gamera's kaiju foes from the previous five films. Similar to "All Monsters Attack" (1969; aka "Godzilla's Revenge"), the kaiju action may all be in the kid's imagination, as no one other than he, the space women, and the invaders seem be aware of the events. Unlike the polarising Godzilla film, which some people have interpreted as an insightful commentary on 'latch-key kids' and Japanese society in the late 1960s, the Gamera film is just a compilation of fight scenes connected by a silly story. There are only a couple of minutes of new kaiju material, the rest is lifted from the earlier films. In addition, there are some incongruous insertions of anime from "Space Battleship Yamato" and "Galaxy Express 999", some animated spaceships in the prologue, and a 'Zanon' starship that is a shameless copy of an Imperial Star Destroyer. The spacewomen are led by the hulking (relatively speaking) Kilara (played by wrestler Mach Fumiake) and can shrink, so they live in a box the size of a cat carrier in the back of a van that can turn into a spaceship (or at least a flying fuzzy blob of orange light). They have to wave their arms and pirouette to change into their space-hero suits, but then can fly. They also seem to have the ability to spontaneously teleport themselves (and their cars) when necessary and Kilara has an organ in the back of her pet store that when played seems to open a window/door to other parts of the Universe. There is also an evil spacewoman with a 'radar watch' who can teleport herself at will, and who is constantly being rebuked by the disembodied voice of Zanon. All of this is sufficiently incoherent and juvenile to support the hypothesis that it is all in Keiichi's imagination. The Gamera films were always budget outings (which is apparent from the clips), but the scenes with the spacewomen are even cheaper looking. As a final insult, the jauntily infectious "Gamera March" has been replaced by a new theme song (gratingly played by Keiichi on the organ). I watched a reasonably well English-dubbed version in which everyone had an incongruous trace of English accent but I doubt that the original would be much better. This film marked the end of the downward slide of the Showa-era Gamera series. The towering tusked turtle would not return until 1995's superior "Gamera: Guardian of the Universe", a much darker and less puerile interpretation of the character. Of note: in one of the rare fragments of new material, Gamera kicks over a poster of rival kaiju-star Godzilla, who is in turn revenged in "Godzilla Final Wars" (2004) when a kid throws a toy turtle into a fire.

This is basically Godzilla: Final Wars combine with Godzilla's Revenge and I hated it. I mean if you think that you can just cash grab your audiences with lame stock footage, hell no! I thought of giving this movie a two-star rating because of the superheroes they had. But considering they were just useless and not doing much in the film expect for the playground fight. Yah, one-star rating sound right to me. Plus, they even made their own Star Wars ripoff vehicle. The story is stupid but the tradition of stupidity in Gamera movies is normal. If you haven't watch any previous Gamera movies, then this might be okay for you. But if you have, then this is total waste of money.

Gamera: Super Monster, the last of the Showa-era Gamera movies, largely comprises of clips from the previous films (although there is also footage from a couple of unrelated animated films as well), with new scenes to tie all the battles together: three super space women, defenders of Earth, befriend a small boy and do battle with an evil woman from the Pirate Spaceship Zanon, who sends several monsters (Gyaos, Ziger, Vira, Jiger, Guiron and Barugon) to wreak havoc on Earth. Of course, giant spinning turtle Gamera is always on hand to give them a jolly good thrashing.

If you've already seen all of the previous Gamera movies, then Super Monster will be a crushing bore, Gamera defeating one monster after another ad nauseum before sacrificing his life by smashing into the Zanon spaceship (which looks suspiciously like a Star Destroyer from Star Wars). The nonsense in between the battles sees the three good space women, Kilara, Mitan and Marsha, beaming from one place to another and transforming from human to superhero by performing a stupid series of arm gestures; meanwhile, kid Keiichi releases his pet turtle into a river, plays his Yamaha organ (whilst singing the Gamera March), and is pursued by the evil woman, who hopes that the lad will lead her to his three female friends.

Produced by a struggling Daiei Studios as a last ditch effort to make enough cash to stay afloat, the film is so sloppy in all departments that it proved to be the final nail in the coffin instead.

