Who the heck is Guilala, you ask? He’s the monster of 1967’s Uchuu Daikaijuu Girara (Giant Monster Guilala), better known in the US under the release title here THE X FROM OUTER SPACE, where he was the X, of course! As one of the goofiest looking daikaijus of the era, he was a one-shot cash-in on the Godzillas and Gameras that were making Toho and Daiei lots of bank. Sadly, the film wasn’t that good so it didn’t do well enough for a sequel, and Guilala faded into obscurity. There were a few rumors years ago that Guilala would be resurrected to fight Gappa, but nothing came of that. Until now! SciFi Japan reports that a new Guilala film is being made, to jump onto the wave of kaiju resurgence from Cloverfield. And hopefully without the nausea-inducing shakycam! I haven’t seen the original X From Outer Space in probably ten years, but now it looks like I should do a rewatching to pump myself up for more giant Japanese monster meyham!
The monster Guilala from Shochiku’s bizarre 1967 kaiju feature THE X FROM OUTER SPACE (Uchuu Daikaijuu Girara) will return more than 40 years later in the new feature film GUILALA’S COUNTER ATTACK: THE TOUYAKU SUMMIT ONE-SHOT CRISIS (Girara-no Gyakushuu Touyaku Samitto Kiki Ippatsu, 2008), Shochiku announced at their head office in Tsukiji, Tokyo on January 29th.
In this new diaster movie, the world’s greatest minds gather at the G8 summit in Toyako, Hokkaido, while a Chinese space craft crashes in the outskirts of Sapporo carrying the spores of the space monster Guilala.
The director will be Minoru Kawasaki, who has directed such surreal films as The Earth Defense Gil Iko-chan, Calamari Wrestler, Executive Koala, Beetle the Horn King, Crab Goalkeeper, and Everything Sinks Except Japan. Sounds PERFECT!
Press conference photos: (the other actors are representing former Japanese Prime Ministers. I recognize the Koizumi guy but no one else)
conference videos:
There is already a preview DVD out called I WILL LOSE WEIGHT! DEN ACE: SHORT MARCH OF THE SPACE MONSTER (Giant Space Monster Guilala!)
5 Comments
Avery
February 8, 2008 at 7:30 pmI’m so excited about this new flick!!He was always my favorite kaiju by design.The only thing I’m really worried about is the fact that I keep hearing it’s a parody/spoof??I hope it’s more like “Dai Nipponjin” if it’s gonna be a spoof.Here’s a pic of what the original looked like: http://bp3.blogger.com/_QfaCg-DskZY/R6VBsLaEKKI/AAAAAAAAAjI/Bcwv06NrtGA/s1600-h/wmguilala.jpg and wacky huh??
Tars Tarkas
February 8, 2008 at 7:45 pmThe director is pretty wacky, so it may end up being a spoof but played serious. I think if people are judging the yet-to-be-made film by the preview video fighting the tokusatsu guy it isn’t fair, as I bet that has as much to due with the Guilala universe as the Ike Godman films had to do with Godzilla continuity. Unless they have a koala executive as one of the people who fights Guilala…
dopepope
February 22, 2008 at 3:16 pmI loved the original, and am very excited to see a new one after so long, but I really hope that suit in the pics is not the one they plan to use for the new movie. If so, there stands to be absolutely no advancement of effects what so ever. As much fun as that might be, I don’t know if I’d be able to stomach the terrible effects now that I’m not 8 years old anymore.
GreyGrimGrave
February 26, 2009 at 12:49 pmI hope the movie is more serious than goofie but more than that I hope they make a 6″ Vinyl toy cause I have been collecting the Godzilla ones and really like this Girara Guilala design.
There is a 12″ already out but it’s off scale with my other ones so I wait patiently.
I love the old movies like this even if they have old effects by todays standards. Though they could up it like the latest Gamera movies and blow my mind. Gamera: Revenge of Iris was AMAZING!
I’ll wait and hope for the best.
G
Tars Tarkas
February 28, 2009 at 8:55 pmThe movie is in fact very goofy. However, it may spark enough interest in the character to make some new toys.