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    2023 Autumn

    How Diseased Rats Accidentally Gave Us GAMERA



    How Diseased Rats Accidentally Gave Us GAMERA

    In 1964, Daiei tried to make a horror film about giant rats attacking Tokyo using real, lice-infested rodents. The health department shut it down, leaving the studio scrambling. With miniatures already built, the effects director was told to come up with something…anything…to salvage the project. He pitched a movie about a giant flying, fire-breathing turtle. The executives laughed… and then said yes. And so, Gamera The Giant Monster hit theaters in 1965 and the rest is history.

    Before he was the “friend of all children,” Gamera was a desperate gamble by a struggling studio trying to survive the kaiju boom. In this video, I take a deep dive into the making of Gamera, the Giant Monster, the 1965 film that launched Japan’s second most iconic giant monster franchise. From its chaotic production history and budget constraints to its blunt political messaging and the weird charm of its English dubs, we explore everything that makes this movie more than just a Godzilla knockoff.

    We’ll break down the film’s Cold War subtext, the chaotic creation of Gamera’s suit and special effects, and how Daiei Films went from filming lice-infested rats to launching a giant turtle into space. There’s a surprising amount of heart buried beneath the stock footage, muddy cinematography, and awkward child protagonists. This is also the first entry in my full Gamera retrospective series, so if you’re into kaiju history, Showa-era filmmaking, or just love weird old monster movies, this one’s for you…

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    #Gamera #Kaiju #MonsterMovies #FirewoodMedia #ShowaEra #Godzilla #GiantMonster #Gammera #Daiei #Tokusatsu #Retrospective #FilmHistory #MovieAnalysis

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    4. @FictionalProfiles on

      not gonna lie. if that was the pitch given for gamera. I probably would have laughed as well. Not sure if i would have approved it, but then again. Hindsight is 20/20. I'm glad it got approved. Gamera is one of my all time favorite kaijus next to godzilla

    5. @TheKaijuKing54 on

      Here’s another interesting fact about this film. It would’ve been titled “Giant Horde Beast Nezura,” and was set to feature a kaiju named Nezura brought to life using suitmation, while regular-sized rats were played by real rats. The Nezura kaiju was envisioned as a large creature, possibly man-sized, using a rubber suit in traditional Tokusatsu style. Although no confirmed full suit was completed, there’s evidence suggesting one was designed and partially built before the project was cancelled.

      In late December 2020, a biopic titled “Nezura 1964” was released that dramatized the development of the film, featuring cast members from the Gamera franchise. Since there was no existing material for Nezura’s design, the team created a new suit from scratch.

      This design bears a striking resemblance to Jiger from "Gamera Rebirth," which was released a few years later. It's possible that Nezura influenced Jiger’s design in the anime. This connection is further emphasized by the smaller Jiger cannibalizing each other in "Gamera Rebirth," a planned plot point for the unmade movie, which, ironically, also happened with the live rats during production for that film.