SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our NOVEMBER KAIJU FREAK-OUT series! Saturday, November 5, 2022
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate.
5pm GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE (1995, dir. Shusuke Kaneko, AFGA, Japan, 95mns, DCP)
7:30pm GAMERA 2: ATTACK OF LEGION (1996, dir. Shusuke Kaneko, AFGA, Japan, 100mns, DCP)
9:40pm GAMERA 3: REVENGE OF IRIS (1999, dir. Shusuke Kaneko, AFGA, Japan, 108mns, DCP)
Over the past several years, friends of Secret Movie Club who love anime and kaiju movies have repeatedly admonished us to show the 1990’s Gamera trilogy, often considered one of the high watermarks of Japanese Kaiju cinema.
So we’re listening! And we’re doing it.
Gamera, aka Friend of all Children, a protector who resembles a huge giant turtle (and may be inspired by the tortoise who is one of the four key symbols in Chinese constellations) was originally a Kaiju character of the 1960’s. Godzilla’s slower, if kinder, cousin.
As with so many Kaiju series, the big shelled one had seemed to run his course by the early 1980’s and disappeared from the pop culture scene. But in the mid 1990’s, the Hesei studio decided to reboot Gamera and picked filmmaker Shusuke Kaneko to re-conceptialize and direct the movie.
Kaneko turned out to be the ideal candidate to not only re-boot Gamera but later would also direct one of the greatest Godzilla movies of the 2000’s: Giant Monsters All Out Attack. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves:
In Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995, known in Japan as Gamera: Giant All Out Air Battle), Gamera (our turtle hero) and Gyaos (a huge kind of bird and our villain) are awakened by shipments and testing of plutonium. Taking a more mythic approach to the material, Kaneko shows how Gamera becomes psychically linked to Asagi, a little girl, after she touches a magic amulet. It is Asagi and Gamera who together are eventually able to take on Gyaos in a massive mid-air battle that provides one of the most stunning kaiju sequences of the modern era.
We follow that up with Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996). When the first Gamera proved to be a monster hit, the studio enlisted Kaneko to get out a sequel asap. Kaneko made the wise decision to come up with a foil for Gamera that would be even stronger than Gamera himself. Here that villain is Legion, an insectoid race and their Mother who can overwhelm anyone with their sheer numbers and powers.
Gamera always shows up when the world needs help. And here he does again as the Legion insectoids (incredible Kaiju puppetry and costume work) wreck havoc to Japanese cities just a year after the evil Gyaos did the same.
The climax of the movie finds Gamera overwhelmed by Legion in a way the audience might not expect. And the resolution is. . .well. . .overpowering. And of course it merits a capper to the trilogy so we get…
Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, ups the ante that had already been upped in Gamera 2. Here the psychic bond that gets formed is not between a little girl and world savior Gamera but between a little girl whose parents were accidentally killed by Gamera and the villain kaiju Iris! On top of this Gyaos returns from the first movie and evolves into Hyper Gyaos. So Gamera really has his work cut out for him.
Gamera 3 is often considered the high water point of not only the Gamera re-boot series but also of the kaiju movie in the 1990’s-2000’s pre-Shin Godzilla. The Gamera movies grew increasingly darker and more mind blowing as the trilogy moved on yet retained their understanding that Gamera ultimately represents hope. This is no where better expressed than in the climax to Gamera 3.
So come join us. If you want to discover a kaiju series you might not have known about that is considered the best of the best than get to the Secret Movie Club Theater to watch Gamera, the friend of all Children, take on some pretty bad-a@@ kaiju villains.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
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HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.