[Thanks to Pat Dahn for the following review.]
Two men are on a boat late at night. One is drinking, the other looks worried - the engine isn't working, it's like something is tangled in it. A slimy black mass bobs on the surface of the water. And suddenly- it rises far above the boat. It looks like... oh God... it's HAIR!
This is GEHARA, our monster for the night: long-haired, dark, the star of the movie.
Waves crash on a rocky shore and we rip through some quick character development - but Gehara is too fast! In fact the movie plays almost like the highlight reel of a full-length monster movie, tearing from one scene to the next while the human characters are left somewhat dumbfounded.
And it's a blast the entire time. Each low budget effects trick and ham-fisted line delivery is pulled with such evident joy that you can't help but be charmed - charmed by crumbling model buildings and green screen backgrounds that don't quite mesh, or charmed by the variant spellings of Geharha. None of which is not to say that the film-making here is inep t- they create chaos with gusto, and it feels like a loving homage to mass destruction in miniature form.
GEHARA: THE LONG-HAIRED GIANT MONSTER screens with the full-length MONSTER X STRIKES BACK: ATTACK THE G8 SUMMIT on June 19th and 28th
Review by Pat Dahn