If you missed out on the other seven Gamera movies leading up to this 80s release, this is the perfect chance to see all of them at once. If you've seen "Godzilla's Revenge", then you have seen nothing yet. This movie is about 92% stock-footage, with absolutely no new monsters and sparse new effect shots. By the time of this movie's release the studio Daiei was at death's door and so I'm confused as to why they even bothered to puke this one out. It had nearly been a decade since "Gamera vs. Zigra" in 1971, and by then I think any rational businessman could assume the series was done for. The only reason I rate it at the very least two stars is because the writers actually had the mordacity to actually kill Gamera off by kamakazing himself into a Star Destroyer. That's right, a Star Destroyer from the Star Wars series. That's how you know the writers had clearly told themselves, "F8ck it."

Eighth and final Gamera film from Daiei studios in a last, desperate(and failed) attempt to stave off bankruptcy itself presents an artistically bankrupt story about (you guessed it) a mysterious alien battleship(just like from "Star Wars") that threatens the Earth, and proceeds to somehow resurrect all of Gamera's dead foes(via all flashback footage!) to throw at him, before it fulfills its suicide mission against it... Subplot with three alien women with super powers is utterly tacky and idiotic; conclusion a sad way to end this series, a truly jaw-dropping fiasco. Similar in premise to the nadir of the first Godzilla series "Godzilla's Revenge/All Monsters Attack".

Everyone has their own view of this movie, but unless you take into consideration the reason it was made and the target audience, you may find yourself giving it a lower review then it deserves.

Super Monster Gamera is MEANT to be a cheap, fun, lazy film. It's nothing more then a blending of the entire series sprinkled with a new plot to tie the battles together.

It's not meant to be taken seriously, it's not meant to deliver an important issue, and it's not meant to WOW the audience with late 80's special effects.

It's just a kid's film; no more, no less.

With that in mind, Super Monster Gamera is by far my fave of the original Gamera series. Six monster battles, a catchy opening theme song, great music and very.. very... VERY bad acting! What a perfect Saturday afternoon popcorn treat.

For those who HATE it. Ask yourself why you hate it? If it's because it's not new, not acted well and not up to your standards of special effects, then you're not seeing it for what it was meant to be.

Now, if only I could find the soundtrack of the BGM!! C

This film was made as a finale attempt to save the company from bankruptcy. Obviously, it didn't work and rightfully so. All of the Gamera footage is recycled from previous films. This is not the first time they've done this in the franchise but in those prior films, it was only a few moments. In this film, every single scene is recycled from previous films, so it begs the question - Why waste your time on it? If they couldn't put forth the effort to make an original film then why bother wasting the time watching it? It's truly nothing but garbage and the lowest point of this franchise without question.

Okay, before I saw this film my mind was filled with awful comments about how bad this film is. When I finally obtained my copy (a true kaiju collector would buy all monster films, whether they are good or bad), I expected a cheap, 90-minute stock-footage crap-fest. Instead, I found a rather enjoyable film, it was just great to see all of Gamera's foes in one movie. Sure the "superhero effects" are all crappy, but the stock footage was blended in with the movie quite well. Yes, there were some embarassing parts though, for example, when the stock footage is night and the new footage takes place day time, the film simply mixes both parts of the day and night into one scene!!!!!!! I kinda liked the superhero story, and honestly, with a very low budget, this film was fairly well made!! come on people! What more could we want besides giant monsters kicking eachother's tails and some hot superhero chicks mixed in with terrible kid acting? I have no idea!

This movie is the worst of the worst. Until recently, Gamera was the poor stepchild to Godzilla in most every aspect: Scripts, production values, special effects...you name it. And "Gamera: Super Monster" is the absolute nadir of the series and the genre of kaiju eiga.

Almost every (if not every) scene of Gamera is culled from stock footage from previous Gamera movies. The black and white footage of the first film is blended in with the color footage of the newer movies, and apparently no one is supposed to notice.

The linking story concerns a pirate spaceship named Zanon (which looks rather similar, if immensely cheaper to the Star Destroyer at the start of "Star Wars") and the attempts of three "space humans" to stop its plan for the conquest of the Earth. Whoever made this movie either watched Electra Woman & Dynagirl on "The Krofft Supershow", or saw some really BAD sentai, because the three women are very similar to either. One has a magic flying bus that is animated with effects right out of Saturday morning TV.

