Gappa the Triphibian Monsters

Japanese Title: Daikyoju Gappa
AKA: Monster From a Prehistoric Planet
Director: Haruyasu Noguchi
Actors: Tamio Kawaji, Yoko Yamamoto, Yuji Okada
Year Released: 1967
Genre: Kaiju
See Also: Gamera, Godzilla, et al.
Otaku Alert: Star Tamio Kawaji would go on to appear in Takashi Miike's Gozu, 36 years later.

In 1967 Japan was in the midst of a kaiju boom. Ultraman was on TV. Toho was steady rolling out Godzilla pictures, Daei had both Gamera and Daimajin series, and even Toei got into the act briefly with its kaiju/ninja hybrid, Magic Serpent. Nikkatsu, which would soon abandon all sense and go entirely soft-core porno, threw its hat into the game with Gappa the Triphibian Monsters, a decidedly pedestrian giant monster offering that is obviously not a Toho kaiju film.

The plot fails to inspire: an expedition to the South Seas to find interesting animals for a new theme park stumbles across a baby lizard chicken thing, which the black-face painted Japanese actors portraying islanders call Gappa. In tried-and-true King Kong fashion, the expedition takes the baby back to civilization for extensive exploitation and plot strengthening. Naturally, the baby's two parents come looking for it, trash Japan, face off against inept Special Defense Forces tank and jet fighter models, and breathe optically printed death breath until the film limps over the 90-minute finish line.

When I said Gappa was obviously not a Toho film, I meant that even amongst kaiju films, the special effects are pretty lousy. I'm not sure if it's in the way the monsters are lit, or the way they move their dead plastic eyes, but it's just so obviously guys in bad suits—even more so than in a Toho film.

Also, this was 1967. By now moviegoers expected more than just monsters walking around and knocking things over, as the Gappa parents do. It had been 23 years since the original Godzilla did just that. In the ensuing time, Godzilla had faced off against any number of rubber-suited opponents. The two Gappas are a couple—they could at least act like it and get in some tiffs.

There are some posts on IMDB that assert that Gappa is some kind of winking satire, intentionally cliché ridden and knowing. I don't think it's that sophisticated but I will admit there's more going on than just mere B-movie exploitation. Think about it: the Gappas are foreign tourists, visiting Japan and treating it like trash. They're ugly Americans, running rampant through Japan's tourist attractions. They visit Nikko, pause to knock over a feudal-era castle, and descend on Tokyo. Once finished, they assemble at Haneda Airport and take off into the setting sun, the West. Cue swelling music and footage of quiet, foreigner-free Japan. Vapid, opportunistic cash-in or clever anti-tourism analogy? As it was Nikkatsu's one and only kaiju foray, the world may never know.