All 12 Gamera Movies, Ranked Worst To Best

Summary

• Gamera films span three distinct eras, each with unique style and continuity, with some outliers.
• Gamera vs. Guiron is strangely entertaining with off-planet antics and bloody battles, a memorable entry.
• Gamera: Guardian of the Universe marks the redemption of Gamera with high production values and fresh story.

Gamera has a wide variety of films to his name, ranging from poorly recycled cash grabs to some of the greatest kaiju content ever put to screen. Forever in the shadow of his more well-known cinematic rival, Godzilla, Gamera still deserves recognition as a Japanese pop culture icon. While the Monsterverse could still give Gamera the recognition that he desperately deserves, the most recent offering featuring the fire-spewing giant turtle was the animated Netflix series, GAMERA -Rebirth-. Still, Gamera has managed to rack up an impressive twelve films to his name since his debut in 1965.

Just like how Godzilla’s films span multiple eras, the Gamera movies can also be divided into three distinct sections, each named after the emperor of Japan at the time of production. In Gamera’s case, they are the Shōwa era and the Heisei era. Each of these distinct eras bear their own unique sense of style and continuity, although some of Gamera’s films remain outliers with no particular narrative relation to other movies.

12 Gamera: Super Monster (1980)

The film that killed the Shōwa era

Sadly, Gamera was never able to capture the same monetary or critical success as the Godzilla series, and no film better exemplifies this shortcoming than Gamera: Super Monster. This film revolves around an alien race’s efforts to revive all of Gamera’s fallen opponents and send them back to Earth for a series of re-matches, much to the dismay of the tusked turtle and Earth itself. The lazy premise is indicative of the franchise’s struggling popularity, rights newly purchased by Tokuma Shoten after the original studio went bankrupt.

All the fights in Gamera: Super Monster consist of re-used footage from previous films, literally recycling the same kaiju battles audiences had already seen. What little original ideas the film did have to put forth were clear attempts to capitalize off of the recent popularity of the Star Wars movies, most obviously reflected in the spaceship Zanon. A poorly-conceptualized cash grab, Gamera: Super Monster is easily the worst film to bear Gamera’s name.

11 Gamera Vs. Viras (1968)

A literal wet noodle of a Gamera entry

Similarly to Godzilla, many of Gamera films are content to simply but its title monster up against some new opponent, with the “Gamera vs. X” formula making up most of the entries. The third film to use this convention, Gamera vs. Viras is when the original Shōwa series began to first show its waning budget. In the film, Gamera goes up against Viras, a truly bizarre squid monster with shape-changing abilities.

By-the-numbers for a kaiju movie, Gamera vs. Viras‘ typical alien invasion plot is nothing to write home about, and the wriggly appendages of its titular villain pale in comparison to the other monsters Gamera has tangled with in the past. The film also over-relies on stock footage for much of its action setpieces, made painfully obvious upon revisiting. Still, at least Gamera vs. Viras does put forth an original, memorable antagonist, which puts it ahead of Gamera: Super Monster.

10 Gamera Vs. Zigra (1971)

Broke Gamera’s yearly streak

Gamera’s flash-in-the-pan success in the Shōwa era would finally come to a close with Gamera vs. Zigra, the last Gamera movie to be released on a yearly basis since the original, Gamera the Giant Monster. Billed as Gamera vs. The Deep Sea Monster in Japan, Gamesra tackles yet another alien invader, doing battle with the shark-like Zigra. There are aspects to appreciate about this film, from Zigra’s unintentionally hilarious penguin-looking land form to the creative settings of water parks and moon bases.

Unfortunately, this film was the one to break Gamera’s hot streak of annual releases for a reason. The low budget is painfully obvious in the lackluster set design, and like Godzilla’s human plotlines, the boots-on-the-ground narrative of Gamera vs. Zigra is some of the most eyeroll-worthy in the series. Ultimately, the film is the lowest-rated Gamera movie on IMDb for a reason, struggling to tread water against the majority of Gamera films.

