DVD REVIEW: GAPPA FRANKENSTEINS FLIEGENDE MONSTER
DVD REVIEW: CMV LASERVISION / ALIVE [ 2006 ] 78'
DVD REVIEW: AVG. BITRATE: 5.23 Mb/sec
WTFFILM RATING:

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DAIKYOJU GAPPA was not a film I liked upon first viewing - in fact, it's one I never thought I'd like at all. But my opinion of the film has altered pretty drastically over the 8 years since I first saw it. Media Blasters released the film officially to US shores in 2000 in the form of two highly overpriced VHS tapes and 1 overpriced DVD. The DVD version was non-anamorphic and looked to have been sourced from a transfer meant for LD release - needless to say, the release hasn't aged well over the years. In 2006 German releasing company CMV Laservision released the film again, this time in a limited edition of 399 and under the German release title of GAPPA FRANKENSTEINS FLIEGENDE MONSTER.

To say that this release is an improvement over Media Blasters' would be a vast understatement . . . but more on that later in the article.

The film itself is a sentimental monster effort that pokes a bit of fun at kaiju conventions of the time while making strong statements about the state of family life in Japan in the 1960's. The monsters are some of the more original (Guilala surpasses but is far goofier) to ever grace the silver screen and should definitely please the kid in all of us. Good stuff.

THE FEATURE PRESENTATION:

CMV Laservision presents DAIKYOJU GAPPA in a strong progressive and anamorphic transfer at an aspect ratio of approximately 2.41:1. Colors and contrast are both spot on, be it day or night, and print damage is limited to minor speckling and a faint vertical band every now and again. Overall, the film looks absolutely fantastic and the colorful photography really shines through. WTFFILM noticed very minor encoding issues in low light high motion scenes, no doubt due to the feature being put onto a single layer disc alongside all the extras. These issues were unnoticeable when I viewed the film on my standard television but became more noticeable (though never outright distracting) when I viewed the disc at higher resolution.

Audio is presented in either German or Japanese 2 channel monophonic - the latter track is definitely the stronger of the two, sounding almost pristine. The German dub is decent but sounds to be sourced from a fairly worn print of the film. English subtitles are included in an attractive and legible font, though they subtitle the German version of the proceedings as opposed to the Japanese - this is no issue for the most part, though the subtitles do occasionally deviate from fitting with the Japanese dialogue. They are still an improvement over the dubtitles provided by the Media Blasters release from 2000.

A minor offense committed by the company is that the ending of the film has been edited (shortened) from its original Japanese version in order to fit with the German dub track present. The original Japanese ending (progressive, anamorphic 2.41:1 as well) is available as the first option in the extensive extras, however. The version of the film presented as the feature runs 78 minutes (approximately 82 minutes after the 4% PAL speedup is taken into account) while the original Japanese version runs 84. It's important to note that both these versions are shorter than that which aired on American television in the 70's (90 minutes), but more on that when we get to the extras.

THE EXTRAS:

First up in the extensive collection of extras are three trailers for the film - the original Japanese, International and German. The latter two are ostensibly the same, only with different narration and intertitles, while the Japanese is a different beast all together. All are presented progressive and anamorphic with the International trailer fairing better than the rest in terms of print damage and overall aesthetics (though the narration is one of the more annoying I've ever heard). A bonus trailer for YONGARY: MONSTER FROM THE DEEP (under the German title of GODZILLAS TODESPRANKE) is included as well - the trailer is anamorphic and progressive and looks quite strong, though it definitely shows its age. Also included are the alternate German re-release credits for the film (under the title INVASION DER FLIEGENDEN BESTIEN), presented in non-anamorphic and non-progressive 2.10:1.

Next up is a short real of behind-the-scenes footage and stills - the footage itself is intriguing, though it only lasts a little over a minute. The still photos bring this extra to roughly five minutes in running time. There is also a promotional image gallery, including posters, lobby cards, and more GAPPA oriented odds and ends - this also runs 5 minutes. I previously mentioned that the American television of the film had a longer running time than the original Japanese - this is because it was based off the International version of the film, a version that included considerably more monster footage (presumably to aid with marketing the film to audiences who didn't care so much about the plot line). That additional monster footage is included here for posterity, though presented as never before seen on these shores. Anamorphically enhanced, but not progressive, the footage is presented in approximately 2.10:1 widescreen. It appears to be sourced from the German VHS of the title and, while a little dark, quality is certainly passable. Total running time for this feature is just over seventeen minutes.

With the inclusion of the original Japanese ending for the film, the extras are thoroughly stacked in this disc's favor. My only concern is that the disc is single layered and would have benefited from the extra bitrate headroom provided by the dual layer format given the amount of content contained.

And submitted for your approval is a bit of media from this release. All files are encoded in the high quality XVID format without watermarking. Please right-click to save these files.

GAPPA: BEHIND THE SCENES (5:04; 25 MB)
GAPPA: EXTENDED MONSTER SCENES (17:21; 60 MB)
YONGARY: GERMAN TRAILER (1.39; 12 MB)

THE OVERALL PRESENTATION:

GAPPA FRANKENSTEINS FLIEGENDE MONSTER comes housed in a very attractive book-type case with an opaque black disc tray. The front cover features the awesome German poster artwork (my favorite poster for this film) while the back presents us with the usual few stills, synopsis, and DVD features (this is all presented in German, of course). The disc itself is adorned with the German poster art as well. Menus are attractive and minimally animated (the fire emanating from Gappa's mouth sizzles with heat as spotlights shine behind him) and easily accessible, be you a German speaker or not. There are certainly no complaints to be had here.

THE VERDICT:

CMV Laservision presents the world with a release of this film that gives the R2 Japanese disc a run for its money (particularly given that it costs roughly half of what the Japanese disc does). The disc is quite strong, even if it is only a single layered, and a huge step up from the domestic Media Blasters release. This one comes highly recommended to fans of the film and other kaiju enthusiasts. Just remember that quantities are limited (only 399??) so those of you looking to pick it up should do so with some haste.