Join Dr. Nagamine, Inspector Osako and the lovely Asagi Kusanagi as they attempt to unravel the mysterious and deadly monster attacks of both the Gyaos and the Legion. With the help of the military, the survival of the human race depends on them. And the fate of the world depends on a gargantuan, aeronautic and flamably breathed reptile - Gamera, the guardian of the universe! This limited edition box set includes all 3 feature films from the Heisei Gamera trilogy, all beautifully remastered in stunning high definition. Also included is a wealth of Bonus Features!

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995) Color 103 mins Not Rated

That giant fire-breathing turtle you loved as a kid is back with a vengeance in GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE.  The all-new science fiction spectacular has been hailed by critic and fans alike as one of the best monster movies ever!  Under the guidance of acclaimed director Shusuke Kaneko (Necronomicon) and screenwriter Kazunori Itô (Ghost In the Shell), the lean, green fighting machine has been reborn with a whole new set of tricks under his 200-foot shell.  Gamera is ready for the new century with stunning state-of-the-art computer animation and dazzling special effects.  The super turtle combats both a misguided military and a hideous race of man-eating flying reptiles.  Aiding Gamera in his fight are a courageous naval officer, an intrepid ornithologist and a beautiful young psychic.  Don t miss the most incredible slam-bang, knock-down monster slug-fest ever filmed as Gamera turtle-waxes the evil Gyaos through downtown Tokyo in GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE!

 Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996) Color 114 mins Not Rated

From the same crew who brought us the effect-juiced Gamera: Guardian of the Universe now comes an even more CGI-enhanced adventure for our tortugan hero.  A freak meteor shower near Sapporo, Japan brings with it more than just a killer light how.  Electrical problems, over-grown plant life and a whole slew of rather irritable critters also drop in to threaten the human race.  Local science instructor Midori Honami (Miki Mizuno) is called to assist the brave Colonel Watarase (Toshiyuki Nagashima) in the military s oft-confused attempts to save mankind.  They must find a way to successfully combine efforts with their reptilian protector, or both will face ultimate destruction from the Earth s bugged-out invaders.  Join the battle as Gamera and his bipedal pals work to repel the Attack of Legion!

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999) 108 minutes / Color / Not Rated

Still reeling after the hard-fought battle to repel Legion, Japan is now reminded of a deadly foe from the past. The Gyaos have returned, and this time the ornery man-eating birds have not only increased their numbers, but also added a menacing new member, Iris, to their destructive little club. Raised by a young girl whose parents Gamera accidentally squished, the flying blood-sucking squid monster Iris takes her learned hatred and goes out on the warpath. Dr. Nagamine and Inspector Osaka are reunited to help Gamera in his relentless quest to protect and save the human race. Can Gamera ground the Gyaos? Can the turtle tie up the terrible tentacles? Do the hapless humans and the rowdy reptile have what it takes to thwart the revenge of Iris?

This Limited Edition Box Set Includes All 3 Feature Films, All Beautifully Re-Mastered in Stunning High Definition!

BONUS MATERIALS: (HIGH-DEFINITION VIDEO AND AUDIO SPECIFICATIONS DO NOT APPLY TO THE BONUS MATERIALS

Gamera 1: Gamera Behind the Scenes, Camera Test and Special Effects

Gamera 2: Uncut version of the The Salvo Scene, Behind the Scenes of the Kasum

• Amazon Sales Rank: #793 in DVD
• Released on: 2011-09-27
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Color, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC
• Original language: Japanese, English
• Running time: 326 minutes

Amazon.com
After decades of derision as a childish Godzilla-wannabe, Japan's monster turtle Gamera roared back in the 1990s with a trio of well-crafted and exciting features that reclaimed the franchise from its threadbare '60s roots; all three films, directed by soft-core specialist turned sci-fi/horror auteur Shusuke Kaneko (Death Note), are featured in this two-disc set, along with a wealth of extras. Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995), which relaunched the Gamera series, and its sequel, Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996), are bundled on the first disc; the former reboots Gamera as an ancient savior of mankind, bioengineered to protect the planet from the pterodactyl-like Gyaos, an old foe from 1967's Gamera vs. Gyaos, while the latter pits him against a race of alien insects with plans for world domination. The trilogy closed with 1999's Revenge of Iris, where the title creature is spurred to defeat Gamera through a psychic link with a young girl whose parents were killed during the turtle's fights with Gyaos. All three films are remarkably sober affairs, on par with the creative scope of Toho's millennial Godzilla features in terms of dramatic storytelling and special effects, though the limitations of the miniature work and monster suits are often highlighted by the Blu-ray detail. The creature-on-creature action is plentiful and, on occasion, violent, and Kaneko's serious and respectful approach does much to relieve fans' concerns about a repeat of the original films' juvenile tone.

Mill Creek previously released Guardian and Legion in a bare-bones double-disc format, as well as a single-disc issue of Iris with several behind-the-scenes extras. The Blu-ray Trilogy set features extras from all three films, though for inexplicable reasons, they have been haphazardly loaded onto the Iris disc as one three-hour standard definition supplement (with chapter breaks). The extras, which include deleted scenes from Iris, location footage from Legion, and camera tests from Guardian, are interesting, but their presentation is cumbersome and, occasionally, incorrectly titled (Behind the Scenes from Guardian is actually the camera test, and so on), which might prove frustrating for viewers. However, the set's relatively low price might help smooth over any ill feelings. --Paul Gaita

Most helpful customer reviews

65 of 70 people found the following review helpful.
This box set is AWESOME
By Mike Phillips
It was only recently, to be honest, that I first learned who Gamera even was. Godzilla? Sure, I grew up on the guy... I've got the lunchbox, have taped the Godzilla's Rockin' New Year's Eve special many times and even saw the Andrew Lloyd Weber adaptation on Broadway during its woefully short run in 1994.