9 Gamera Vs. Guiron (1969)

Incredibly strange, but oddly entertaining

As weird as the Godzilla films could sometimes get, the Gamera series was always willing to get weirder, and Gamera vs. Guiron proves as much. This film makes the bold choice to take place almost entirely off-planet, stranding Gamera and some of his beloved human children on the alien planet Terra. The film has some memorable antagonists, from the brain-eating alien women Barbella and Florbella to Guiron himself, whose mighty bladed nose may have inspired a Pacific Rim kaiju.

Gamera vs. Guiron seems quite at-odds with the normally child-friendly antics of Gamera, with Guiron drawing surprising amounts of blood and human child leads Akio and Tom undergoing a frightening hypnosis scene. Yet there’s an odd charm to the juxtaposition of graphic and childish elements Gamera vs. Guiron mashes together. Certainly memorable if nothing else, Gamera vs. Guiron is a fever-dream of an entry in the already strange Gamera franchise.

8 Gamera Vs Barugon (1966)

Picks up where the original left off

Gamera vs. Barugon manages to pivot Gamera from a one-off horror movie monster to a Earth-defending monstrous hero with surprising grace, taking place directly after the events of Gamera the Giant Monster.After Gamera is sent into outer space via the Z-Plan Rocket, the humans on Earth awaken the dormant reptilian monster Barugon while searching for a prized jewel. Only Gamera is capable of defeating the beast, returning to Earth as a guardian rather than a villain.

The human plot of Gamera vs. Barugon is surprisingly decent, and the final battle between the titular monsters is shockingly memorable, ending with Barugon drowning in his own blood. But if there’s one strike against the film, it’s the Barugon’s status as a surreptitious copy of frequent Godzilla collaborator Baragon, another monster who actually premiered the year prior in Frankenstein vs. Baragon. The poster for Gamera vs. Barugon even bears some striking similarities to that film’s, with the two monsters in a suspiciously similar pose.

7 Gamera The Giant Monster (1965)

The film that started it all

Once again walking in the massive footprints of Godzilla, Gamera’s first appearance was also in a solo film that was more of a horror film than a monster-brawling popcorn flick, shot in black-and-white as opposed to the color of the sequels. Gamera the Giant Monster introduces Gamera to audiences for the first time, explaining his origins as a legendary guardian of the lost civilization of Atlantis trapped within an iceberg for millennia. With no other monster to fight, Gamera is instead the villain of this film, swatting away human military efforts.

The Godzilla comparisons are hard to avoid, considering how much Gamera the Giant Monster invites them as a near carbon-copy that came out nearly ten years later. Unlike Godzilla, Gamera also has no poignant subtext as a metaphor for nuclear war, leaving only a straightforward monster movie. When viewed in a vacuum, however, Gamera the Giant Monster is perfectly fine as a straightforward genre movie that doesn’t rock the boat.

6 Gamera Vs. Jiger (1970)

An exciting Shōwa entry with a few sore points

Late into the Shōwa era, Gamera vs. Jiger is one of the best films at perfecting the series’ penchant for conscripting child human protagonists to contribute to fighting a monster threat alongside their giant turtle guardian. This time around, Gamera goes up against one of his most ferocious opponents yet, the demonic Jiger, who is unleashed when the Devil’s Whistle statue is stolen from Wester Island. Gamera works together with the humans to find a way to beat the feral four-legged beast.

This film has an incredibly creative third-act twist, with human children needing to enter Gamera’s bloodstream in order to fight off the infection of Jiger’s parasitic spawn. The human sub-plot evokes the classic sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage of Jules Verne fame, and Jiger presents a worthy foe as Gamera’s first female enemy. While it enjoys the highest IMDb rating of the Shōwa era films, the awkward product placement of World Expo ’70 and the inconsistency of human small arms fire being able to hurt Gamera drag it down a touch.

5 Gamera The Brave (2006)

The most recent Gamera film

After the conclusion of Gamera’s excellent Heisei trilogy, Gamera The Brave re-introduced audiences to the giant flying turtle monster after the rights were purchased by the Kadokawa Corporation in the early 2000s. The film exists in a strange point of limbo, existing in its own unique continuity separate from both eras. Re-doing Gamera’s origin, Gamera The Brave tells the story of a young boy who finds a nascent Gamera egg, nursing it to full size just in time to protect his village from the giant lizard, Zedus.

