2/1/2026

Review of GAMERA THE GIANT MONSTER (1965) - Directed by Noriaki Yuasa and Produced by Daiei Films

This is my first time doing any sort of review, so excuse me if things are abit disorganized. I also watched this film a little over a month ago with a buddy, so some of my knowledge opperates on memory.

What better way to celebrate the winter cyclone ravaging the U.S than by watching a movie about a big turtle that breathes fire? If you're at all familiar with the kaiju genre, you've heard of Gamera, although nowadays he doesn't have as much of a standing with the king of the monsters Godzilla when it comes to the western popularity. He was naturally made to ride off the success of Godzilla, but in a much different way.

The late 60s kaiju boom was all about marketing to children, so Gamera was made with this approachability to a younger audience in mind in his debut film. Although this might be a film for younger audiences, its gray atmosphere and depicting Gamera as an antagonist is just a hair shy from how later films in the Showa era would go completely off the rails when it came to colorful kiddie entertainment.

This film starts off with an unidentified jet being shot down over the arctic, and just like that, the ice cracks open and our chelonian pal appears! The film wastes no time getting into the action. Gamera here isn't as intimidating as some of his other kaiju contemporaries, so there's no need to hide his appearence until the big shocking reveal. I must say, the american military men reporting on the incident of Gamera's awakening to the world sound awfully unimpressed or unmotivated. I wonder how much they got paid to read the script.

While the film features a japanese biologist Dr. Hidaka and his reporter Kyoko who he calls his "good luck charm", much of the film centers around a little boy named Toshio and his obsession with his pet turtle "chee-bi", but alas his parents force him to get rid of it because, in their words, it'll make him "Become less fond of humans", which is pretty stupid. But, it only helps kickstarts his obsession with Gamera so we get to see him up close and personal more, so whatever works!

What follows are various scenes of scientists and military personel grouped together to try and figure out just exactly what Gamera is and how to stop him. What makes him unique here is that not only is he immune to convention tank blasts, missiles, and bombs, but that he consumes firepower and fossil fuels for sustience, and his warpath through a geothermal power plant, a shipping yard, and oil refinery is motivated by such hunger. The military use this hunger to, after a series of failed attempts that are conveniently resolved by a volcanic explosion, lure Gamera into the good old fashioned Big New Superweapon to take him down. Or rather, take him up! I really like how the end-all be-all solution to stopping this giant menace is to simply put him in a jar and shoot him into outer space, as if to say "Screw it! Lets just shoot our problems to another planet!"

I will say, a clever plot point I liked is the "waves" on an ancient atlantian carving depicting Gamera being built as a mystery, only to later reveal that these waves were meant to depict clouds, as Gamera's iconic ability is shown before everyone when he's flipped on his back; that he can pull himself into his shell and fly through the sky with rocket jets! Tying this ability to the then-recent real world sightings of UFOs was also a neat touch, but I feel like this twist was abit too predictable given that they show the "UFO" earlier at the start of the movie that very clearly looks like Gamera's shell. Maybe the filmmakers assumed kids wouldn't notice :p

What would normally be the highlight of the film, that is the city destruction scenes, run short, I do like the use of dolly shots as we see Gamera move through buildings and over highways. Generally the special effects are pretty competent for the time, excluding some accidental shots of an exposed flamethrower pipe in Gamera's mouth when he goes to shoot his fire. The films black and white colorization makes the night scenes look great, especially when Gamera is contrasted against the flames on the water during the fire-eating scene in the movies third act.

All in all, the film is a decent watch if you're interested at all in the kaiju genre, and the adventerous plot, fresh ideas, and competent movie making make it clear why Gamera was a breakout hit. If you're interested in actual human drama with any stakes though, maybe skip this film.

Rating - 6/10

5/24/2026

Review of - Twilight Zone - Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963) - Directed by Richard Donner and Produced by Rod Sterling

Today is Memorial Day Weekend in America. I didn't intend to make this post today, but it just worked out that way. But today is also World Schizophrenia Day, which is more befitting of the topic at hand regarding mental health. Season 5 Episode 3 of The Twilight Zone, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", in which a man in an airplane sees something nobody else seems to notice. So, shoutout to this episode.

One thing I immediately noticed about this episode is that the camera quality was top noche. I could see every pore and every sweat droplet pouring from William Shatner's face. I always did like how old black and white features like these knew how to expertly light the scene so even an entire episode in dark doesn't obscure or blot out clarity. Fitting that this guy plays a character who spends all his time in the air, because his role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek sees him go up even higher into space.

This episode makes it abundantly clear that our character Bob once had a nervous breakdown 6 months ago while on a plane, and so naturally, his only way of going home from the sanitarium he was placed in is of course, another plane ride. How unlucky. This would prime the viewer for the assumption that the things Bob sees are fabrications of his paranoid mind which, mind you, involve a fuzzy man-shaped creature outside his plane window during a storm trying to tear apart the engine. But the episode leaves things ambiguous within the events of the story itself, at least thats what I thought before watching, but maybe not? One of the flight attendants directly tells Bob that what hes seeing out there is something the pilots have also taken notice of, which is not referring to not JUST an engine malfunction, but a very clear "him". Although it could be possibly that the attendant was just trying to, say, feed into Bob's percieved delusion to keep him calm and reassure him.

Strangely this creates a new question of, what were the pilots and staff intending to do with the damaged engine? Maybe they had no idea themselves, and just prayed things would work out and that they would land in time before things went awry.

