In a last attempt to cash in on the titanic turtle's waning popularity, Daiei Motion Picture Company produced this incoherent clip-show in which Keiichi, a young Gamera fan (played by Koichi Maeda), and three benevolent spacewomen thwart an attack on Earth that involves the appearance of Gamera's kaiju foes from the previous five films. Similar to "All Monsters Attack" (1969; aka "Godzilla's Revenge"), the kaiju action may all be in the kid's imagination, as no one other than he, the space women, and the invaders seem be aware of the events. Unlike the polarising Godzilla film, which some people have interpreted as an insightful commentary on 'latch-key kids' and Japanese society in the late 1960s, the Gamera film is just a compilation of fight scenes connected by a silly story. There are only a couple of minutes of new kaiju material, the rest is lifted from the earlier films. In addition, there are some incongruous insertions of anime from "Space Battleship Yamato" and "Galaxy Express 999", some animated spaceships in the prologue, and a 'Zanon' starship that is a shameless copy of an Imperial Star Destroyer. The spacewomen are led by the hulking (relatively speaking) Kilara (played by wrestler Mach Fumiake) and can shrink, so they live in a box the size of a cat carrier in the back of a van that can turn into a spaceship (or at least a flying fuzzy blob of orange light). They have to wave their arms and pirouette to change into their space-hero suits, but then can fly. They also seem to have the ability to spontaneously teleport themselves (and their cars) when necessary and Kilara has an organ in the back of her pet store that when played seems to open a window/door to other parts of the Universe. There is also an evil spacewomen with a 'radar watch' who can teleport herself at will, and who is constantly being rebuked by the disembodied voice of Zanon. All of this is sufficiently incoherent and juvenile to support the hypothesis that it is all in Keiichi's imagination. The Gamera films were always budget outings (which is apparent from the clips), but the scenes with the spacewomen are even cheaper looking. As a final insult, the jauntily infectious "Gamera March" has been replaced by a new theme song (gratingly played by Keiichi on the organ). I watched a reasonably well English-dubbed version in which everyone had an incongruous trace of English accent but I doubt that the original would be much better. This film marked the end of the downward slide of the Showa-era Gamera series. The towering tusked turtle would not return until 1995's superior "Gamera: Guardian of the Universe", a much darker and less puerile interpretation of the character. Of note: in one of the rare fragments of new material, Gamera kicks over a poster of rival kaiju-star Godzilla, who is in turn revenged in "Godzilla Final Wars" (2004) when a kid throws a toy turtle into a fire.

This movie relies on stock footage of past films.This is not an actual reappearance of the Gamera from the past Showa films. It is a reboot, and does not depict the death of the "real" Gamera. It's also strongly hinted that the whole movie is a dream or in the imagination of Keiichi. It doesn't fit in the continuity of the other films at all.I've heard that Diamond Entertainment, (one of the companies that distributed the English dubbed versions), didn't include this film in their collection. They went as far as to say Gamera vs. Zigra (1971) was Gamera's last film in the Showa series.So, it's either a reboot, a dream or both. It's certainly the least important film in the series and seems like it tried to be a "best of" collection rather than a film.Since most of the Gamera scenes use stock footage from the previous movies, you would be better off watching the original films instead of this one.

Okay, so this particular entry of the Gamera series makes extensive use of stock footage (including some animated stuff from cartoons!), was made on an obvious paltry budget, and has lovably lousy (far from) special effects, but it still manages to be quite enjoyable just the same and that's all that really matters in the long run. Once again a race of evil aliens plan on taking over Earth and it's up to Gamera to defeat the various monsters sent by said aliens to achieve that nefarious goal. This flick essentially plays like Gamera's greatest hits as it's mainly wall to wall beast bashes with everyone's favorite flying fire-breathing turtle taking on one savage out-sized opponent after another. Director Noriaki Yuasa and writer Nisan Takahashi bring a certain amiably sweet and sincere quality to this picture which in turn gives it a considerable campy appeal. Moreover, we also get a trio of foxy flying alien babes whose job it is to protect our planet from harm, the token little kid is less obnoxious and more likable than usual, an extremely catchy'n'lively theme song, and there's even a fierce martial arts fight between one of the good gal aliens and a rival evil alien chick. Shunsake Kikuchi's stirring and spirited full-bore orchestral score hits the exciting spot. An immensely fun flick.

Just because it's cheap, cheap, cheap doesn't mean it's not fun, fun, fun. And to be honest, Supermonster Gamera is a blast from start to finish. It's great to see all of Gamera's foes in one movie, even if it is all stock footage. The best thing about the film without a doubt is the awesome musical score, especially some of the battle themes. I have a weird fondness for this movie I cant explain. I like it better than some of Gamera's more legit films. If you can find a copy of either the Japanese or American versions, I seriously urge you to watch it with an open mind. Gamera rules!!