Gamera vs. Viras (1968)

Gamera is just wandering around in outer space, which is something he does now, when he runs into hostile aliens in a collection of beach balls. He destroys the balls after they have radioed home for reinforcements. On Earth, two Kennys, one Japanese and one American, are at some kind of international boy scout camp. They play some pranks, cause some problems, and manage to go on a submarine journey with Gamera. The new alien ship arrives and capture the two kids to use as hostages because Gamera would never do anything to harm children. It is up to the two young boys to save the day and have an exciting adventure.

While Gamera vs. Gyaos was a generic dikaiju movie adjusted to be for young children, Gamera vs. Viras is a children’s movie with monsters. There are hardly any adults and they exist to be the butt of the children’s pranks. This is all bright shiny colors as we follow our two child-leads as they explore a space ship, control a giant monster, and save the world. This is where the line “Gamera is a friend to all children” came from. We even have the entire world declare that we must surrender because we can’t allow the two boys to be hurt, which lets them bravely state that they would sacrifice themselves. Of course this is Japanese children’s programming, so they say “shit” and five guys are decapitated.

Cheap is the word of the day. There’s extensive use of past footage. At the twenty-one minute point, the film pauses for a ten minute recap of the previous films. Oddly, the recap is nearly twice as long in the American version, titled Destroy All Planets—bringing this overly short film up to 90 minutes. Gamera’s attack on a dam and on a city are re-used scenes from earlier films. Even the new footage is used repeatedly, with Gamera’s attack on the second ship filled out with a clip from his attack on the first. And much of the film is the kids’ exploration of the spaceship, which is one set re-colored as they supposedly enter the next look-alike room.

Is this worse than the previous entry? That depends. For anyone over ten who isn’t watching to make fun of it, then yes. But for your young child, or for your drunken party when you want to throw cheese puffs at the screen, Gamera vs. Viras will work better.