I can usually find something good to say about any movie...I mean, I love "Robot Monster" and I even sat through the horror that is "Highlander II" twice...but this movie is just plain awful.

Incredibly lazy, this is the Godzilla's Revenge of Gamera movies. Just a sloppy, edited together mess of stock footage. The only way this might have value is if you are looking for a compilation of Gamera fights I guess, but I can't respect this kind of filmmaking due to the sheer amount of stock footage.

Just because it's cheap, cheap, cheap doesn't mean it's not fun, fun, fun. And to be honest, Supermonster Gamera is a blast from start to finish. It's great to see all of Gamera's foes in one movie, even if it is all stock footage. The best thing about the film without a doubt is the awesome musical score, especially some of the battle themes. I have a weird fondness for this movie I cant explain. I like it better than some of Gamera's more legit films. If you can find a copy of either the Japanese or American versions, I seriously urge you to watch it with an open mind. Gamera rules!!

I watched it without really re-searching about it. I just thought it was the last movie on the Showa Gamera list.I watched it with my son who is 9 and we liked it: it is true this movie is built taking all the battle scenes of the first Gamera movies and mixing it with a story about aliens wanting to invade the earth.

With this premise and the very very very low budget this movie likely had (I have since educated myself on how this movie came to be) this movie could easily have been a lot worse. It's a kid movie with a funny gamera song conposed by a child (in the movie... but... it's belieavable as a song composed by a 10 year old) and the story well, it is not really high cinema we are speaking about. For a Kaiju movie it's fine (not of the best ones, of course) and you can almost forget it's a mix mash of older movies.

However if you don't want to spoil yourself all the gamera battles of the showa movies, I suggest to watch it after all the movies of the sixties and seventies.

Gamera Super Monster is a strangely enjoyabe film, especially since it is just a bunch of old footage re edited into the story of a kid and his pet turtle, and good female aliens vs. bad female aliens. Die hard fans of the genre have something against the campy and cheesy, when the fact is not every giant monster movie is supposed to portray a grim message about nuclear weapons, or interfering with nature.

This movie is joyful through and through, never taking a break from action and (mis)adventure, with characters that are very fun to watch. The little boy, who most would find annoying, has a certain goofiness to his character. Remember people, this is a film for the children. This movie shows how cheap it is, but you aren't able to realize it because it gets you so caught up in the fantasy. This is one of the greatest escapist fantasies out there.

From the first battle with Barugan all the way to the destruction of Zigra, all Gamera's greatest fights are highlighted in this nonstop action packed adventure for the whole family. Also, watch for the anime characters! And if that is not enough, the enemy space ship may seem a little familiar to you....

My score mainly reflects my feelings when I first watched this movie, more than 30 years ago. Super monster was one of my favorite movies when I was a little boy back in the 80s. Yes, it is corny, yes if you watch it now you may think it is garbage, yes the monsters now look like rubber toys, and the airplanes are made of plastic, but 35 years ago I paid to see it in the theater 10 times in a row and it used to feed my boyish imagination for many a night. The song is forever stuck in my head and I often catch myself humming it even now. It is a great flick for the right people and brings memories of different times. Go Gamera! :)

I recently watched Gamera: Super Monster (1980) on Tubi. The storyline follows an alien race that needs to rid the planet of the only thing that can stop them...Gamera. The aliens call a series of monsters in hopes they can kill Earth's savior.

This picture is codirected by Noriaki Yuasa (Ultraman 80) and Shigeo Tanaka (Wicked Nun) and stars Yûzô Hayakawa (Edo Porn), Reiko Tajima (Godzilla vs a MechaGodzilla), Mach Fumiake (The Great Chase) and Yaeko Kojima.

This is one of this pictures that feels like a mix of super hero and monster genre and is more tailored towards kids, like a Mothra movie. The special effects are a bit dated at times, but the models and monster battles are so much fun. Yes, these are cuts and mashups from previous Gamera movies slammed into one picture, but they're so good. I loved every monster battle. They could have got rid of the humans in this all together and just focused on the monsters. I definitely liked this more than I should have.

In conclusion, Gamera Super Monster is a mashup of previous Gamera films with a few new scenes for storyline purposes that I enjoyed watching more than I should have. I would score this a 6.5/10 and recommend it to monster universe fans.