But now there's a NEW guardian of the universe? Why didn't anyone tell me?? Finally, someone did. Specifically, it was a co-worker from the main office of the Tokyo-based manufacturing company (it shall remain nameless) for which I have worked for the last 8 years. He was relocated to New York and has become a rather good friend.

Hunushi is a fantastic resource for all things Japanese. One of those is monster movies ("kaiju" as the genre is called in Japan), and I am also a big fan. Knowing this, Hunushi recommended to me the first Gamera film when it was released in English in 1997. Since then, I have been hooked and wanting more.

Why do I like this Gamera series so much? The special effects are AWESOME, and the dubbing is simply masterful. Forget everything that you thought you knew about dubbed dialogue, as that knowledge is now useless and outdated. The story lines are engaging, the characters are well developed. These are great movies, period.

When I heard that a box set of all three movies (Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, Gamera 2: Attack of Legion and Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris) was available, I jumped on it.

I thought I knew why I was buying this box set, but I had no idea at the time that its most entertaining feature was an as-yet-unknown-to-me DVD extra. Within the extras of the second film, Gamera 2, the English-language director has created an entirely new and hilarious version of that film dubbed almost entirely with "red neck" character voices.

This is an absolute stitch, but in no way did it offend my delicate "kaiju" sensibilities. Gamera remains completely untouched in this tongue-in-cheek version of the film. Only the human contingent, scurrying below, is made to look anything less than admirable. The bottom line is this: I have never laughed harder in my life (by the way, there is also a fantastic DVD extra on the 3rd disc but I'll let you discover that one on your own).

I hope you enjoy these films as much as I have. Thankfully, it looks like Japan's best kept "kaiju" secret has just been let out of the box!

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful.
I like the NEW Big Guy!
By Robert E. Rodden II
I'm amazed by the story lines and special effects in these newer come-back movies of Gamera. The box set was purchased with Christmas money, and I'm glad I did so. Gamera began as low-budget giant monster movies in competition with Godzilla in about 1965. Some of the early films are pretty cheezy, though fun to watch. Kids especially seem to relate to the big turtle. My daughter likes him as much as Godzilla.

The new Gamera pictures carry on the idea that Gamera is here to protect earth, but the story lines are very mature compared to the original films, and the special effects are, at times, amazing. Every bit on a parr with the newer, new millenium Godzilla films of the past five years. The first film in the pack, "Gamera: Guardian of the Universe", was release in 1995, and the others followed about every two years. The origin of Gamera is reinvented here, and explained in a way that is a nice marriage of fantasy and science-fiction. In the first film, Gamara's heroic mythology is backed up by an ancient tablet that predicts a giant creature will rise to combat an horrific darkness. All evidence points to some sort of flesh eating creatures that nearly ate man to extinction in the time when Atlantis was still above water.

The second film, "Attack of Legion", is even better, with an even creepier creature and It's swarming spawn called "Legion" (from the Bible, no less) threatening earth's extiction yet again. The special effects are better in this film, and that's saying a lot, since the first movie was very well done.

I haven't watched the third movie, "Revenge of Iris" yet, but even if it turns out to be disappointing compared to the first two, it was still money worth spending.

All three pictures are presented in anamorphic widescreen, with language options of the original Japanese with English subtitles, or in dubbed English. The soundtracks are in Dolby digital 5.1. I really enjoyed watching the second film in the original Japanese, thus getting to hear the true emotions of the actors. There are a lot of nice extras included on the disks, so take some time to explore.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
Gamera gets an upgrade
By William D. Bolden
Oldschool Gamera is definitely classic kaiju, it just tends to have some of the worst aspects of kaiju built into its roots: annoying little kids, illogical stories, bad set designs, and plots that seem just a skeleton to justify monster fights. Good kaiju, on the other hand, tends to have characters that the viewer can indentify with, a sense of being overwhelmed by the size of the battles, a desperation for survival, allegory to real world problems, and monsters that, though they may be large and scary, are somehow sympathetic at the same time.

That is what I like about this new trilogy. It takes one of the more ludicrous monsters, a large turtle that walks on its hind legs, eats fire and uses atomic jets to propel itself, and gives it as a good of a treatment as I have ever seen a kaiju receive.

The first one has an excellent story, and a great old school "King Kong" kind of feel to it. The second one, which seems to either be the favorite or the most hated depending on who you ask, takes the story a step up (in my opinion) and adds a level of desperation that somehow was lacking in the first one. The fight scenes and effects are improved, though the sense of adventure and human interaction is weakened and the almost add-on moral from the very end seems out of place. The last one is probably the best, and I feel it is such because the story line brings the monster-to-hero so epitomized in the original Gamera idea full circle.

The effects are excellent by kaiju standards (which are still lacking by what some people would want, but I loved them) and the storylines are still a little illogical. The new explanation for the origins is kind of better as far as making sense of the oddity that is Gamera, but not 100% satisfactory. The dubbing and the subbing are both excellent, and I love the fact that I can get wide-screened, well transferred dvds as opposed to the low quality ones with bad dubbing that are normally part of the genre. The features are not the best in the world, but were a nice addition (since I got the movies for the movies, the extras are just some additional icing).