Iconic Characters of Horror Fiction: Gyaos

It’s Gamera day, and while the big turtle has already been featured on ICHF, I felt he needed a tribute regardless.  So let’s talk about the second most important monster in Gamera’s pantheon: his arch enemy Gyaos!

In the Showa Gamera movies (i.e. the ones from the 60′s and 70′s), Gyaos was essentially what you’d get if Dracula was a kaiju. A nocturnal monster, Gyaos lived in a massive cave, preyed directly upon humans, could heal from any wound if given time, and was lured by the scent of blood.  Gyaos was also weakened by sunlight, like many film vampires are.  While Gamera’s other foes were similarly outlandish and strange, something about Gyaos stuck out.  The vampiric monster was just a bit creepier than Gamera’s other foes.  Even though Gyaos wasn’t the only man-eater in the bunch, the way it preyed on humans was a bit more personal than the other monsters.  Combine it with the dark, vampiric imagery conjured by Gyaos’s habitat, behavior, and physiology and you get a kaiju that’s a scary in a very unique way.

This is probably why Gyaos was brought back for the 90′s revival of the Gamera series.  While many of Gyaos’s vampiric qualities were either dialed back or dropped entirely, she remained as vile and vicious a foe as ever.  Gamera: Guardian of the Universe portrayed Gyaos as an explicit cannibal, showing the mangled and partially devoured carcasses of her siblings when humans explored her lair.  The flying monster was also a dedicated maneater, and spends much of the movie’s runtime pursuing humans with an outright malevolent hunger.  There’s something primeval about the terror inspired by the sight of a monstrous flying creature hunting down human beings - especially when that creature is so preposterously large that the act itself couldn’t provide it true sustenance.  Gyaos isn’t a maneater out of necessity, but rather for sport.

The threat of Gyaos is compounded by the fact that she can reproduce asexually, allowing the voracious predator to easily dominate the world if she isn’t stopped.  Sequels would show swarms of juvenile Gyaoses, which prove to be every bit the nightmare you’d expect a flock of man-eating flying reptiles the size of blue whales would be.  The 90′s Gamera movies draw a direct parallel between this aspect of the Gyaos horde and mankind.  Gyaos and her kin are the result of an ancient human civilization’s attempt to genetically engineer a perfect organism.  They succeeded too well, and proved to be so destructive and gluttonous that the same civilization had to make Gamera to wipe them out.  The only reason Gyaoses come back from their near-extinction is that pollution caused by humanity has awoken them from dormancy - they are, essentially, every negative byproduct of humanity’s dominance of the planet.  They’re the monsterfication of overpopulation, insustainable consumption, pollution, and wanton greed and gluttony.  Gyaos are the monsters our dark side aspires to be - and we’re only still around because our good sides can make Gameras to fight them.

With a vile personality and reputation, a variety of substantial thematic bases, and a very dynamic and memorable design, Gyaos is more than iconic enough to serve as Gamera’s arch foe.  There’s a reason this monster has been featured in every Gamera movie series so far - and I for one look forward to being menaced by her again in future films.

Iconic Characters of Horror Fiction 23: Gamera

If you haven’t noticed, the last few entries have had slightly smaller descriptions than the others. There’s a couple reasons for this, but the main one is that I need a breather after those Godzilla entries - sort of essayed myself out a bit. I also packed a lot of details about the horror genre as I see it into those five entries - they’re kind of the centerpiece of this series at the moment. Add to that the fact that I have a few heavy hitters planned for the end of the month and you might understand why I need to take a bit of a breather.

So please pardon me if I don’t have a lot to say about our friend Gamera here. It’s kind of appropriate, though - Gamera is a monster that doesn’t need to be complex. His movies are geared towards kids, and are simple and reassuring as a result. That doesn’t mean they’re not horror stories, though - contrary to what many adults believe, children experience horror quite often. Horror just takes on a different, surreal shape - one that the Gamera movie series addresses quite well.

Kids, being small in a world run by physically larger grown ups, have an innate tendency for be afraid of things that are big. Likewise, kids like to pretend to be big themselves - it’s why so many kids get fascinated with dinosaurs when they’re young. Each Gamera movie - at least of the original series - plays on this simple fear. There is a big, grisly monster that wants to hurt people. There is almost always a kid who gets caught up in the action and is scared. And then there’s Gamera, the big monster who explicitly loves and protects all children, flying in to save the day.

People often remark on how strange the plots for these movies get, and ho sometimes they make little sense. Those people need to read the webcomic Axe Cope, because the Gamera movies actually do make perfect sense if you’re a six year old. They are simple and strange and creative as all hell, and they are the tales of terror that every kid would delight to imagine. Fear and monsters are not exclusive to adults - kids just experience them slightly differently.

As for the 90’s Gamera movies… those will probably need a separate article.