Gamera 3: Revenge Of Iris Review

Gamera 3: Revenge Of Iris

Year: 1999

Director: Shusuke Kaneko

Writer: Kazunori Ito, Shusuke Kaneko,

Starring: Shinobu Nakayama, Ai Maeda, Yukijiro Jotaru, Auako Fujitani, Senri Yamazaki, Toru Tezuka, Yuu Koyama, Nozomi Ando, Kei Horie,

This is what it all came down to. After reinventing Gamera, Shusuke kaneko gave us what is one of the best monster movies of all time. In fact, it may be the only film which could debatably be even better than the original Gojira. It has absolutely everything you could ever want from the genre, as well as throwing in some stuff you didn’t even realise you needed. The first two films in this trilogy were just a year apart, whereas here a whole 3 years seemed to have been expertly utilised to perfect the story, effects, horror and drama. Much more than just a monster smash ‘em up, Gamera 3: Revenge Of Iris takes the formula and raises it to a level of perfection only attainable by the dedication of a team confident in their craft.

Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe Review

Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe

Year: 1995

Director: Shusuke Kaneko

Writer: Kazunori Ito

Starring: Tsuyoshi Ihara, Akira Onodera, Shinobu Nakayama, Ayako Fujitani, Yukijiro Hotaru, Hatsunori Hasegawa, Hirtaro Honda, Akira Kubo,

Gamera seemed to have given up wallowing in Godzilla’s shadow after his final appearance in 1971. The repetitive stories, subpar effects, and child protagonists just didn’t seem to be working anymore. However, you can’t keep a good monster down. Enter Shusuke Kaneko, a man determined to bring Gamera back from a 20+ year hiatus. Here was a man who showed nothing but respect for the source material, and took it upon himself to not dramatically change anything, but instead asked “What is it that is great about Gamera?” This approach meant that he found the true heart and soul of a monster who had been created as nothing more than a studio rival, and made the world stand up and take notice once more. In fact, this attempt, which led into a trilogy, was so successful that Kaneko was even hired by Toho to make Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.