Customer Reviews
Unfairly criticized classic 
2006-03-23
I pray that the reviewers who buried this movie meant no real disrespect. You have to place this movie in context, i.e., the period, the technical capabilities of the time, and the budget. Yes, the special effects were cheesy. Some times though real, actual motion looks more realistic than animation. Digitally animated creatures are too perfect, therefore unrealistic in a bizzare way. Also, place Japanese monster movies in context. These creatures are a metaphor for the nuclear menace. Godzilla was radioactive, the Gappas have some sort of electrical field. Today, this context has been lost. Or has it?
Of Parrots and Lizards 
2006-03-14
Early in this flick, they start speaking of a place called "Playmate Land." Boy, did that ever get our attention! We regret to say, however, that Hugh Hefner cuties are not part of the story. An intrepid team of explorers search for exotic animals to populate a new theme park. In true King Kong fashion, they find natives on a remote island that venerate something known as "Gappa." Gappa is a Godzilla-Poll Parrot hybrid. They spit blue fire. They have beaks, wings and a long lizard tail. A huge egg in a spooky cave hatches a sad-faced monster. In true B movie fashion, the explorers take the young creature back to Japan for study and exploitation. Dad and Mom Gappa, however, take issue with this development. The giant adult Gappas stomp across Tokyo, looking for Junior. Fire, explosions, and mayhem ensue.
This is another in an endless line of Japanese sci-fi monster movies of the '60s that displays the peculiar charm of the genre. The FX suffer from low budget constraints, as usual. The volcano that spews sparks and black smoke looks as if it was found among the project rejects of a high school science fair. The acting and dubbing are part of the chuckle-headed fun. As long as one does not expect miracles, genre fans can enjoy the nonsense. ;-)
Diese DVD ist Müll 
2005-12-23
Eigentlich war ich von den Tokyo-Shock DVDs immer sehr angetan...gute Qualität, japanische Tonspur...alles sehr schön.
Bloß bei dieser DVD geht jede Bewegung ruckend von statten. D. h., daß man sich bei jeder Kamerafahrt unweigerlich die Haare rauft - der Filme hat ziemlich viele Kamerafahrten!
Und sie ist während der Nachtszenen derartig dunkel, daß man raten muß, was gerade passiert. Das Dumme dabei ist, daß die Gappas grundsätzlich nachtaktiv zu sein scheinen (das ist bestimmt eine Verschwörung - um die schlechten Monsteranzüge nicht im Hellen zeigen zu müssen :-)).
Dabei ist der Film gar nicht so schlecht....das übliche eben (debile tanzende Eingeborene, der dreckig lachende Gierlappen als Chef des Ganzen und am Schluß fliegen die Gappas in den Sonnenuntergang - wer "Mothra" und "King Kong gegen Godzilla" gesehen hat, kennt den Film eigenlich schon).
Schade drum....
Giant Chickens from a Pre-Cinematic Planet 2005-12-06
SOMEBODY CALL COLONEL SANDERS!!! This movie is definatly one of the more uncommon and obscure films of the kaiju genre. I do vaguely remember seeing this film as a child and am sure I have heard the name "Gappa" before as well. Apparently, this film was Japan's answer the the United Kingdom's film Gorgo(1960). Haruyasu Noguchi is the director of the film and Gappa was his only effort . Of the two films I have to say Gorgo was much more interesting with better special effects and an obviously larger budget. Gappa still deserves a viewing by die hard monster fans and DVD collectors alike.
A Japanese publisher of PlayMate magazine (porn mag?) sends some scientists out to the island of Obelisk to search for exotic creatures. The crew meet up with a young, sappy island kid with some mud on his face and a cropped afro. After some moronic dialogue and futile character introductions, the scientists steal a Gappa baby from a cave on the island. Momma and Poppa Gappa emanate from the cave to discover that their little spud has been stolen from them. Both overgrown chickens proceed towards Tokyo and basically destroy everything in their paths. Check out the big starfish that one of the Gappa's carries in its beak when they first arrive in the city.....very cheesy!!!
GAPPA ANGRY!!! GAPPA ANGRY!!!
