Original GAMERA to make U.S. DVDebut

By Michael Gingold

Shout! Factory has announced that it will give 1965’s GAMERA, THE GIANT MONSTER (a.k.a. DAIKAIJU GAMERA), the first in the series of Japanese films starring the giant turtle a.k.a. Gammera, its first U.S. DVD release. The movie will be presented in its original uncut version, in anamorphic widescreen from a new hi-def master with English subtitles.

Set to street May 18, the disc will also include a photo gallery, trailers and other extras, plus a 12-page booklet with an essay by director Noriaki Yuasa, who helmed Gamera’s subsequent cinematic adventures in the 1960s and ’70s as well. (Shusuke Kaneko memorably revived the kaiju in a trio of standout features in the late 1990s.)

In the movie, released Stateside in 1966 in a heavily edited and appended version titled GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE, the huge, shelled, fire-breathing creature emerges from the Arctic ice after a Soviet bomber is shot down there, causing an atomic explosion. Gamera heads to Tokyo and goes on a rampage of destruction, with only its unexpected bond with a young boy offering a potential key to stopping it. Shout!’s DVD will retail for $19.93; cover art is coming soon.