Gamera vs. Gyaos1967

43/100 I honestly had high expectations for Gamera vs. Gyaos after Gamera vs. Barugon actually turned out alright, especially since this one was one of my favourites the first time around. I was, sadly, disappointed. That's not to say the film is devoid of merits, but they're not very common. I will grant the film this: it has an actual theme, what with how greed is the central motivation of all the adults, how it's contrasted by the innocence of the resident annoying kid, and how this is all punctuated by a villainous monster whose driving motivation is its greed and bloodlust. However, this merit is swiftly struck down by the fact that having a theme doesn't mean anything if I don't like the characters. The kid is better than the one from the first film, but still annoying, as are the villagers, and I don't really care about the other characters. Combine this with the fact we spend a good amount of the runtime on them and their stupid village subplot, and you don't get a good experience here. This really is just the classic stereotype of just watching the film for the monsters, because they're done really well here, even if the special effects are just their usual fare. Gamera himself gets a new characterization in this film, carrying over his protective instincts for the innocent, namely children, while also being called a "benevolent monster" and largely being the hero. Its an endearing characterization which I like. The star of the show, though, is the bat-like monster Gyaos. Future installments would majorly alter this monster into a swarm of archenemies, but here its just one, and still good in how weird it is, and the unique set pieces and plans the characters make to defeat it. My favourite has to be the one where they lure it onto a tower with blood before spinning it until its too dizzy to escape. Overall, this movie's not worthless. Almost no movie is. In fact, it's not even bad, but it's very, very far from good. I would say Kaiju fans should still check it out for the monsters, but I'm not revisiting this one soon.