Constantine Furman

The Unofficial Tokusatsu Fan's Handbook for GAMERA, SUPER MONSTER Constantine Furman

Gamera is a gigantic, flying, fire-breathing turtle monster created by Japan's Daiei Motion Picture Company (producers of Akira Kurosawa's RASHOMON) as a rival to Toho Company LTD.'s (producers of Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI) Godzilla phenomenon. From 1965-1980, Gamera starred in eight monster films chronicling his increasingly outrageous adventures. The eighth of these, GAMERA, SUPER MONSTER, has developed a reputation over the years as one of the worst Japanese monster movies ever made. But how did it get that rep? Why is it the way that it is? The internet is full of explanations or misplaced blame about the film, but little of it is correct. This is the true, unknown story of the unfortunate finale of the original series of Gamera films in a first-of-its-kind form: a literary audio commentary!