Gamera vs. Guiron/Gamera vs. Jiger

Okay folks, Neither one of these movies are worthy of any awards or critical praise. Not even by monster standards. But I do like what they did with this dvd. This is a one sided disc not a flipper. That's the first good thing. Another good thing is IT HAS ENGLISH DUBS! YES, THAT IS A GOOD THING! NOT A BAD THING! But you purists don't have to worry. Both movies are presented with Japanese language tracks in vibrant color in the 2:35.1 widescreen aspect ratio. Back to the English dubs. Unless you go to set-up and specifically select the English dub the movie automatically plays the Japanese version. So I don't see the validity of giving this dvd a bad review because of the available options to hear the movies in english. Gamera vs Jiger aka Gamera vs Monster X the second of the two has only one English dub. Take it or leave it. Gamera vs Guiron has two. I forget which number choice is which, but if you select a dub and the voice acting is absolutely dreadful you'll know you got the Sandy Frank version. Here's probably the biggest reason I like this dvd so much. Before this dvd came out you had the choice of either getting the AIP version (the superior dub) of this on dvd with the Space Gyaos getting sliced up edited out, under the alternate title ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS, not to be confused with WAR OF THE MONSTERS, the alternate title for GAMERA vs BARUGON (pronounced barooo-gon) not to be confused with Toho's Baragon (pronounced..well, baragon) ORRRRR, the unedited yet so horrible to listen to Sandy Frank version. This is what the makers of this dvd did to correct that problem. You can select the AIP voice track. When that Gyaos slice scene comes up you'll just briefly hear the Sandy Frank dub. Then it reverts back to the AIP. In closing, a quick assessment of both movies. Gamera vs Guiron, by far has got to be the worst Gamera movie ever made. It makes Gamera vs Viras aka Destroy all Planets look like a respectable effort. Gamera vs Jiger aka Gamera vs Monster X (oops, I mentioned that already, didn't I) tries to recapture the flavor of the first three Gamera films, but doesn't want to lose the bankable "Gamera friend to children" nitch. So what we wind up with is a fun to watch once in a while weak effort, that doesn't take itself too seriously, but somehow you wish it did. Oh... how you wish... it did. I have an UPDATE 1/29/2013 which no one will probably read, but I'll write it anyway. English Dub 1 is the AIP version and English Dub 2 is the Sandy Frank dub. The only drawback is you can not change the audio directly with your dvd audio button on your remote. You have to go to the main menu and select set-up to choose an audio.

This set will be a terrific double feature. "Vs Guiron" is a classic and "vs Jiger" is a great film and Jiger is one EVIL effin' monster, much more so than Gyaos or Guiron, don't let his dull brutish appearance fool you. It features one of the most horrific scenes in the Gamera films - where Gamera lays dying, bled white on the shore.

That used to utterly freak me out as a kid. If he was flame blasted or had his arms lasered off that was one thing, but to see him comatose and helpless really unnerved me as a little guy. Still does, too.

The trouble in paradise regarding these excellent Gamera releases is that SHOUT! Factory have combined two great films in one package and left the rather weak "vs Zigra" and "Supermonster" for the third double feature. SHOUT! Factory can count on my $17.49 for the last release, whenever that will be, I hope the fans won't penalize them for their poor choice and leave it unbought.

Shout Factory continues the Gamera series with 2 more in this double feature DVD
At this point in the Gamera series, the movies began to decline and rely heavily on the use of children as the main focus. With lots of kids, children singing the Gamera song, goofy music Gamera doing some weird tricks against his foes,the movies got odder and odder...
This set is of no exception - 2 more 'way out there' Gamera movies coming up !
Gamera vs. Guiron aka Guillon aka Attack of the Monsters has Gamera fighting off a giant knife monster on the Planet Terra. 2 kids accidentally fly out into space & land on this planet where 2 alien ladies want to eat their brains. On this planet is also a species of Space Gyaos (one of which gets hacked by Guiron which is cut in several prints)
There are many transfers to this title such as the AIP version was used by Alpha and was a cut crummy transfer while on VHS The Celebrity Video version (Sandy Frank version) was uncut and used by Mystery Science Theater 3000. The dubbing is atrocious in my opinion. So was the hammy music. Listen for the kid (Akio) going on throughout the film about traffic accidents. And he gets his head shaved in this too. And of course there is the character "KornChan" (office Kondo) which on the MST version he's Cornjob by Joel & the Bots. He's in Gamera vs. Jiger too.
Recently, various websites are reporting that the DVD for Gamera vs Guiron will contain 2 English language versions (Sandy Frank & The AIP version) + A Japanese version will be included.
After watching it - the Sandy Frank dub can be heard during the AIP cut of the film where Guiron is chopping Space Gyaos into pieces. This was originally cut from the AIP due to its content.
Neptune Video had a great English language widescreen VHS version which this reviewer hopes was hoping that it be used for this DVD release. It isnt, so keep your tapes :)
Gamera vs. Jiger aka Monster X has a monster coming to life to destroy Expo 70 when a statue is taken off sacred ground releasing this monster. This monster is a quadruped that can fly, float , spit spears..its like something from a Johnny Sokko movie. Retromedia released the AIP version on DVD and it was just OK - some of us were thankful that someone finally released it to home video. I expect (& we do get) a MUCH better transfer from Shout on this title. This DVD will have the AIP English language version along with the Japanese version.
Thanks again Shout for getting the rights to genre titles that many Gamera and Kaiju fans have waited a long time for
Not only do we get Japanese and English language versions but we also get some very sharp clean transfers for all the titles..the widescreen transfers are excellent. You wont find a cleaner transfer on any DVD anywhere, anytime except of course the Japanese DVDs.
Also the titles for both English dubs are the Japanese title of the movie..