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THE RETURN OF THE GIANT MONSTERS (the original American title) was released by AIP-TV. I have a very rare copy of the AIP-TV version and I equally compared it to the Sandy Frank version. Without a doubt, Sandy Frank's version is a sad excuse for a feature. If you ever get to see the AIP-TV version, you'll know quality when you see AIP's film. RETURN OF THE GIANT MONSTERS is considered to be the BEST in the Gamera series. However, I found WAR OF THE MONSTERS (known by Sandy Frank's version as GAMERA VS. BARUGON) to be the best in the series. RETURN OF THE GIANT MONSTERS is a fun feature with some nice special effects, good camerawork, and good English dubbing (AIP-TV version, not Sandy Frank's). Overall, a great film to watch on a boring Saturday or Sunday.

Just one question. Do turtles have arms? Even giant turtles?
Otherwise, another great review. Keep 'em comin'. Enjoy!

As a kid during the '70s, I would watch "Godzilla Theater" every Saturday morning on a local TV station.  I would set my Shogun Warrior Godzilla beside me and we would watch it together.  I wasn't until I got ALL the movies (up to Godzilla 2000) on VHS that I realized that they did not only show Godzilla movies.  I remembered a scene where a giant turtle pulled himself up into his shell and rolled down a hill.  Thanks to the video clip with this movie review, I finally know the name of that movie I saw a a kid.

Thanks

I don't understand Sandy Frank versions of Most of Gamera on VHS. It look twisty here and there. But anyway, Gaos (or Gyos) remains to be the popular foe of Gamera's. If you look at it in "Gamera Guardian of the Universe". A space Gaos in "Gamera vs. Guiron". This 1967 flick is fun. Who cannot forget Gamera's arm nearly severed by Gaos' cutting ray, and the shell rool?

GAMERA VS. GAOS was made around the time that a number of Japanese farmers were protesting the confiscation of their land to make room for the construction of Narita Airport. This probably explains the heavy-handed portrayal of the poor land-owners as greedy profiteers: that's the image that the highly-influential Japanese business interests of the time wanted to convey. It's a shame, really, because aside from this distateful piece of political propaganda, the movie's a hoot. It's completely insane, but that's part of its charm: "Hmmm... we could build a big sun lamp... OR we could build a huge fountain of synthetic blood that spins around spurting and makes the monster all dizzy. Hey, that's a no-brainer: let's build that fountain!" Oh, yeah. We need more movies like this.

I'll try not make any mistakes this time,as I tried to say before but over did it,I can remember along time ago when tv stations used to know how to show Creature Feature the beging of X-From Outer Space was different showing alot more credits while AAB Gamma was launched,& a sceen where Dr.Lisa was seeing if Gulalieum would work against Goliela on moonbase & then we see the monster walking through an oil field,in Return of ther Giant Monsters we used to see Gaos shooting his rays in the cave while regrowing his foot,& once I saw War of the Monsters,the original A.I.P. version just like the Sandy Frank one,when monster movies were popular,as they began to fade A.I.P. took some of these movies & re-did them,sceens were lost forever it seems it was sad to see it end,but they'll live on forever with us on VHS & DVD.

Aip Gamera movies rule!Return of the Giant Monsters was a family favorite in our household. We all watched creature feature on saturday at 4:3Opm. we'd break out the snacks and Godzilla stuff and talk godzilla and gamera that day.
Gaos looked kinda funny one night watching him when I had bronchitis and  heavily medicated with codeine filled cough suppressant.  I kinda related to his dizziness on the platform.  I remember being delirious while watching that movie the first time around.  I was strangely still pleasant.

