Thursday, April 17, 2008

The Horror!? 36: Monster From A Prehistoric Planet aka Gappa (1967)

The greedy owner of Playmate Magazine sends an expedition to a tropical island to populate his soon to be opened theme park (Playmate Land!) with exotic flora and fauna. The explorers soon find something better - a freshly hatched amphibian dino-bird thingy whom the native population calls Gappa. Of course the (very friendly and peaceful) plead with our intrepid imperialists and warn them of Gappa's rage. And yes, of course the thieving bastards ignore it. Soon after our "heroes" leave, the little one's parents appear, finding their child missing and stomping the innocent natives to death. To everyone's delight this will not be the last stomping to occur.
And the stomping is what makes the film worthwhile, although the rest of the movie also has its charms if of a more troublesome kind.Unfortunately the first half of the movie is painfully slow, all set-up without much payoff until the destruction finally starts.
Our heroes are morally reprehensible and their so called "change" is of a sappy dishonesty that would be disgusting were it not so funny. And it's obviously supposed to be a good thing when a female photographer intends to give up her job to become a housewife and marry "an honest and hardworking man".
The monster suits look suspect. The effects scenes are silly but effective if you like your giant monsters battling the Japanese Defense Forces and causing fake looking tidal waves (and who doesn't?).
But the most priceless moment of all is the grand reunion of Little Gappa and its parents, played in an absolutely bizarre mode of honesty and bathos. Afterwards our sweet little family literally flies into the sunset.

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