With fewer new releases hitting theaters the number of discs being released has decreased as well. One thing this hasn’t stopped are groups of companies that are those releasing improved version of classic or older films being upgraded to blu-ray, 2k and 4k. Among that group standing above the rest is Arrow Video who I’ve praised before. To show you just what this company is capable of I’d like to point to one of their newest released, GAMERA THE COMPLETE COLLECTION.
Let’s start by talking about the genre that Gamera comes from first. Gamera is part of the kaiju films released from Japan beginning in the late 1950s. The term kaiju comes from the Chinese text “Classic of Mountains and Seas and can refer to the giant monsters themselves found in the films. The most famous of these is of course Godzilla. Most recently the term was resurrected with the PACIFIC RIM films as well as new monsters introduced.
Toho Studios in Japan was known as the go to studio for many of these films with Godzilla on their roster. For the most part they held onto that title until Daiei Studios released a low budget creature of their own called Gamera. If you don’t recall the name odds are you do the creature, a giant turtle who flew through the air by spinning and shooting flames from its sides, appearing like a flying saucer to those below.
What made Gamera different other than his appearance was the transformation it went through. Like most kaiju the first film had him laying waste to the cities of Japan. By the end he did save a little boy and that became the trademark for many of the Gamera films. He became a friend to children everywhere, saving them from other kaiju as well as aliens from other worlds. This made the films family friendly and a staple on young TV stations where the films took on a second life.
All in all twelve films were made featuring Gamera ending in 2006 with GAMERA THE BRAVE. All twelve films were successful at the box office and all twelve are included in this box set. For those keeping track and in order the films are GAMERA THE GIANT MONSTER, GAMERA VS. BARUGON, GAMERA VS. GYAOS, GAMERA VS. VIRAS, GAMERA VS. GUIRON, GAMERA VS. JIGER, GAMERA VS. ZIGRA, GAMERA: SUPER MONSTER, GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE, GAMERA 2: ATTACK OF LEGION, GAMERA 3: REVENGE OF IRIS and GAMERA THE BRAVE.
Not only has Arrow Video brought all of these films together in one box set, they’ve upgraded them from previous versions that were released in the past. The films have the options of either the original Japanese language soundtrack with subtitles or dubbed versions of each. Gamera aficionado August Ragone introduces each film with updates on what’s taken place in the series as each one begins. Also included are interviews and behind the scenes featurettes with the makers of the films from the past and present. You’ll also find included in this box set a 120 page comic book reprint of the series done for Dark Horse comics as well as a hardbound 80 page retrospective.
Now here’s the catcher. This box set is on sale now for $219.99 on amazon. That seems like an outrageous amount of money to be spending on nothing more than a set of movies. In reality that boils down to around $18 per film which is less than many new releases are going for these days. But this is a niche market and the odds are most people won’t be willing to shell out that much money. Yes that was a pun. But for fans of the genre this is a drop in the bucket, especially when you include all of the extras and upgrades to the films.
Watching these was something of a chore to get through since there were so many. But as I watched I came to appreciate the work that was done on these movies. They brought back to life that young child who watched them on Saturday afternoon creature features. There is a certain innocence in watching men in suits playing these monsters on giant soundstages rather than the cold look some CGI has to offer these days. If you were a fan of Gamera or of kaiju films then by all means this is one you need to add to your collection right away.
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