Alternate Titles: Gezora, Ganimes, and Kamoebas: Decisive Battle! Giant Monsters of the South Seas | Yog, Monster from Space
Year: 1970
Director: Ishiro Honda
Special Effects Director: Sadamasa Arikawa
In The Suit: Haruo Nakajima (Gezora & Ganimes), Haruyoshi Nakamura (Kamoebas)

This is another movie that may seem like it has a tenuous connection to the Tohoverse, but two of the monsters appearing in this film will appear in later Godzilla films, and one appears in the NES Godzilla game.

The movie knows we're going to get impatient sitting through the set up, so it starts us off with a teaser during the opening credits showing us the monsters: Ganimes, Gezora, and Kamoebas. Then, to keep up our interest, it has a rocket launch with some familiar narration about "the progress of science" and how we "dream to explore space". However, this movie is a little more realistic about space travel than, say, Mysterians or Monster Zero; we're told that it will take 3.5 years for this unmanned rocket to reach Jupiter (by contrast, we went back and forth between Jupiter and Earth twice just during the course of Monster Zero).

It will never get that far, however, because while out in space the rocket is discovered by our eponymous Space Amoeba, which takes over the ship and turns it around on a dime.

A little later, a reporter, Mr. Kudo (played by Akira Kubo, inventor of the Ladyguard from Monster Zero)...

...notices the Helios returning to Earth on a flight back to Japan from Brazil. He later tries to convince his editor that he saw the rocket return, but the editor and the rest of the bullpen just laugh at him. However, one person does want to talk to him: an Ayako Hoshino (played by Atsuko Takahashi).

She is working for the guy that we call Egg Guy (because of Mothra vs. Godzilla)...

...and they are building a hotel on an island called Selgio island, which is between Hawaii and the Marianas. They want Mr Kudo to go to the island to take publicity photos. He's not interested in that - he also earlier refused to take photos of Ayako when he thought that's what she wanted - but he changes his mind when he finds out that a friend named Dr. Miya (Yoshio Tsuchiya!) is going.

Miya and Kudo had previously worked together on a Mysteries of Japan show that, based on the number of times Toho characters are involved in such shows, going all the way back to Varan, we think is the only show on television in the Tohoverse (excepting the All Shiraishi channel, ofc.)

Miya thinks that Selgio island is a (for lack of a better phrase) Monster Island.

Selgio island also happens to be where Mr. Kudo saw Helios 7 land during his plane flight.

While that group prepares for their journey, we cut to the island where we see some of the hotel crew already stationed there. One of them convinces his friend to go fishing in an area considered taboo by the natives...

...and that gets his friend eaten by Gezora.

The surviving guy runs to the natives and tells them that they were right all along.

Back with the crew headed to the island, they are joined by Makoto Obata (played by Kenji Sahara).

He claims to be an anthropologist going to the island to study the natives, but it's clear he has some more sinister motive. And he's terrible even pretending to be an anthropologist, always scoffing at the natives and their customs.

He's sporting a goatee. He's clearly a bad guy.

When they get off their cruise ship onto the rowboat that will take them to the island, it's said that the island had a Japanese garrison stationed on it during World War II, a fact that will become important later. And when the travelers talk about the recent rumors of giant squid monster attacks, the native steering the boat admonishes them to stop talking about it because "Gezora reads our hearts by telepathy".

There's a bit of confusion when they arrive on shore and they're greeted by the survivor of the Gezora attack, who clearly has post traumatic stress disorder. Everyone's also surprised when Obata decides to stay with them instead of going off to do some anthropology. But they are led by a native up a trail, notice a weird looking turtle, and then go into a cave where it turns out Gezora was resting. Gezora goes on a rampage (no one is too surprised to see the giant squid walking around on land)...

He looks like he's wearing a miter.

He's eventually chased away by rubber bats.

