Gamera vs. Jiger
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| Gamera vs. Jiger/Jaiga or Gamera vs. Monster X | |
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| Directed by | Noriaki Yuasa Bret Morrison |
| Produced by | Hidemasa Nagata Masaichi Nagata (executive producer) |
| Written by | Nisan Takahashi |
| Starring | Tsutomu Takakuwa Kelly Varis Katherine Murphy Kon Omura Ryô Hayami Junko Yashiro |
| Music by | Kenjiro Hirose (Gamera song only) Shunsuke Kikuchi |
| Cinematography | Akira Kitazaki |
| Distributed by | Daiei, AIP-TV (US TV), Sandy Frank (second US version) |
| Release date(s) | March 21, 1970 |
| Running time | 83 min. |
| Language | Japanese English |
| Preceded by | Gamera vs. Guiron |
| Followed by | Gamera vs. Zigra |
| IMDb profile | |
Gamera vs. Jiger (ガメラ対大魔獣ジャイガー Gamera tai Daimajū Jaigā?, Gamera versus Giant Demon Beast Jiger), also known as Gamera vs. Monster X, War of the Monsters, and Monsters Invade Expo '70), is a 1970 daikaiju eiga (Japanese monster movie) by the Daiei Motion Picture Company. It is the sixth entry in the Gamera film series.
The monster Jaiga is called "Jiger" in the English dub, but the film was released in the U.S. as Gamera vs. Monster X (see "Distribution" below).
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[edit] Plot
In this film, Gamera has his hands full right from the very beginning. Workers from the World's Fair (Expo '70) are interested in an embedded statue and try to remove it. Gamera arrives and attempts to prevent the removal of the statue, only to be shot at by the crew instead (one of the few times outside the first film that Gamera is attacked by humans). The statue is removed from the island successfully after a volcano erupts.
After the statue is removed, Jiger makes its first appearance and gets Gamera's immediate attention. The first of several fights ensues, and Jiger wins it by shooting projectile quills from its nose. The quills impale Gamera's arms and legs, piercing all the way through and preventing Gamera from taking to the air. To make matters worse, Gamera is on his shell and only by taking off can he right himself. He realizes that he can reach an outcropping of rocks to pull himself towards with his tail. Once that's done, he removes the offending quills from his back legs and is finally able to launch into the air. After flipping over, Gamera pulls out the other quills from his arms, enabling the more familar flying form with all four "rockets" going.
Meanwhile, Jiger is actively seeking the statue, which makes a noise similar to when a bottle is blown across its top. Jiger lets nothing impede that hunt, as it splits two ships in half, and starts tearing through Osaka. Scientists are beside themselves as Jiger displays another weapon... a heat ray that vaporizes not only flesh, but, entire city blocks. The JSDF does make a token effort to kill the beast, but the quills knock down the F-104 fighters, ending that involvement.
Gamera returns for round two as the fight is witnessed by several children. Gamera knocks Jiger around a bit, and appears to have the upper hand, until Jiger uses "suction" to pull Gamera to it... or, rather, "her", as Jiger extends an ovipositor from her tail and injects Gamera. Gamera staggers away, roaring in agony. Finally, he barely makes it to the Bay and his arms and head turn a chalky white color, almost like ice. Gamera is presumed to have died at this point as Jiger heads straight to Expo '70. Jiger finally obtains his goal of he statue, and throws it into the ocean, ending the nearly constant noise.
The scientists were checking out possible causes of the noise, as it affected humans, causing temporary insanity. The children convinced them to do a medical exam on the comatose Gamera, where it's discovered that there's a dark spot on a lung. One of the scientists served as a zoo director and realized that the spot might not be a fast spreading cancer, but, that there was a baby Jiger roaming in the lung. An operation was needed to remove the threat, so, the children took the initiative by taking a walkie talkie and a mini-sub. Ignoring the fact that radio waves don't work under water, communication is established with the kids. They enter Gamera through the open mouth, and after almost going into the stomach, they arrive at the problem lung. The children are able to exit the sub and walk around in the lung. There, they come face-to-snout of the baby Jiger.
The baby Jiger looks like the fully-grown one, except that instead of "arrows", the baby blows boogers which are rather sticky. But, the baby has a weakness, and, that's "white noise" from the radio. The kids discover this is actually a fatal weakness and manage to kill the baby using the static. They leave Gamera's body and report their findings to the scientists. They rig up large speakers to keep Jiger at bay, as well as figuring out that power would have to also be run into Gamera, who cannot recover on his own. The children make a final trip inside Gamera to hook up a set of power lines directly to the heart.
Jiger is kept still by the speakers playing the white noise. It's not enough to kill Jiger, but, buys enough time for the other plan to start. Gamera is subjected to high voltage shock before the electrical grid overloads. It's enough that Gamera revives on his own.
Gamera flies over to the Expo site for the final battle. This time, something will die. Jiger tries every weapon she's got, but, Gamera merely retracts into his shell when the quills start flying. A flick of his tail and he starts rolling towards Jiger, who responds with the heat ray. It doesn't affect Gamera's shell or even skin, but, the kids yell out that Gamera should protect his ears. Gamera grabs a couple of telephone poles and uses them as earplugs. Properly protected now, Gamera opens a can of whoop-ass on Jiger by lifting her several hundred meters into the air and dropping her a couple of times. Jiger isn't really affected, but it buys Gamera the time needed to go for a swim (he's taken the poles out by this point) to retrieve the statue from the sea floor. Jiger isn't happy about the statue's return and attempts to inject Gamera again.but Gamera used the statue to break the needle and Jiger's tail at the same time. Gamera taunts Jiger with the statue. Jiger, who has limited flight ability, tries in vain to catch Gamera and the statue. Gamera finally ends the fight by throwing the statue at Jiger. The statue penetrates Jiger's skull and brain. Jiger falls and with a final roar, closes her eyes in death.
Gamera, knowing that the humans want to use the site for a major fair, picks up the corpse and takes it back to the island... We can only assume that Gamera buried Jiger with the statue still embedded.
[edit] Distribution
AIP-TV distributed the film directly to television in the United States, as Gamera vs. Monster X. It was re-dubbed and sold on VHS in the 1980s by Sandy Frank.
[edit] References
- Manila Bulletin December 20, 1970.
[edit] External links
| Daiei's Gamera Series | |||
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| Shōwa Series: | Gamera · Gamera vs. Barugon · Gamera vs. Gyaos · Gamera vs. Viras · Gamera vs. Guiron · Gamera vs. Jiger · Gamera vs. Zigra · Gamera: Super Monster | ||
| Gamera Trilogy: | Gamera: Guardian of the Universe · Gamera 2: Attack of Legion · Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys | ||
| Millennium Series: | Gamera the Brave | Kaiju: | Gamera • Barugon • Gyaos • Viras • Guiron • Zigra • Legion (Kaiju) • Irys • Zedus |
