Books of 2024: Week 42 - Handbook for Gamera, Super Monster

Cody learns about a Gamera movie.

THE UNOFFICIAL TOKUSATU FAN’S HANDBOOK FOR GAMERA, SUPER MONSTER by Constantine Furman

I have taken deep dives into the Godzilla franchise over the years and have learned a lot of information about those movies – and while I would have to admit that I’ve forgotten most of that information as time has gone by, at least I knew some stuff about Godzilla at some point. That’s not something I can say about the Gamera franchise, a series that features a giant, flying turtle and has a legion of followers, but hasn’t broken through with the international audience to the degree that Godzilla has. I haven’t watched many of the Gamera movies, I don’t know much at all about this creature... but I’m interested in learning about him, and Constantine Furman’s book The Unofficial Tokusatsu Fan’s Handbook for Gamera, Super Monster is a good source of info, especially when it comes to the movie name-checked in the title, Gamera, Super Monster.

Released in 1980, Gamera, Super Monster was the eighth film in the Gamera franchise, and it’s not a movie that has a good reputation. That’s because it contains a whole lot of stock footage from previous Gamera movies and other films. Although it features several monster battles over the course of its 92 minutes, those battles were constructed using footage from the other seven Gamera movies. So you can understand why a lot of fans are dismissive of this movie. “Clip shows” are not generally well regarded, even if they do have a good amount of newly shot footage sandwiched between the stock footage.

With this Handbook, which largely serves as a text commentary for the film, complete with timestamps, Furman aims to help improve the movie’s reputation. He explains exactly why Gamera, Super Monster was made the way it was – a series of events that includes a studio going bankrupt – and has plenty of positive things to say about it. Director Noriaki Yuasa and writer Niisan Takahashi were put in a tough spot when they were assigned to make a Gamera movie out of stock footage, and as far as Furman is concerned, they did the best job they could have possibly done under the circumstances.

I can’t image there’s much that could be known about Gamera, Super Monster that isn’t included in this book – so if you want to learn all about the most maligned entry in the Gamera series, this Handbook is well worth checking out.