Welcome to Obelisk Island...10,056 days without a Gappa attack...aw nuts... 2005-09-13
`Is that an island spewing fire?
Or is that a flying giant rock?
It's the true mystery of the universe,
The Triphibian monster Gappa!'
And that was the theme song that heralded my introduction to Gappa the Triphibian Monsters (1967) aka Monster from a Prehistoric Planet aka Daikyojû Gappa, a late entry into the Japanese giant monster craze of the mid to late 60s, and the only monster movie to be released by Nikkatsu Studios (according to the liner notes, the studio switched to the more profitable genre of softcore prior to going out of business). Directed by Haruyasu Noguchi, and special effects by Akira Watanabe (Godzilla, Godzilla Raids Again, Rodan! The Flying Monster, Destroy All Monsters), the film features performances by Tamio Kawaji (The Weird Love Makers) and Yôko Yamamoto (Duel in the Storm), among others.
Now I'd like to include some additional lyrics, based on what I saw last night...
`Yawn if you will, yawn if you might,
The Triphibian monsters are coming tonight,
Giant chickens attack Japan,
Run no further I have a plan,
Set the table, invite the guests,
With my culinary skills I shall impress,
So little children don't you cry,
Would you like breast, wing, or thigh?'
Okay, I may never get an offer for a recording contract, but at least my addition was on par with the original material. As the film begins we learn of a crew of scientists and journalists traveling on a cargo ship to Obelisk Island, located somewhere in South Seas. Seems they were hired by a wealthy, Japanese publisher to retrieve rare and exotic plant and animal samples, which will become part of a plan that includes opening an amusement park on one of these remote islands...a super fantastic Hello Kitty business venture, if you ask me...anyway, the ship arrives at the island, which is complete with erupting volcano, a small native village, and a really annoying native boy named Saki, and begin exploring, against the protests of the natives, as they fear the awakening of Gappa, whom the explorers assume is some local deity hokum. In a cave, under the volcano, they find not only a lake, but also a giant egg, which begins to hatch after some ground tremors (did I mention the volcano is spewing forth hot magma?). From within the egg something gooey this way comes, in the form of a mucus swathed lizard creature, which the explorers capture and take back with them to Japan...definitely not a good idea, as, after they've gone, something stirs in the underground lake...two somethings, to be exact. Seems the slimy, reptilian infant had parents, and they're none too please to see someone has since buggered off with their offspring. After a less than exciting rampage on the local village (thatch huts crush pretty easily), the terrible twosome use some sort of innate homing senses to locate junior, which leads them to Japan, which leads to much more satisfying things to crush, smash, and destroy (thankfully). It's collateral damage a go-go as Gappa squared unleash their angry fury proving yet again one shouldn't come between giant, fire breathing monster chickens and their children.
I'll tell you what, I'm no expert on the kaijû eiga (monster pictures) genre, but I have seen a few, and Gappa seems like a lesser entry. It's just so boring...we don't see any monsters until about a half hour in, and even then it's the wee one hatched from the egg. We then have to wait another half hour before we actually get some action, as that's when the adult creature rise from their watery respite in search of their baby. An hour is just too long to make the viewers for this kind of film to wait for any real carnage. As I said, I haven't seen a whole lot of these films, but others have said there's really nothing new within the story here, and I'd be inclined to believe them as I found myself oh so tempted to fast forward through the parts of the film that dragged (I didn't). The main strength for this viewer was in the technical aspects, provided by Akira Watanabe. Some of it was lacking, but then some of it was really well done. I thought the cities had quite a bit of detail, especially in terms of the monsters destroying buildings, which didn't fall apart like crummy, stacked blocks, but real, honest to goodness structures. I also thought some of the background sets and lighting aspects done really well. The destruction of the industrial sector was pretty cool, as was the brief, tidal wave sequence. As far as the rest, it was all disposable. The monsters were just goofy. They had beaks and wings like a bird, the body (and tail) of a lizard, walked on two legs, could fly, and tended to spend a lot of time underwater. Oh yeah, they also could breath fire. The story's simplistic, which I normally wouldn't have minded in this type of film, but it's simplicity loaded with sappy `touching moments', especially near the end (fire more rockets, damnit!). And then there's that little native boy...is it written in stone somewhere that every, single one of these film must include a really annoying child presence? If so, they certainly met the requirement here. And you really have to see the kid's appearance to believe it...in trying to pass him off as a South Seas native, the filmmakers took a Japanese boy, covered him in shoe polish, and made him wear a shaved Afro wig. The result is an oriental boy who looks like he's been in the oven an hour too long (I like mine medium rare). The other aspect that really annoyed me was how much time was spent by the characters discussing the virtues of their actions with respect to taking the monster baby. There were basically three groups, the greedy publisher bastich wanted to keep the little runt (it was to be the centerpiece of his theme park), the scientist were interested in research, and then those empathetic to the familial instincts apparently present within the creatures...whatever...SMASH! CRUSH! DESTROY! That's what we came to see...there was some of this, but not nearly enough.
