Gamera vs. Guiron

Infobox Film
name = Gamera vs. Guiron


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Noriaki Yuasa
producer = Hidemasa Nagata
Sandy Frank
Masaichi Nagata
writer = Nisan Takahashi
starring = Nobuhiro Kajima
Miyuki Akiyama
Chrystopher Murphy
Yuko Hamada
Eiji Funakoshi
Kon Omura
music = Kenjiro Hirose
Shunsuke Kikuchi
cinematography = Akira Kitazaki
editing = Eli Haviv
distributor = American International Pictures
released = 21 March 1969
runtime = 82 min
country = JPN
awards =
language = Japanese
budget =
preceded_by = Gamera vs. Viras
followed_by = Gamera vs. Jiger
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0064360

nihongo|"Gamera vs. Guiron"|ガメラ対大悪獣ギロン|Gamera tai Daiakaijū Giron|"Gamera vs. Devil Monster Guiron", also known as "Attack of the Monsters" and "Gamera vs. Guiron", is a 1969 daikaiju eiga (giant-monster movie), the fifth entry in the "Gamera" series. It was one of five "Gamera" films to be featured as episodes of movie-mocking television show "Mystery Science Theater 3000". It is currently in the Public Domain.

This film's antagonist, Guiron (named for "guillotine"), is a giant quadrupedal dinosaur-like monster with a head shaped like a long knife, which is 100 times harder than diamond. Along the knife is a hole that shoots small magnetic shuriken. It also has the ability to fly.

Plot summary

Two boys, Akio and Tom, spy in their telescope a spaceship that descends into a nearby field. With Akio's little sister in tow, they bicycle out the next day to investigate. The boys enter the spaceship and accidentally take off to an alien planet named Terra, while Tomoko is left behind, unable to convince any adults (except kindly but eccentric police officer Kondo) of the boys' misadventure. On Terra, the boys encounter two beautiful but sinister Terran women and the kaiju Guiron, who kills Space Gyaos. Gamera eventually tracks the boys to Terra and kills Guiron. The Terran women are killed and Gamera, Akio, and Tom go back to Earth.

Guiron

Guiron is a Kaiju that appeared in the fifth original "Gamera" movie, "Gamera vs. Guiron", (Known statewise as "Attack of the Monsters"). Due to the lack of distinction in Japanese between the "l" and "r" sounds, Guiron is actually named after the guillotine. Guiron is an alien monster that normally traverses on all fours, but can also assume a bipedal stance. It is an unusual looking creature, with tough gray skin, a small mouth, sleepy looking eyes and a low, groaning bellow. The most unusual feature of this beast's anatomy, however, is the gigantic blade that it sports on its head, which is nearly as long as its body. Guiron is mostly a melee oriented kaiju, attacking opponents with its blade. Indeed, this blade is so sharp that it can even cut through Gamera's shell. It also has a reflective surface that can send an enemy kaiju's beam attacks back at its opponent. In addition, there is a circular indent on either side of the blade. Housed within are shuriken that it can apparently launch with some kind of psychokinesis. Guiron acted as the guard dog of two brain-eating space women, the last of a dead civilization on the planet Terra. The aliens guided him with a mind control device. Guiron proved his combat prowess by effortlessly defeating a Gyaos, reflecting its sonic cutter beam and literally slicing it to pieces with his blade. Guiron later fought Gamera, and nearly killed him as well. After a long fight, Gamera eventually managed to defeat the knife headed beast by flipping him upside down - his blade stuck in the earth - then igniting a missile that had gotten stuck in his circular indents, blowing his head off and killing him.

Trivia

* Space Gyaos wasn't going to be in this film; a new kaiju was going to be in it, but due to time and budget limitations, the Gyaos props from "Gamera vs. Gyaos" were simply painted silver.
* In the Alpha Video U.S. release, the scene where Space Gyaos was killed by Guiron was removed for its graphic content.

References

* Wingrove, David. Science Fiction Film Source Book (Longman Group Limited, 1985)
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* [http://scificlassics.blogspot.com/2007/02/attack-of-monsters-aka-gamera-vs-giant.html Download free] from [http://scificlassics.blogspot.com MightyZIM's Public Domain Classics]
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