Gappa on Blu-Ray

[Benjamin Haines]

[SeaHawk]

Surely that's an error and their "fresh high-definition transfer" isn't the 15 year old 1.78:1 Monsters HD transfer, but instead the also no longer new anymore Nikkatsu 2.35:1 HD transfer. I'm not buying this regardless. Yet another missed opportunity for a comprehensive release of a kaiju film that has a neglected major alternate version featuring unique footage. Next!

[H-Man]

I haven't touched the Media Blasters DVD in years until just now when I pulled it from the shelf to check the run time(s). In fact, the copy I usually watch is the full screen U.S. version from the 2004 Retromedia disc, so I'm pretty unfamiliar with most of the versions I have copies of. However, it seems to me the Japanese version should be approximately 83:40 in length.

Media Blasters DVD ("Japanese version"): 83:38
Media Blasters DVD ("English version"): 83:31
Monsters HD (English audio married to Japanese visuals): 83:16
German DVD (Japanese visuals): 83:41 (rough estimate calculating PAL to NTSC)
Retromedia DVD (): 90:00

Nikkatsu's export version/the U.S. version features extended special effects sequences, compiled .

As SeaHawk mentioned, the Monsters HD transfer is 1.78 with only the opening credits in the correct 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

[lhb412]

I can't say I have much confidence in Media Blasters, but considering the only other version of the film I own is their initial release from 20 years ago, which is so, so very poor, I'm down for even an imperfect upgrade.

... which is to say I just pre-ordered this.

[H-Man]

[SeaHawk]

It would help this fandom out a lot if it had a Tim Lucas to push these lazy distributors to do more than the bare minimum.

[O.Supreme]

It's odd that this release is scheduled for 2/25, when a bunch of other items on my Amazon wish list are coming out. I am definitely passing on this though, as I'm almost certain the DVD WILL be the same one from 20 years ago, I cant speak to the Blu Ray, but I really, really hope I am wrong. However since Media Blasters hasn't put out any release in years, it surprises me that this is actually happening, but at the same time, not surprising considering what little effort it is to regurgitate something you've already done.

I'm sure fans in the know will keep us informed. If this release offers anything the MB 2000 DVD, or any of the MFAPP releases don't already offer, then I may consider it.

[Jinzo Ningen]

[lhb412]

Well, yesterday was the release date and no one who pre-ordered it anywhere has received it or even been notified that it shipped. Ah, Media Blasters; don't ever change!

[John Schuermann]

Gappa angry.

[william newell]

According to Media Blasters Facebook page, this is in the duplication process and will go out the end of this week or early next week. Here's hoping!

[O.Supreme]

as in duplication of the DVD from 2000?

[tbeasley]

I'm tempted to pick these up just to say I have every Nikkatsu kaiju film.

[Benjamin Haines]

^ The trailer for Death Kappa made me want to never watch the movie.

[tbeasley]

I like the trailer! It's more fun than the movie, and right at home with those faux trailers made for Grindhouse.



Too bad about the movie, though. This and Monster X Strikes Back are the lowest of the low.

[Benjamin Haines]

^ The Death Kappa trailer may have a VHS-esque video filter and onscreen graphics saying things like "SPECTACULAR VIOLENCE!!!" but it can't mask how the footage from the movie is missing the mark. Grindhouse was awesome but it inspired a wave of low-rate imitators who seemed to conflate Grindhouse's intentionally tattered visual aesthetic with the kind of Friedberg/Seltzer-style genre parody movies that just try to be bad movies on purpose. That wasn't what Grindhouse was about at all. Planet Terror, Death Proof and all of the faux trailers and adverts between them were about embracing the tropes of '80s zombie movies and '70s car chase flicks, taking the experience of watching them in old movie theaters and distilling them into a modern concoction. They're as much about becoming the genuine article as they are about paying tribute to it, more like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz than any of the Grindhouse imitators that followed.

Just based on the 96 seconds of footage in the Death Kappa trailer, the movie is clearly chasing that "we'll make it so bad it's good!" nonsense that parodies like Disaster Movie and Epic Movie kept trying to pass off as comedy in the mid-2000s. Death Kappa may have monster suits and miniature effects but that alone doesn't capture the vibe of the actual kaiju genre, and all of the frenetic camera work and Zack Snyder-esque speed-up/slow-down action just makes it look like a terrible knockoff. This is the last thing that I want to see done with the kaiju genre.

[O.Supreme]

There was a time I was trying to grab up every Kaiju film I could. After one watch of Death Kappa on DVD after its initial release...I promptly sold it on eBay, along with Garuda, which is arguably not nearly as bad as DK. But for some reason I still have Yonggary (1998) and Monster X Strikes back...I have no intention of watching either of them ever again...yet there they sit on my DVD shelf .

Still no reviews on the Gappa Blu ray yet eh???