GAPPA: The Triphibian Monster
(1967)
review by Big McLargehuge

1967, the year ever Asian film company on Earth made a giant monster movie, Toho released Son of Godzilla, Daiei released Gamera vs Gyaos, Shochicku Films bludgeoned audiences with The X From Outer Space, Kuk Dong released Yongarry, and Nikkatsu Corporation released Gappa: The Triphibian Monster.

While the world is already more than familiar with the Toho and Daiei franchises the single entry monster movies of the late 60's are much less well known. Only recently has, for example, Yongarry reappeared in DVD format (it never appeared during the reign of VHS), while the other Japanese entries The X From Outer Space and Gappa languished in public domain hell.

There's a good reason for this, both The X From Outer Space and Gappa stink.

I happened on a Media Blasters release of Gappa on VHS at my local video store and for the life of me couldn't remember ever having seen it. But, strange things memories are, about ten minutes into the film I was having weird flashbacks. Had I seen Gappa before and merely forgotten? Nope. Gappa is literally an amalgamation of well-known giant monster clichés put together solely to generate some needed cash for the Nikkatsu Corporation.

The film opens with a research vessel en route to "Obelisk Island". The crew made up, apparently, of reporters for a Japanese magazine, is seeking out exotic South Pacific animals and plants to fill a resort island under construction by the publisher. They find Obelisk Island and a gaggle of natives (taken directly from King Kong Vs Godzilla) and their chants about "Gappa" since no one bothers to describe what the hell a Gappa is so the very modern (for 1967) reporters assume Gappa is a plain old native superstition.

Again, this is borrowed from somewhere else; that somewhere else is every goddamn giant monster movie ever made featuring natives.

The island also features several ornate statues that the natives also refer to as "Gappa" so, of course, the reporters immediately believe them to be related to the statues on Easter Island although the statues on Obelisk Island and Easter Island look nothing like each other.

The reporters stumble off into the caves and find an egg during one of the island's apparently frequent volcanic eruptions. A native boy who appears in almost ever scene of the film warns them not to remove the baby Gappa that hatches from the egg.

Ignoring the pleas of the preteen prognosticator, the crew carts up the baby Gappa and takes it back to Japan to be the feature attraction on the island. The island chieftain cries out that Gappa will be angry and will kill off all of his people when the Japanese leave with the baby Gappa in tow. The reporters smile and laugh and ignore them.

That night the Gappa parents return, find the empty eggshell, and proceed to kill all the natives. Some manage to escape to a passing US Submarine. The Gappas then head off to Japan in search of their baby.

We get to see a whole lot of the Gappas in this movie, and while I generally have a well established suspension of disbelief, the Gappa costumes just fail on every level. They are scaly like lizards, have beaks and wings like birds, and shoot poorly rendered fire from their beaks.

The reason I couldn't put their appearance behind me was simple. The Gappas look just like Sam the American Eagle from The Muppet Show.

Back in Japan the publisher is readying his island playground, know to the world as "Playmate Island" where customers will experience the best of the South Seas without having to actually go to the South Seas to get them.

The Professor explains in detail that he baby Gappa has a strong homing instinct, and because it's sort of birdlike, can communicate with others of its species.

However, one of the crew, the appropriately named "Professor" wants to study the baby and not put it immediately on display. The Publisher won't hear of it but bows to the demands on his very young daughter who, along with the female reporter, has formed a weird motherly bond with the baby monster.

Meanwhile Gappa makes landfall and smashes up Japan's HO scale military (these scenes are the longest of the film's 90+ minute running time). Finally the native kid (who was released into the care of the publisher and reporters by the captain of the US Sub) explains that the Gappas are seeking their baby. The baby is transported t o the airport where a heartfelt reunion occurs and the monsters leave.

The one saving grace of Gappa is that while the costumes suck, the special effects are about on par with Toho's better offerings of the time. Why? Because the effects were put together by Eiji Tsubaraya's effects shop, which coincidentally went independent in 1966 or 1967. So the models of Tokyo are excellent and the military vehicles are very detailed. Some of the effects shots though, are ripped off from other better films. When the Gappa use their wings we get shots like the battle of Sasebo in Rodan, when they shoot fire from their mouths it's like Godzilla in the G films directed by Jun Fukuda. When the Gappas storm through nighttime Tokyo it looks sort of like Gorgo, with the constant changes in monster scale familiar to kaiju fans.

But this is a meager payoff for a long 90 minutes.

Gappa steals liberally from King Kong vs Godzilla, Gorgo, Mothra, and just about every monster movie ever to come from The Land of the Rising Sun. But, unlike those from which it pilfers, Gappa lacks a sense of humor, pathos, and human interaction. You can tell from this review that the characters, when they were on screen didn't make much of an impression on me as I don't have any idea who the hell they are. And I am not watching it again to jot down the names. Believe me, it won't add anything to the viewing experience.

The VHS tape was actually well presented by Media Blasters and features a nice print in widescreen and SP mode, so the picture is nice and sharp. You can also find this film in the American International Television edit under the name Monster from a Prehistoric Planet, which is even more unusual in the title department because there is no mention of planets prehistoric or otherwise, in the film. Beware though, Gappa and The Monster from the Prehistoric Planet are in the public domain and are usually featured as the B-side to a Showa Gamera film (I think Gamera vs. Monster X), or as one of those cheap, shitty 20 movies on two DVD compilations clogging the shelves at your local retailer.