Flicks: Gamera 3: The Revenge Of Iris (1999)

So I like 500-foot-tall toortles. Sue me, already.

Now that all annual hu-mon festivities have concluded for this portion of the pathetically inaccurate Earthling "year" it is time to get back to doing what the Blender does best - watching terrible movies with his growing gang of manling pals on the Internet.

Gamera is an unlikely Godzilla clone from 1965. There are only two things that anyone needs to about the original "Showa" era Gamera. ONE, the giant toortle emerged from, of all the frickin places, Antarctica. And TWO, he used to suck. And I mean Gamera used to suck in the way that only Twilight and True Blood fans come close to resembling. In that typically shallow, dim-witted and narcissistic way that makes Erkel look like "Downtown" Jackie Brown. O.G. Gamera sucked bad. Get me?

In the 90's, Studio Daiei revived the series in a spectacular way. No longer was Gamera a Godzilla rip-off but a series in it's own right. Cutting edge effects/FX incorporated brand spanking new CG imagery to allow Gamera to fly minus the clunky strings and to shoot fire at an astonishing realistic clip. The models improved drastically. By The Revenge in 1999, the traditional kiddie market for kaiju was nearly forgotten by the film-makers, and giving this "Hesei" era series a horrifying and gruesome new life leading into the Millenial era to come.

A total of three amazing Gamera flicks, all directed by Shusuke Kaneko (Death Note) were released from 1995 to 1999: Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, Gamera 2: Attack of Legion and Gamera 3: The Revenge Of Iris. Iris is regarded as one of the finest films of the late Hesei era.

In 2010, the Blu-Ray contains a deep commentary with actors and the award-winning of the now defunct ADV (Super Milk Chan) crew who dubbed the English version of the film.

References:
IMDB, Gamera 3: The Revenge Of Iris (1999)
Wikipedia, Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe
Wikipedia, Gamera 3: The Awakening Of Irys

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Flicks: War Of The Collosal Beast (1958)

I'm a BIG monster and I gotta BIG appetite - for destruction!

Another American International Pictures Atomic Era picture featured the giant man-monster from 1957 movie The Amazing Colossal Man. The 60 foot tall zombie, the former Lt. Col. Glenn Manning, sacks the Old Mexico countryside for truckloads of tortillas until he is captured by the U.S. Army before breaking loose and attacking Hollywood and L.A.

Does the Collosal Beast have a thang against the 50's era film production industry or what? The movie is 99% black-and-white before inexplicably going to color in the final minute as the lumbering retard electrocutes himself in some power lines. A classic!

References:
Wikipedia, War Of The Colossal Beast
IMDB, War Of The Colossal Beast (1958)
Google Video, MST3K 319 Mr. B. Natural

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Flicks: Dinosaurus! (1960)

Outside capitalistic America, dinosaur makes you extinct!

In an unlikely precursor to Jurassic Park, two perfectly preserved dinos are dredged outta the Caribbean Ocean near St. Croix by an engineering crew only to have a freak lightning bolt Frankenstein up the beasties. The dinos are inexplicably joined by a uni-brow sporting Caveman named Dumpy (seriously) and spend the next 80 minutes being ridden, or alternately, chasing the cast around the small islands screamin'.

The picture stars Ward Ramsey, Paul Lukather and Kristina Hanson - Hanson reportedly quit acting shortly afterwards (who can blame her?) to become a 6th grade teacher in California. Paul Lukather, however, went on to enjoy a long and lucrative career that's lasted to this day having appeared in 77 film roles including voice acting for Metal Gear: Sons Of Liberty (2001), Pirates of Darkwater and three of the Blood Omen/Legend of Kain video games.



References:
IMDB, Dinosaurus! (1960)
Wikipedia, Dinosaurus!

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Robo-Geisha (2009)

Why are the pretty ones are always so sharp tongued?

Inter-genre action flick (kung-fu vs kaiju) with impressive effects, chicksploitation hack and slash features some great model/minature work in the style of 60's and 70's era Toho Godzilla movies.

A fast-paced and fun romp through Japanese cultural cliches, history and humor with some of Tarantino's Kill Bill styled fights.

References:
IMDB, RoboGeiaha (2009)



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Flicks: King Kong Escapes! (1967)

Two Kongs enter! One Kong leaves! Two Kongs enter! One Kong leaves!

King Kong Escapes! (1967) aka Kingu Kongu No Gyakushu aka Mechanikong aka King Kong vs. Robot Kong was originally made by Toho Studios in 1967 and was recently re-released on DVD in 2009. Rankin/Bass, the animation production studio that made Mad Mad Monster Party (1968) with Boris Karloff, produced the US cut of the Ishiro Honda film.



The Japanese studio who shot the live action that makes up 90% of the movie added some interesting stop-motion shots in the traditionally convoluted script with a "Stomp Tokyo" approach to monster motivations.


References:
Horror Hut, King Kong vs. Mechanikong
Go Go Godziller, King Kong vs. Godziller
Gargantuan Media, Kingu Kongu No Gyakushu Wallpaper

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