Released a year after the original movie, War of the Monsters aka Gamera vs. Barugon was the only Gamera movie in the original series where a small child played no important part in proceedings. Released the same year as Godzilla was taking on Ebirah, Gamera's second adventure proved to be even more successful than his first.

In this movie, now in colour, we learn that Gamera, last seen being rocketed skyward while trapped in a giant shuttle has been freed thanks to a meteor hitting the shuttle. Keeping in mind that Gamera can fly, he swiftly returns to Earth where he lays siege to a Dam to produce fire, because as we know he eats the stuff.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to Keisuke (Kojiro Hongo - Wrath of Daimajin), a young man who has just quite his job, and is about to help his brother Ichiro (Akira Natsuki - Destroy All Planets)'s friends to find a Gem on a remote island that Ichiro hid when he was captured as a prisoner of War in WW2. He believes the gem will still be there, because the jungle is supposedly haunted, so he gives them a map, and they have forged papers to impersonate sailors looking for their WW2 casualty relative's bones.
When they arrive, they meet up with the natives, known as the Black Tribe. They warn them against going, but the three men go anyway, led by the money hungry Onodera (Koji Fujiyama - Baby Cart in the Land of Demons). When the third man is killed by a Scorpion Onodera failed to warn him about, he tells Keisuke to stay with him while he gets the first aid kit, but he double crosses him and traps him in the cave.
Keisuke was knocked unconcious, and when he comes to he finds himself with the Black Tribe. They inform him that they must retrieve the Opal or the whole world is in danger. Accompanying him back to Japan is the Tribe's leader Karen (Kyoko Enami - Hiroshima Heartache).

On the ship home, Onodera gets special X-Ray treatment to relieve athletes foot, but accidentally leaves his jacket, with the Opal in the pocket, on the machine. The Opal turns out to be an egg, and the monster Barugon grows out of it. The rays of the machine cause him to grow at a tremendous rate, and it isn't long before he is roughly the same size as Gamera in length, but Barugon is quadrupedal. After he destroys the ship, which Onodera survives, the beast heads to Kyoto to smash it up.His arsenal includes an extendable tongue which can freeze anything within the vicinity, and a 'Rainbow Ray'. This is a multicoloured heat weapon he uses to eliminate a missile attack. The heat of this attracts Gamera, and the two have a brief scrap before Barugon freezes him and carries on his merry way.
Karen reveals that her tribe once defeated Barugon before, and that his weakness is water. He is apparently drawn to a Crystal she has brought with her, and after several attempts to draw him into a lake, the one that is looking like a success is sabotaged when Onodera steals the crystal, only to be eaten, with the last hope of humanity in his hands, by Barugon.
But Keisuke discovers that the creature's Raindbow Ray can be deflected by mirrors, after wounding the creature with a giant mirror deflection of his ray, they realise he won't shoot it again, so are at a loss as to how to stop him.
But firing the Rainbow Ray once again let off immense heat, heat that woke up the frozen Gamera. Not only is he hungry, but now he is also angry, who will be the victor, and what will they do next, in the war of the monsters?

I have said in every review I have done of a dubbed movie that I feel it is hard to criticise the actors without hearing their voices. I find it even harder doing it for a subtitled movie, which is the format in which I own this film. None of the actors seemed to be bad though, and the only standout was Kyoko Enami, who I felt went slightly over the top with her acting on occasion.

Musically, the movie is standard Japanese monster fare. While the Godzilla movies boasted masterful scores by Akira Ifukube, Gamera didn't have as good a composer, but the music in the movie is pretty good and suitable. Typical overly-dramatic score for the monster battles, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

The special effects in the movie, while not perfect, I have to say I was moderately impressed by. While people often chuckle at the effects in these movies, especially Gamera ones, some of the effects here are really quite good. Barugon's egg hatching looks great, and his constantly glowing spines are pretty cool. I also liked the part where Baurgon freezes a fighter jet and it shatters, which is accomplished pretty well for a low budgeted 1966 picture.
The monsters themselves look pretty good. The Gamera suit looks a little better than it did in the original movie, and I love the pose he strikes for breathing fire now, and Barugon looks very good apart from his eyes, which I feel are too large.
Naturally not all of the effects are very good, the rainbow ray is as dumb as it sounds and Barugon's tongue looks silly, but every Japanese monster movie needs at least one bad effect.

Given that this is probably the most 'serious' of all of the original Gamera movies, I would have loved to have given it a better score, however, the movie isn't really all that exciting. Gamera is hardly even in the movie!, we probably see about as much flashback footage from the first movie of him as we do new footage, Barugon doesn't exactly hog the camera either, while I don't mind sparse monster action as long as the movie has good human characters and a decent story, this movie doesn't really have either.
Another fault which may be caused by my version of the movie, is that it is far too dark. On occasion I was left trying to work out exactly what Barugon was doing, given I couldn't make out much more than a rough shape of him.
The last battle is also spoiled by not being able to actually see most of it.

Like the first movie, this was actually trying to be a proper monster movie, one that would compete with the best Godzilla had to offer, and like that movie, it fails in doing so. The film doesn't generate any real sense of excitement, and isn't even all that funny for those who go into these movies with the sole purpose of laughing at them.
There are also some plot faults, such as Onodera trying to steal a Crystal being used to save the world, but for the most part there isn't anything that I wouldn't expect from this type of movie in terms of bad plot.

I would say that this movie is only really for fans of the genre and Gamera. It really doesn't have enough going for it to appeal to casual fans of the genre or those looking for a bad movie to laugh at. The movie drags on too much to keep these people interested, however if you like your Japanese monster flicks, there are worse ways to spend your time, and if you can find a better version than the one I own, you will probably have a decent afternoon/late night's viewing.

Related Reviews
Gammera the Invincible
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
Gamera 2: The Advent of Legion
Gamera 3: The Awakening of Iris

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4