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Blu-ray Review: Gamera: Ultimate Collection Volume 2

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Following Gamera: Ultimate Collection Volume 1, Mill Creek Entertainment’s Gamera: Ultimate Collection Volume 2 features the latter four films in Daiei’s original Gamera series (known as the Showa series) on Blu-ray: Gamera vs. Guiron, Gamera vs. Jiger, Gamera vs. Zigra and Gamera: Super Monster.

Gamera vs. Guiron (1969)
AKA Attack of the Monsters

The cliche of sending horror icons to space when they’re out of ideas existed long before Jason, Pinhead or Leprechaun. After mysterious electric waves are detected from outer space, two boys discover a spaceship and accidentally launch themselves into space. They end up on Tera, a tenth planet that has gone undiscovered because it’s very much like earth but on the exact opposite side of the solar system, so it’s blocked out by the sun. The planet has a “guard dog” named Guidon. The planet also features a Space Gyaos – which is a prop from an earlier film repainted silver to save money. Guidon hacks it to pieces pretty brutally for the time.

The majority of the film takes place in space with the two kids and two alien women who want to eat them, not leaving much time for kaiju action. When the battle does occur, boy is it cheesy. Gamera does flips and the go-go! It’s especially a shame because Guiron is one of Gamera’s better adversaries. Seemingly right out of a child’s mind, the four-legged monster has a giant blade for a nose and shoots ninja stars from its head. With the exception of some monster blood, Gamera vs. Guiron is essentially a sci-fi movie for kids; look no further than the uber-tacky Gamera theme (which would go on to be featured in the next two installments).

 

Gamera vs. Jiger (1970)
AKA Gamera vs. Monster X

When an ancient statue known as the Devil’s Whistle is moved from its island location to Osaka for the 1970 World’s Fair, a monster known as Jiger is unleashed. (Parts of the movie were filmed during the actual World Fair, adding production value.) Jiger’s emergence also marks the return of Gamera, of course. Unfortunately, our giant turtle friend spends a good deal of the film out of commission. Jiger injects Gamera with its eggs, and Gamera passes out until a pair of boys take a mini-submarine inside Gamera to fix the problem.

Jiger is one of the coolest monsters in the Gamera franchise. The dinosaur-like creature is somewhere between a triceratops and stegosaurus, but its head looks like a Jim Henson creation. The first female enemy of the franchise, Jiger has the power to shoot quills, fire an energy beam that can destroy entire city blocks at a time, and inject enemies with its egg-toting stinger. While the previous couple of Gamera movies lacked in city destruction, Gamera vs. Jiger delivers.

Gamera vs. Zigra (1971)

The Gamera series relied a bit too heavily on aliens later in the series. This time, a UFO equipped with “a 4th dimension ray with instant transfer power” from the planet Zigra abducts a pair of marine biologists from Sea World (featuring some footage shot on location) and their two children. It threatens the planet with earthquakes while offering social commentary about the pollution of our oceans.

Gamera vs. Zigra spends too much time on the silly subplot with the kids. The monster – also known as Zigra – isn’t introduced until more than halfway through the film. It’s a neat one though; the metallic, deep-sea creature is seemingly modeled after a goblin shark. Their battle proves that Gamera can breathe fire underwater. It’s a pretty rough movie to watch, so I see why it was the last Gamera movie for several years.

 

Gamera: Super Monster (1980)

Gamera: Super Monster is a strange beast. No, not the giant turtle, but the film itself. It was created after Daiei Film was brought out of bankruptcy by Tokuma Shoten. Nearly a decade after the previous installment, they used stock footage from the previous Gamera films to create a new movie aimed at kids.

Gamera: Super Monster was probably pretty cool to watch as a kid who hadn’t seen the previous Gamera movies, as there are a lot of kaiju battle scenes. Watching it as an adult, however, is painful. It features the monster fight scenes from the previous six films – adding up to about a half-hour of old footage – with a wrap-around story about an alien, Zanon, attempting to take over the planet. A trio of female superheroes take on Zanon, with the help of Gamera. There are a couple of minutes of new Gamera footage, which was made on the cheap and looks worse than those created 15 years earlier.

Gamera would remain dormant for 15 years until it was rebooted in 1995 with a trilogy of new films. Yet another reboot, Gamera the Brave, was produced in 2006. There are rumors of more Gamera films, especially with the new Godzilla on the horizon, but time will tell. Personally, I hope we haven’t seen the last of the classic kaiju.

Much like the first volume, Gamera: Ultimate Collection Volume 2 offers four nostalgic films on Blu-ray at an affordable price. I was a bit concerned that the quality would suffer from compressing four films on a single Blu-ray disc, but I’m happy to report that they look quite good for the most part. While Volume 1 undeniably has the better movies, Gamera: Ultimate Collection Volume 2 still packs plenty of fun. These sets are a must-own for kaiju fans.