Gezora's rampage has killed the PTSD guy and given the the native guide (Rico, played by Yoshitake Saitou) suction cup shaped frostbite, and also made him catatonic. Even his girlfriend (Saki, played by Yukiko Kobayashi, the "earring girl" from Destroy All Monsters, in brownface here) can't shake him out of it.

It also comes out in the aftermath of that rampage that Obata isn't an anthropologist (What!!??). He's an industrial spy, seeking the plans for what it turns out was going to be an underwater hotel (if that was mentioned earlier in the movie, i missed it). But Obata figures his corporate espionage is moot at this point.

The photographer Kudo is actually pretty optimistic about these events. As he says when they're all going to sleep, "There's one good thing: we're lucky to see a live monster. Let's dream of it.". On that note, everyone falls into a sound sleep.

The next morning they wake up and go scuba diving and confirm that the Helios did indeed land in the nearby water. They are then attacked by Gezora again, and he emits his inky cloud underwater. But they are rescued by porpoises (an event that passes without comment until much later in the movie). In fact, Kudo and Dr. Miya don't seem to know how they escaped, and they have this strange conversation:

Miya: The monster is a squid. The legendary Gezora is back to life.
Kudo: Does it hate rubber?
Miya: I don't know. I know nothing about it. My knowledge of biology is useless.

Only when it's bat-shaped.

Gezora goes on a second land rampage, and even the native shaman's praying doesn't stop him from reaching down with his cartoon tentacles to pick people up and toss them around.

Ha ha ha ha ha!

But they find a clue to how to defeat Gezora when it shows that it doesn't like flame. Which, i mean, sure, but who does like to be burnt with flame? But the idea is that it's got a low temperature (hence the frostbite on Rico) so it's especially vulnerable to flame. It also is attracted to light, apparently.

You'd think the natives might be upset with the Japanese visitors for breaking their taboos and leading a giant monster through their villages, but they proudly show up to supply the main characters with gasoline and rifles. And they also locate a WWII era munitions bunker full of arms and gasoline. So they pour all the gas onto a field...

...and set it on fire.

Like you do.

Gezora barely seems to go in the fire, but we're told that it's badly injured and it crawls back to the sea to die.

Dr. Miya isn't convinced this is the end of things, though. "If only it was just a simple giant squid", he says. And he's right, because we next see Obata who was selfishly trying to flee the Gezora attack, and suddenly there's a weird red blob in the water with him and we then see our next monster, Ganime.

The good news is that Selgio island has the best armed and trained natives ever, and an attack is launched against the giant crab.

This doesn't prevent Ayako from falling into (ha, ha) one of our favorite Toho tropes: the lady falling down for no reason. We have Kubo and her running (from a Ganime far in the distance, as usual), and Kubo is moving fine, but Ayako running over the same spot behind him falls as if there was a giant pit there.

Kubo must walk on air.

He's also a great shot. He turns around, pulls out his rifle, and shoots out both of Ganime's eyes, and even manages to switch over to his camera to get photos of it.

And luckily the WWII era Japanese soldiers just left cans of gasoline all over this island, so they're able to burn up Ganime too.

Our next monster is Kamoebas, that turtle we saw before, which is now infected by the blobby Space Amoeba and grown in size.

She looks so happy and carefree.

But it's not the only thing that's been infected. The corporate spy Obata has also been infected. It's not said why he doesn't grow in size.

The Space Amoeba comminucates with him telling him, "You are no longer a human being - we have taken control. Our aim is to conquer the Earth. And to do that, we must first dominate man. So you have been given the honor of being the first earthman-spaceman".

Meanwhile, Dr. Miya reveals what he has surmised. He says there is only one possibiltiy for what's going on: space creatures.

Everyone nods knowingly.

More: "If this creature is highly developed, it may be able to live in a vacuum.. and it may be able to alter its own cells and pass through the atoms of metal."
"I see."

I don't see!