Media Blasters/ Shock Tokyo provides a good-looking widescreen (2.35:1) print on this DVD, but it's not without flaws. The Dolby Digital mono audio comes through cleanly. There's a choice available on this DVD to watch the film with the original dialog with English subtitles, or the film with English dubbing. I preferred the former, but the inclusion of both was nice. There really isn't much in terms of special features, other than some informative liner notes. There are a couple different DVD releases of this film floating around, and Amazon like to mix all the reviews together, so be wary of which version you're getting if interested. Something odd...as I write this, Amazon lists the film at a running time of 60 minutes, but it was more like 90 minutes.
Cookieman108
By the way, it wasn't entirely clear, but it seemed the theme park was meant to be constructed on Obelisk Island, near the spewing volcano...an excellent location, if you ask me.
THIS IS NOT THE [MONSTER FROM A PREHISTORIC PLANET] DVD 
2008-04-21
Technically it's the same movie, but it is not the same dvd. I have (Monster From A Prehistoric Planet) on two different box sets. A 9 movie set simply called GIANT MONSTERS and a 50 movie pack called HORROR CLASSICS. The picture quality is much better in the 50 movie pack set. It maintains a better color level and is not nearly as dark and murky as in the Giant Monsters' set. But if you're really interested in expanding your daikaiju collection get the dvd entitled GAPPA THE TRIPHIBIAN MONSTER. This is shown in 2:35.1 widescreen and with a much better picture quality than any other version. To any and all who think this is the lamest of rubber suit monster movies should see YONGARY MONSTER FROM THE DEEP.
GAPPAS ARE ANGRY 2008-04-17
My family name is Gappa - We are truly an angry people and you DO NOT want to tick us off! I felt sorry for them (though I am biased for my family) being harrassed and shot at for just trying to get what is rightly theirs - their baby.
I now know where my goofy nose comes from! I only wish that I could fly or have that laser beam thing come from my mouth - I did get the inherited ability to destruct things while just walking around, though.
All in all, it is a good story. Someone mentioned a rubber man suit - I couldn't tell because the family resemblance was uncanny.
Gappa a classic not forgotten 2007-12-25
I don't know why people are giving this 1 star. This is a great classic. If you are a big Godzilla fan like me, then you'll enjoy this film. Saw this film when I was a kid, and it's just as good to watch today. Seeing it in widesceen, and the original version is worth to own alone. People who don't care about japanese classic should not review this movie.
Zilla's Gurl 2007-12-14
There is nothing wrong with a giant chicken monster. It is what it is for the time and place...The costuming was brilliant!
This Proves that Rodan has a a brother and sister!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2006-06-16
Gappa is a classic Sc-Fi monster entry that belongs in many Japanese Monster Fans collection. I first bought the Alpha Video Dvd and was disgusted by the condition of the Print. I bought last january the Retromedia double feature, But still I was not satasifed. I fianlly bought the Tokyo Shock version and loved the film more than before. If you are a fan of this film skip Alpha Video's version and Retromedia's and buy this. Also I also tried to by Diamond Entairment's version, But I was unable. My frenid thankfully had it. next to Alpha Video's version it was terrible.
So basically skip all other versions and buy this version !!!!!!!!!
