GAMERA VS. GYAOS (1967)
A Bloodbath Of Fun And Folklore
Of all the Gamera movies, 1967’s GAMERA VS. GYAOS directed by Noriaki Yuasa, is my favorite. The third entry in the original GAMERA series, the setup is pretty standard for a Japanese monster movie: Natural disaster, ancient monster awakens, bumbling child with a suspiciously high amount of influence over government officials, humans are incompetent, and boom!—another Friday night at the movies for the family. What sets this particular adventure apart from its counterparts is its over the top metal AF goth energy and loving homage to traditional East Asian and Japanese folklore. How many other movies have a literal giant human blood birdbath that spins? If you can name another one, please let me know…(I’m absolutely serious. That is my peanut butter and jelly jam.)
The film moves between three locations in Japan: the city of Nagoya, a fictionalized rural village called Miyaki, and a mountain that is presumed to be Mount Fuji. In reality, the geography doesn’t add up. While there is a Miyaki, it is not rural nor near Nagoya. Mount Fuji is closer to Tokyo than Nagoya or Miyaki. Yet there is a thoughtful method to this madness. In a nice departure from Tokyo, Nagoya has some famous landmarks of its own to stomp and destroy like the white Nagoya Castle which we see briefly in one scene.
The naming of the Miyaki village could be a conscious decision to tie in real life parallels to a giant bat species found in the Ryukyu island of Miyako.
Finally, the choice to portray Fuji makes sense because it is a Shinto symbol of national origin, rebirth, and stairway to other realms. This setting ties in nicely with the other references to Japanese and East Asian folklore.
Gamera is a massive fire dragon turtle from space that fights and protects children.
“Massive fire dragon turtle from space” on first impression sounds like the fever dream creation of a five-year old. Surprisingly, there is a lot of well known folklore to back up this imagery. In Chinese folklore, there is a firebreathing dragon named “Bixi” that was born with a tortoise shell. Other references to a turtle warrior and god in Chinese mythos is “Black Turtle”—in Japan, this is referred to as “Genbu”.
This particular mythos is so well known and influential that it is a major part of Chinese constellation patterns.
Thus, we have mythological evidence that a fire breathing turtle dragon from space is actually part of the East Asian cultural legacy and not just a wild and goofy concept.
One could argue that Gamera is profoundly more Asian than Godzilla. Our movie’s antagonist, Gyaos, is most likely rooted in this same rich folklore.
Gyaos is presented to the audience as a gigantic vampire bat-like nocturnal creature that drinks blood. I would argue that the Gyaos Kaiju was influenced by a Japanese yokai named Nobusuma. Nobusuma is a large bat that drinks blood, abhors the sun, and is said to make a sound like “gaa, gaa.”
Given that, when asked why he calls the creature “Gyaos”, our child hero Eichii says it is because of the sound he made, the connection is obvious. These influences appear purposeful and an efficient use of folklore that audiences can relate to and fear. All that being said, horror and monster fans love a good vampire. It’s a solid choice to make this movie totally rock ‘n’ roll for 1967.
GAMERA VS. GYAOS is fun even without knowing all of this background of folklore influences. Notable features include a goofy split car gag, bizarre phantom cows whom we only hear mooing yet receive way more focus from the story than it should, three Kaiju battles (the first one appearing just 20 minutes in), a Wilford Brimle- esque grandfather, and a freaking spinning giant birdbath of human blood! Yes, I brought it up again—I love it that much. It doesn’t get more hardcore than that. Honestly, if the blood bath doesn’t sell it to you, you don’t deserve this movie. Add some Halloween to your July. Go watch GAMERA VS. GYAOS and tell them Bixi sent you.