And now comes the sad news that the original director of 7 of the eight Gamera movies has passed on,Thank You Noraki Yuasa!,For making Gamera the Monster he was,I say that because I don't really think all much of these newer versions of Gamera at all,& Gamera vs.Iris is my least favorite of the 3,of course I read at one time some independent movie company made a Gamera 4,vs. Gaos the Second Battle,someone was to suppose to download it & make it avalible through ADV Films,well that was along time ago,and now,like The X=From Outer Space review dissappearing off the internet,so has all that about this Gamera movie,as Yuasa himself said one time these Gamera movies weren't made with sincerity as the original,they're just monster movies,though I did like Guardian of the Universe & Legion,Noraki Yuasa will be missed,but as it was once said,"Cities and people come and go,but monsters last forever",trully Noraki Yuasa will live for ever,in every Gamera film he ever diected,his name will always be there.

Well I understand that Neptune Media has an original print of Attack of the Monsters on vhs with A.I.P. soundtrack and the part where Guiron chops up Space Gaos,and with Retromedia & Alpha Video DVD versions that peice is still missing?!,well I got the Sandy Frank version onto my vhs A.I.P. version,so between me & Neptune,at least we got that missing peice,why Retro & Alpha don't have it is yet another mystery.

Gamera Fights a Giant Vampire Bat in this All-time monster movie and is the best Gamera movie ever and again Gaos's coustume design was very scary even his screeching was scary I bet you'll love this movie and trust me it's got good special effects.

Fun movie, I had fun watching it.
Great reference to Final Fantasy 7 in the review!! I giggled like a schoolboy cuz I knew the scene!

Yes Sinister Cinema and Retromedia did bring it back but yet one question remains,what ever happened to that missing scene in Attack of the Monsters where Guiron chops up Space Gaos,all you have to do is put a few minutes of the Sandy Frank version on it,and for that matter did anyone else see just once War of the Monsters just like the Sandy Frank version,only it was A.I.P.?,I did,just once.

My 2 most favorite monster movies are Return of the Giant Monsters and X-From Outer Space,and always will be,however now Atragon is finally out there,those looking for a great A.I.P. version of this classic should vist I Want That DVD.com they've got it!.

No matter what happens now or in the near future of Gamera movies to come,(although I hope they return Gamera to the way he was and have him breath fire again),Return of the Giant Monsters was and still is the best of all Gamera ever made,I like the other Gamera movies too(although of the first 3 new ones, Irs is my least favorite to date),but Return of the Giant Monsters(or Gamera vs. Gaos as it is sometimes referred too,to me it will always be more remembered as Return of the Giant Monsters),is definitely the classic Gamera movie of the original three!.

Now, I am Godzilla's number one fan, but I do also have a obsession of Gamera. Gamera vs Gaos (I am more used to spelling it Gyaos) is a well made movie... what am I saying?! It wasn't very good at all! Im being as honest as I can get, and this movie was not a very good monster movie. If the directer left the child seen out, this film proboly would have made ti onto my "movies to watch" mental list- but becuase of that little fat boy who makes freinds with a giant turtle, im calling this a bad movie!!!


                    Ofcourse, this is my opinion, and dont let it bother you if you watch the movie and end up enjoying it.

This one was on Commander USA's Groovie Movies. Pretty sure it was that sandy frank version. Also I think this one was on MST3K as well.

Probably my favorite old school Gamera movie, I still need to track down the AIP version though.

Old school Gamera is the fun, but i must respect the New versions.
Gammera the Invibncable is the best hoot.
The American scenes with Brian "Call me Quatermass"Donlevy would make for an extra special MST3K.

The worlds biggist saber tooth turtle meets the worlds biggist vampire bat and notice the cartoon of gaos looks kind of like somesthing from mars maybe a pet owned by MARVIN THE MARTIAN :bouncegiggle:

I love the Gamera flicks almost as much as Godzilla, but I for one, do did the new Gamera flicks. The new FX does the big guy justice.
And gotta admit, I love the MST versions.
"Sandy-frank,sandy -frank, thinks that people come from, treeees!"...

