Gamera, the Giant Monster

A nuclear explosion over the Arctic, set off when a bomber carrying atomic weapons goes down during a Cold War encounter between rival aircraft, awakens Gamera, a giant prehistoric turtle that had lain buried in the ice. The creature makes for Japan, destroying a research ship along the way, and goes on to attack power stations and fuel depots, apparently driven by a need for energy. Scientists and the military struggle to find a way to stop it. Among those caught up in the crisis is a boy, Toshio, who comes to believe the monster is not simply hostile toward humans.

The film was directed by Noriaki Yuasa, who made it as the first of several Gamera features, followed by Gamera vs. Gyaos in 1967, Gamera vs. Guiron in 1969 and Gamera vs. Jiger in 1970. Nisan Takahashi wrote the screenplay, and Eiji Funakoshi plays Dr. Hidaka in a credited cast of twenty-six. Produced by Daiei Film in Japan, the film runs seventy-nine minutes.

Audience response has been moderate: it holds a rating of 5.3 on IMDb from around 4,200 votes and 5.9 on TMDB from a smaller pool of 153 votes, while a critics' rating of 4.8 from five reviews is close to the audience scores rather than sharply divided from them.