308-Gamera vs. Gaos

Film Year:  1967
Genre:  Kaiju, Fantasy
Director:  Noriaki Yuasa
Starring:  Kojiro Hongo, Kichijiro Uses, Naoyuki Ape
MST Season:  3

The Movie

*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*

Yay.  More Gamera.

This week a giant bat/reptile thing is unleashed and begins eating people.  Unfortunately Gemera butts in before he can eat our new Kenny, Itchy (no Scratchy?).  Can Gamera stop the rampage of this bloodthirsty beast?

I don’t care.  Just eat me now and get it over with.

Of the three seen on the show so far, this is the most painful yet.  The first two Gamera films at least took themselves seriously.  With this one the series degrades into child pandering.  The monster scenes become self-aware to the point that all that’s missing is Gamera turning to the audience and winking.

I guess this movie is noteworthy for introducing Gamera’s most prominent foe, Gayos (Sandy Frank spells it Gaos), who would later appear in Gamera vs. Guiron, Super Monster Gamera (via stock footage), Gamera:  Guardian of the Universe, Gamera:  Revenge of Iris, and Gamera the Brave.  He’s actually the only monster Gamera has fought more than once.  I always preferred Guiron myself, though.

The Episode

It becomes fairly clear from the get-go that Joel and the bots are going through the motions with this one.  They know they have another Gamera movie, they know what to expect (especially since they’ve seen them before), and if riffing were a dance they’re trying to let the movie lead.  It’s a poor approach, because the movie trudges, and it feels like they’re dragging their feet waiting for something inspiring to happen.  There are a few wonderful moments where the movie does spark their humor creativity, such as a scene where a meeting is held to discuss Gayos appearance and anatomy, which is hands down the funniest sequence in the episode (drunk Gayos is a close second).  The monster scenes give the boys pep in their step as well, which is par for the course with kaiju features on the show.  However, for the most part one can’t help but feel that they’re bored with this particular movie.

Host segments are creative but not very funny.  Coming off the best is the Johnny Carson sketch, which at least gives off a few chuckles.  Meanwhile, Joel’s Gayos crafts project and Gameradamerung both drown and the opening Lucille Ball/Harvey Fierstein impressions are more shrill than amusing.  Invention exchange is fun, however, with the Mads’ Self Image Printers being the better of the two.

It’s always easy to recommend a third season revisit to their KTMA counterpart.  Gamera vs. Gaos is no exception as there are more than several instances where you’ll be laughing harder than you would have in the earlier episode.  For the most part, though, I find the episodes about even in quality.  They never really riffed this movie to its full potential, which is sad because its asking for it.

Average

The DVD

This was the third episode featured on Shout Factory’s Volume XXI:  MST3K vs. Gamera set.  Solid video and audio highlight the disc, as well as an interview with August Ragone, author of Eiji Tsuburaya:  Master of Monsters.  This interview, called Gamera Obscuria, runs a half an hour and covers Gamera’s entire history in Japan.  His enthusiasm for the genre is commended, though in my opinion he overpraises the 90’s Gamera films quite a bit.  I do share positive feelings for the third film, but always felt Guardian of the Universe to be mediocre and Attack of Legion to be laughable garbage (though as a kaiju fan I have to accept that I am alone in that opinion).  But it’s nice that he contributed to the set, because from e-mails and messages I have had with him in the past I have the impression that he is not a fan of Mystery Science Theater.  He has, however, expressed enthusiasm to come back to Shout for special features if they ever ask him to.

Also included is a Japanese trailer for the film in anamorphic widescreen (no subtitles).