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‘The Strangers’ Invaded Coachella in Instagramable PR Stunt

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Renny Harlin’s reboot of The Strangers isn’t coming out until May 17, but those murderous home invaders are making a pit stop at Coachella first.

In the latest Instagramable PR stunt, the studio behind the film decided to have the trio of masked intruders crash Coachella, a music festival that takes place for two weekends in Southern California.

The Strangers

This type of publicity began when Paramount did the same thing with their horror movie Smile in 2022. Their version had seemingly ordinary people in populated places look directly into a camera with an evil grin.

The Strangers

Harlin’s reboot is actually a trilogy with a more expansive world than that of the original.

“When setting out to remake The Strangers, we felt there was a bigger story to be told, which could be as powerful, chilling, and terrifying as the original and could really expand that world,” said producer Courtney Solomon. “Shooting this story as a trilogy allows us to create a hyperreal and terrifying character study. We’re fortunate to be joining forces with Madelaine Petsch, an amazing talent whose character is the driving force of this story.”

The Strangers

The movie follows a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) who “after their car breaks down in an eerie small town, are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in The Strangers: Chapter 1 the chilling first entry of this upcoming horror feature film series.”

The Strangers

The Strangers: Chapter 1 opens in theaters on May 17.

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‘Alien’ Returning to Theaters For a Limited Time

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It’s been 45 years since Ridley Scott’s Alien hit theaters and in celebration of that milestone, it is headed back to the big screen for a limited time. And what better day to do that than Alien Day on April 26?

It also works as a primer for the upcoming Fede Alvarez sequel Alien: Romulus opening on August 16. A special feature in which both Alvarez and Scott discuss the original sci-fi classic will be shown as a part of your theater admission. Take a look at the preview of that conversation below.

Fede Alvarez and Ridley Scott

Back in 1979, the original trailer for Alien was kind of terrifying. Imagine sitting in front of a CRT TV (Cathode Ray Tube) at night and suddenly Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting score begins to play as a giant chicken egg starts to crack with beams of light bursting through the shell and the word “Alien” slowly forms in slanted all caps across the screen. To a twelve-year-old, it was a scary pre-bedtime experience, especially Goldsmith’s screaming electronic musical flourishes playing over scenes of the actual movie. Let the “Is it horror or sci-fi?” debate begin.

Alien became a pop culture phenomenon, complete with kid’s toys, a graphic novel, and an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It also inspired dioramas in wax museums and even a frightening setpiece at Walt Disney World in the now-defunct Great Movie Ride attraction.

Great Movie Ride

The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, and John Hurt. It tells the tale of a futuristic crew of blue-collar workers suddenly awakened out of stasis to investigate an undecipherable distress signal coming from a nearby moon. They investigate the source of the signal and discover it’s a warning and not a cry for help. Unbeknownst to the crew, they have brought a giant space creature back on board which they find out in one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history.

It is said that Alvarez’s sequel will pay homage to the original film’s storytelling and set design.

Alien Romulus
Alien (1979)

The Alien theatrical re-release will take place on April 26. Pre-order your tickets and find out where Alien will screen at a theater near you.

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Home Depot’s 12-Foot Skeleton Returns with a New Friend, Plus New Life-Size Prop from Spirit Halloween

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Halloween is the greatest holiday of them all. However, every great holiday needs amazing props to go with it. Luckily for you, there are two new amazing props that have been released, which are sure to impress your neighbors and frighten any neighborhood children who are unfortunate enough to wander past your yard.

The first entry is the return of the Home Depot 12-foot skeleton prop. Home Depot has outdone themselves in the past. But this year the company is bringing bigger and better things to their Halloween prop lineup.

Home Depot Skeleton Prop

This year, the company unveiled its new and improved Skelly. But what is a giant skeleton without a loyal friend? Home Depot has also announced that they will release a five-foot tall skeleton dog prop to eternally keep Skelly company as he haunts your yard this spooky season.

This bony pooch will be five feet tall and seven feet long. The prop will also feature a posable mouth and LCD eyes with eight variable settings. Lance Allen, Home Depot’s merchant of decorative Holliday gear, had the following to say about this year’s lineup.

“This year we increased our realism within the animatronics category, created some impressive, licensed characters and even brought back some fan favorites. Overall, we are most proud of the quality and value we are able to bring to our customers with these pieces so they can continue to grow their collections.”

Home Depot Prop

But what if giant skeletons just aren’t your thing? Well, Spirit Halloween has you covered with their giant life size Terror Dog replica. This massive prop has been ripped out of your nightmares to appear frighteningly on your lawn.

This prop weighs in at almost fifty pounds and features glowing red eyes that are sure to keep your yard safe from any toilet paper throwing hooligans. This iconic Ghostbusters nightmare is a must have for any fan of 80s horror. Or, anyone who loves all things spooky.

Terror Dog Prop
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