I know I'm rambling on about this part, but its just me acting like my old critical self. Not a knock to the integrity of the story, because its overall good, and is so simple yet standout that remains to my knowledge one of Twilight's more popular episodes. The acting from both Shatner and White feel very believable, and it combined with the slow desperate crawl of tension and musical score make you almost feel as anxious as Bob is. It feels palpable, brutal, and real.

Side tangent about the "Gremlin" that shows up here, its depiction is interesting. Its woolly fur makes sense for it since it lives in a high altitude area thats freezing cold, but its upturned mouth almost reminds me of the nose of a bat. I wonder if its time in the cold has caused its facial extremities to shrivel, which is why its lips are in such an odd shape. Future designs like in the movie adaptation make it look like a ferocious banshee, which while definitely scarier, can't beat the iconicness of that things weird derp face.

Rating - 7/10

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

6/14/2026

Review of - Backrooms (2026) - Directed by Kane Parsons and Written by Will Soodik

WARNING: This review contains...

for the recently released movie "Backrooms". If you want to see it for yourself, don't scroll any further! (although by the time of writing this its already been around 2 weeks so I dunno, your loss)

Different from my previous reviews, I'll break down the film for its Cinematography, Writing, and Score since there's alot to talk about and its still fresh in my head. But first a refresher for the background of the subject.

"The Backrooms" as you know if you've been online at all, orignated from a 4chan post back in 2019 that surged in popularity, describing a short-horror story scenario in which you may find yourself phasing out of reality and into this sprawling endless maze covered in yellow wallpaper and LED lights where something dangerous could be at any turn. The image attatched to the post, which is actually a real life picture of an empty indoor RC car exhibit taken in 2002, captivated and inspired countless minds to start creating their own spin on the concept. A modern day Creepypasta. It feels almost nostalgic to see the people of the internet go wild in a collaborative horror phenomenon, disregarding how silly some stories originating from it may be.

In 2022, Kane Parsons, an already talented 3D artist and filmmaker at only 16 years old released his first video in what would be a continuous series of found footage style short films. Hollywood was quick to see dollar signs from how much views each video racked up, and the rest is history, bringing us to 2026, in which a live action A24 produced film adaptation of the series hit theaters, notably directed and supervised by Kane himself.

I'm not going for a complete plot breakdown (since I encourage you to see it for yourself), but there will be plot details disclosed here. So...

Cinematography:

Solid. The film uses plenty of claustrophobic shots to make you feel like the walls are almost closing in, but also knows when to pull back and reveal the larger expanse of the complex. One scene in particular that I foumd memorable is when Mary runs out of the kitchen and into the fake street and the camera spins around her, creating a dizzying feeling. It equates to something I've felt before, feeling totally disoriented in a new location that my brain is slowing down to process. The found footage parts of the movie, be it at the start and the middle of the film, are a welcomed adition, but I also feel like they were just there to still pay homage to the found-footage style of the webseries, since there's no new info we would've gotten from them if we were in the characters shoes anyways. There are scenes and environments in the film that feel straight out of a nightmare, and the fact that most of the sets are practical shows how much care went into the movie to make you feel like you're actually trapped with the characters.

Writing:

Good. This film is first and foremost a character dive for Clark, a down on his luck furniture store salesman with a troubled past and a strong notion that society has rejected him, so its alot more personable than you'd expect if you went into this movie thinking it would just all be about say, the wacky new "levels" or creatures the internet made up over the past few years. This, by far, is the best direction the script could've gone. I felt very anchored by both Carl and his therapist Mary, with their actors (Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve) offering a great performance in even some of the subtler moments in terms of facial experessions. I've heard, according to the buzz on the street that is "the internet", that some people say the film was too confusing to them, but honestly given the clout-chasing nature of the modern internet, I have reason to believe they're lying for clout or are intentionally being obtuse. The film explains its whole deal with relatively no room for interpretation. It's almost too in-your-face about it, but contextually it would make sense as our exposition dump comes from Carl, who at this point in the film has found the Backrooms to be his home for some time.

Although, at times I feel like the main point could've been more subtle and not literally spoken to the viewer, but its not enough to remove my immersion, but I can imagine for other people it is. The dread and tension was enough to kept me enthralled to avoid me being taken out of the experience. The "Still-Lifes" in this film are a fascinating concept and gel well with the Backrooms being some faux recreation of our reality, and ultimately also serve as a buildup for Clark's dark mirror, Captain Clark. Everything about this monsters sound design from the thumping of his peg leg to his overwhealming size make the third act chase sequence very effective.

Score:

Great. This part I have the least to comment on. Most of the music is ambient tracks, some of which are directly lifted from the webseries or composed by Kane himself. The fluttery flute music used whenever danger is lurking is very uncanny. I especially like the little cameo from Boards of Canada during the end credits, which apparently is a track that the producers were able to use early before it even released.

Overall the film is delightfully freaky, and despite falling behind in some places, its a spectacular first film for an upcoming director. Not only does it show immense talent from the cast and crew, but it, along with other recently released youtuber-made horror films like Obsession and Iron Lung, show that Hollywood might be looking for some fresh creatives to jolt cinema and bring in those box office numbers. Or they might take the exact wrong approach and think making a "Man Hook Hand Car Door" movie is the right way to go. We'll just have to see.

My next review will be my thoughts on Deltarune Chapter 5, which will be released on the 24th of this month. Stay tuned!

Rating - 7/10

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

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