Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe

"A great duel of supersonic speed."

1995 1h 36m JA

👍

7.4

SOLID

⭐

6.7

IMDB

★7.4TMDB · 171★6.7IMDB · 4,245

FantasyScience FictionActionHorror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A ship runs aground on a mysterious atoll leading to an investigation by insurance representative Kusanagi, who discovers an ancient bead that he gives to his daughter Asagi. Meanwhile, ornithologist Nagamine investigates reports of a new species of large bird named Gyaos. As the Gyaos begin to attack, an ancient guardian with a bond to Asagi emerges.

“A great duel of supersonic speed.”

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Cast

Tsuyoshi Ihara
Yoshinari Yonemori
Shinobu Nakayama
Dr. Mayumi Nagamine
Ayako Fujitani
Asagi Kusanagi
Yukijiro Hotaru
Inspector Tsutomu Osako
Hirotaro Honda
Masaaki Saito
Hatsunori Hasegawa
Colonel Satake
Kōjirō Hongō
Captain of the Nojima
Akira Kubo
Captain of the Kairyumaru

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Writers: Kazunori Ito
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.6× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

31 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Part of the "Gamera (Heisei) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Shusuke Kaneko, shot by Junichi Tozawa. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Kow Otani. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Shizuo Arakawa shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Tsuyoshi Ihara and Shinobu Nakayama and Ayako Fujitani carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Shusuke Kaneko directs. Junichi Tozawa behind the camera. Kow Otani scores. Shizuo Arakawa cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 3.6× over at the box office.
331 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "Gamera (Heisei) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Shusuke Kaneko, shot by Junichi Tozawa. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Kow Otani. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Shizuo Arakawa shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Tsuyoshi Ihara and Shinobu Nakayama and Ayako Fujitani carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "A great duel of supersonic speed.".
10IMDB entry: tt0113142 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 12 themes, including "japan", "monster", "plutonium", "giant monster".