Gamera The Brave is an incredibly charming movie, treating audiences to an adorable baby Gamera that gets up to all sorts of mischief while developing his bond with the human lead, Toru. It also benefits from being the most recent installment in the series, with some truly impressive puppetry and animatronic work that elevates the franchise to heights never-before-seen. In the end, sadly, the film was a financial failure, perhaps too cutesy to inherit Gamera’s often strange and frightening legacy.

4 Gamera Vs. Gyaos (1967)

Helped sell Gamera as more than a Godzilla clone

Leading up to Gamera vs. Gyaos, the hard-shelled giant monster had a difficult reputation as a copycat, with two films relying heavily on their clear inspiration back-to-back. However, the third film of the Shōwa era would turn this around, selling Gamera’s own unique identity as a protector of children and far more friendly hero than Godzilla. In it, Gamera goes up against the pterodactyl-like Gyaos, awakened from his infernal slumber after a series of volcanic eruptions.

Gamera vs. Gyaos was instrumental in establishing Gamera’s special connection to children, as told through the touching bond he forms with the young boy he saves from Gyaos, Eiichi. The film also introduces Gyaos as Gamera’s greatest archenemy, the King Ghidorah to Gamera’s Godzilla. The iconic Gamera March also owes its existence to this film, standing in hilariously stark contrast to Godzilla’s own menacing theme. Molding Gamera’s identity more than any other film, Gamera vs. Gyaos is the crowning jewel of the Shōwa era.

3 Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe (1995)

The promising start of the Heisei era

As great as the Shōwa era could be, even the weakest film of the Heisei trilogy blows Gamera vs. Gyaos out of the water. Reviving Gamera in the 90s after a lengthy absence, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe stars the 200-foot turtle in a fresh continuity. Emerging from the oceans for the first time, Gamera has to fight off not one, but a whole flock of Gyaos kaiju, now clarified to be an entire species rather than a single kaiju.

The production values of the 90s films put the Shōwa era to shame, freshly flushed with cash from formal rivals, Toho, known for their own run of Godzilla films. Beyond having some excellent giant monster battles, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe also takes Gamera’s bond with children to the next level, establishing a telepathic link with the young girl, Asagi. Marking the start of Gamera’s redemption in the hearts of kaiju fans following the abysmal disappointment of Gamera: Super Monster, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe deserves a lofty position among the franchise.

2 Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996)

Pushed Gamera to the edge like never before

As great as Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is, it holds the rare distinction of being an original film outdone by its sequels, starting with Gamera 2: Attack of Legion. Pitting Heisei era Gamera against his first alien invader, Gamera 2: Attack of Legion pushes Gamera to the limit of his giant monster prowess. After a meteor carrying a swarm of horrific insectoid creatures known simply as Legion assaults the Earth, they quickly summon their queen, Mother Legion, leaving Gamera as the only thing standing in the way of total world domination.

Gamera is forced to be at his most ferocious and animalistic here, struggling to hold back the flood of Legion monsters ravaging the Japanese countryside. Asagi from the previous film returns, with her telepathic link to Gamera coming into play as the reptilian kaiju comes closer to the brink of death than ever before. While Legion may teeter on the edge of unoriginality, bearing a striking resemblance to Godzilla’s Destroyah, it still presents a frightening opponent that raises the stakes of the Gamera franchise with minimal human activity to get in the way.

1 Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999)

One of the best kaiju films ever made, let alone among Gamera movies

Despite leaving a significant three-year gap after Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris ended up being well-worth the wait. The plight of Gamera becoming increasingly frenzied and irate with humans after the second film is continued, as Gamera causes increased collateral damage in his fights with evolved Gyaos, leading him to be labeled as an enemy to the human race once more. As if that weren’t bad enough, a new threat emerges in the form of Iris, a legendary demonic creature with some relation to Gyaos.

The core concept of Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris is incredibly compelling, as Gamera’s enemy begins life with a link to a human child just as Gamera begins to lose his own. The dark-eyed gaze of Ayana as she feeds Iris’ hatred to perform unspeakable acts in the name of revenge is more frightening than any kaiju, putting humanity’s flaws in the spotlight as one of Gamera’s villains for the first time. Captivating for the entirety of its runtime, Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris is the highest-ranked Gamera movie on IMDb for good reason.