I have seen this movie more times than any other monster movie,it's my No.1 Favorite!.
AIP made the best English language version,however there are a few things I like about the Sandy Frank version,I'll explain in a bit.
But first we begin with the AIP musical intro,then volcanoes erupting,finally bringing Gamera back to Earth,meantime a group of farmers didn't want a new highway built on there land,but then suddenly the powerful volcanic blasts unleash Gaos,a super vampire bat with a super sonic ray and vapor to put out fires.
Three times Gamera and Gaos fight,and the first two rounds go to Gaos,mostly because of his ray,the air battle they have over Nagoya is one of the best air battles between two flying monsters ever seen!,as they crash into the water Gamera rips off part of Gaos foot.
The scientists study it and conclude the only way of killing Gaos is to expose it to the sun,now in what Godzilla movie do you see a giant turntable of death!?.
Naturally they increase the voltage before sunrise and in doing so overload the system,Gaos gets away,but this leads up to the final super battle between our turtle hero and Gaos,hands down one of the best battles in all Japanese Monsterdom!.
Retromedia did a great job in there AIP realease,along with The Magic Serpent,but there were a few things they could of added from the SF version.
First before the SF movie started,there was an original movie trailer of the air battle between Gamera and Gaos!,Retromedia could of added that.
Also the alternet SF ending should of been included,in the AIP version Agie says to Gamera at the end,"Thank you Gamera sayonara sayonara!",The Sandy Frank version has him saying"Come back again and see us soon Gamera don't forget now!",so the viewers could decide for thereselves which ending they liked the best,(personally I really did like that part of the SF version),plus the Gamera outtakes of the first three Gamera movies after the movie was over.
If I had anything to with that release I sure would of included all that,but I didn't so it's not there,but it should of been,however I'm not going to argue the point,Retromedia,did an excellent job with their release of this, Return of the Giant Monsters,the greatest classic Gamera movie of them all!.

As I said Return of the Giant Monsters is my most favorite of all the original Gamera movies.
On the You Tube you may be have recently watched someone named Wickwire with Kaiju Movie Reviews.

Although I'm glad to see someone finally reviewing Gamera movies,I thought he was being just a bit to harsh on it.For example,he says the English dialogue was terrible,was he talking about the Sandy Frank version?,although he did show clips from the AIP version,he did not make that clear,I hope you ment the SF version,although as I said the last time,I did like the ending of the SF version when the kid asked Gamera to come back and see us again,and the outtakes from the first 3 Gamera movie set to the Return of the Giant Monsters them.

I thought Gamera never looked better,but again the reviewer didn't seem to think so.
Of course Goas was stiff,remember he had two spines & throats that enabled him to produce super sonic rays.

I'm not being critical of the review in general,in fact it's better than what some people over at imdb have wrote about this movie.

What we do agree on is the fact the monster fights in this movie are the best you can get,especially the air battle,except for being a bit to critical I enjoyed the review and look forward to seeing what he has to say about Gamera movies,although I forgot he already has about the 1st,2nd,4th & 5th.

In conclusion on a scale of 1 to 10,I give Return of the Giant Monsters,(The AIP version),a 10.

Apparently Shout Factory read A.C.Cronvichs comments about the out of sink dubbing on the Gamera DVDs,I just got them.

As far as Return of the Giant Monsters,perfect dubbing on the AIP side,haven't really tried the Sandy Frank side,the only part on that worth its salt are Agies last words to Gamera.
Viras is fine,except for two flash back scenes missing from Gamera and Gaos,and in Gameras attack on the dam,even though the men were saying things,we never heard them,it was like seeing an edited TV version.

Guiron's fine,except some high low sound when they have to switch to Sandy Frank dub when Guiron chopped Goas.Jiger has some high pitched tones in the beginning,but then evens out,but at the point where Horoish sister says,"Where are they!",the sound goes away.
All in all,phenomenal pictures,good old AIP dubbing,and a fair price.

Hopefully Shout Factory someday will be able to get a letterboxed Gammera with Brian Donlevy and Albert Dekker,and edit a Japanese version of Gamera vs. Barugon and put the AIP soundtrack on it.