Saki responds to this information by saying, "I will marry Rico. It will help him get well. We will have a wedding tonight." Sure, marry the comatose guy, that's a marriage that's built on a solid foundation. But it does turn out that the flash photography shakes Rico out of his withdrawn mental state.

We now get into an analysis of the previous reaction to the bats and porpoises. Those creatures use ultrasound. So it's concluded that the Space Amoeba must have a weakness to ultrasound. Of course, doctor!

So they go around the island trying to hide in the caves that bats sleep in, but they find that the bats have all bean burnt to death, except in one final cave where they encounter the possessed Obata.

Evolution takes some truly odd turns.

And he's trying to burn out the poor rubber bats in the final cave.

But the rest of the group does manage to overcome Obata's superstrength and free the bats. And the bats head right for Kamoebas and a second Ganime (because we can't have a giant monster fight with just one giant monster, silly).

Ok, so the Space Amoeba is weak to the ultrasonic noises that bats produce. But why are the bats drawn to the Amoeba?

Anyway, time to shut up and enjoy what we came here for.

I love the way Kamoebas' neck shoots out. That is awesome.

I think the costumes are pretty cool, but once you can see the human knees and legs on the Gezora and Ganime costumes, it's impossible to unsee.

Some time during the fight, there is suddenly an active volcano. The Wikipedia entry claims this is caused by the humans, but that was completely unclear to me watching the film.

I told you during War of the Gargantuas. We are all in great danger from instant volcanoes.

Anyway, eventually the monsters fall into the volcano, and we're told that "not even space creatures" could survive that. Stock footage of an actual volcano somewhere else confirms for us how dangerous they are. It's also said that "Even if a man's cells are taken over, he still has a soul.", so Obata jumps into the volcano too.

And so the invasion of the Space Amoeba is defeated, thanks to the united forces of earth's creatures: Porpoises, bats, and man.

As the preview for this movie told us, it was totally cool.

And i agree. The monster suits are perhaps more cartoonish than the mainline Godzilla films, but Ganime is a better crab than Ebirah was a lobster, and Kamoebas joins a proud line of giant monster turtles.

Godzilla Drinking Game
	Someone thinks it's a good idea to drag a giant monster across the ocean on a raft (giant eggs count).
	Attacking planes fly directly at a monster, with no possibility of avoiding a crash even if the monster didn't swat them down.
	People refuse to believe in the existence of a giant monster even though they've already acknowledged that Godzilla exists.
	A submarine explodes.
	Teens have a dance party on a boat. Two drinks/head smacks if they get attacked by a monster during the party.
	The government is completely ineffective when faced with a corporation doing something illegal.
	A humongous lumbering monster manages to sneak up on someone. Two drinks/head smacks if it's the army and they're supposedly using radar.
	A scientist suddenly figures everything out with little-to-no information and explains it all to everyone.	There's a lot of this. "Only one possibility: space creatures" and the revelation about ultrasound are the prime examples.
	A monster suddenly grows in size just because.	I'm going to count this because there's no explanation for why the animals grow just because they're infected by a Space Amoeba, especially since Obata doesn't grow.
	People expose themselves to major amounts of radiation with no concern.
	Everyone suddenly knows a monster's name. Two drinks/head smacks if everyone else nods appreciatively and repeats it.	The first time we hear Ganime's name is when they say "Ganime is dead".
	Army missiles can't seem to hit a 150+ foot monster and instead explode harmlessly around it.
	A woman falls down for no reason.	Yep yep yep.
	Bad dinosaur science. You have to give a little leeway for the time period, but pretending a children's picture book is a scientific journal is always worth two drinks/smacks.	Not dinosaur science but i'll note that it's said that the only thing that changes about the animals when the Space Amoeba infects them is their size, and, well, i'm not sure if i've ever seen squids, crabs, or turtles that look like that. A special feature included on our DVD that shows the real life versions pretty much confirms that these guys aren't exactly photorealistic.

Monsters Appearing: Ganime, Gezora, Kamoebas