Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris

Three years have passed since Gamera defeated Legion and the world is once again plagued by Gyaos, which have now evolved into Hyper Gyaos. Mayumi Nagamine, noted ornithologist, returns to aid the Japanese government in addressing this threat. A graveyard of Gamera fossils is found at the bottom of the sea. Shadowy government agents, occultist Miss Asakura and Kurata Shinya, are meanwhile working with a different agenda, with Asakura believing Gamera to be an evil spirit.

A pair of Gyaos glide across Tokyo's Shibuya district, but are destroyed by Gamera at the cost of 20,000 human lives, causing the Japanese government to order Gamera's immediate destruction. Meanwhile, a young girl named Ayana, whose parents were inadvertently killed by Gamera during his previous battle with Gyaos in 1995, discovers a stone egg sealed within her village temple. The egg hatches a small tentacled creature, whom the girl names "Iris" after her dead pet cat. Iris forms a link with Ayana through an orichalcum pendant and becomes the focus of Ayana's quest for revenge as she seeks to raise her own monster and take vengeance against Gamera. Iris, however, attempts to absorb Ayana in the process of his growth. The girl's classmate manages to free her from Iris' cocoon, but it leaves its lair and kills half of the village's populace, later growing into its adult form. The military attempts to destroy it, but fails.

Iris flies toward the city of Kyoto, where Ayana has been taken by Asakura and Kurata, with Asakura deliberately trying to use the girl to summon Iris. Iris is intercepted in mid-flight by Gamera and the two engage in an aerial battle, but the Japanese army intervenes and knocks Gamera out of the sky with a tactical missile strike. Nagamine and Asagi, the girl once psychically linked with Gamera, retrieve Ayana and attempt unsuccessfully to get her out of Kyoto. Kurata speculates that Gamera was engineered as Humanity's guardian, and as such is a "vessel" capable of being charged with humanity's collective "mana", and expresses a belief that therefore Iris had been deliberately created to defeat Gamera so the Gayos (acting akin a planetary immune systen) could wipe out the human race. Although they don't share Kurata's misanthropy, Nagamine and Asagi think that the mana theory explains fron where Gamera got the energy he used to defeat Legion.

The two monsters meet and continue their fight, but Iris easily gains the upper hand, impaling Gamera and leaving him for dead. Iris then makes its way to the train station and absorbs Ayana, killing Asakura and Kurata in the process. From within Iris' body, Ayana experiences the creature's memories and realizes that her hatred and bitterness have motivated it. Just as she has her epiphany, Gamera plunges his hand deep into Iris' chest and wrenches the girl free, robbing Iris of its human merge. Miss Nagamine and Asagi, trapped within the train station's wreckage, watch helplessly as Iris impales Gamera's hand and begins to syphon his blood, creating fireballs with its tentacles. Gamera blasts off his injured hand and absorbs Iris's fireballs, forming a fiery plasma fist, which he drives into Iris' wounded chest.

Iris explodes, blowing the roof off the crumbling train station. The comatose Ayana still clutched in his fist, Gamera sets the girl down where Nagamine and Asagi are hiding. The women are unable to revive her, but Gamera lets out a roar and Ayana awakens. Gamera leaves the girl wondering why he would save her life after all that she had done. A swarm of Gyaos, thousands strong, begins to descend on Japan intent on destroying their greatest foe once and for all. Asagi says that, although she doesn't share a psychic link with Gamera anymore, she knows he will not back down and fight 'till the end. While the swarm approaches, Gamera lets out a final roar of defiance as he stands his ground in the center of a blazing city.

Composer Kow Otani (pictured) has composed the music for all three Gamera films directed by Shusuke Kaneko.

Many members of the crew who worked on Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris had previous work in the Gamera film series. Director Shusuke Kaneko directed both Gamera the Guardian of the Universe (1995) and Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996).[6] Gamera 3 marks the first Gamera film that Kaneko had screenwriting credits on as he co-wrote the film with Kazunori Ito who had previously written the previous two 1990s Gamera films.[4][5][7] The music composer Kow Otani and special effects director Shinji Higuchi was also a regular with the series, previously working on both films.[1][8][9]

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris was released in Japan on March 3, 1999.[5] The film grossed over $15,000,000 on its release.[2] The film had its North American premiere at G-Fest in 1999 and was also shown at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival.[10][11][12] The film did not have a wide release in North America and was released direct-to-video on DVD on June 10, 2003 by ADV Films.[5][13] The film was released on Blu-ray by Mill Creek Entertainment on September 27, 2011.[13]

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris was followed up by Gamera the Brave directed by Ryuta Tasaki in 2006.[14] The film's plot ignores the events of the three films directed by Kaneko.[14]

In Japan, Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris won the award for Best Sound Recording at the 54th Mainichi Film Concours ceremony.[15]

Western reviewers praised the film as one of the best in the Gamera series commenting on the special effects in the film. Variety stated the film was "somewhat more elaborate" and "grittier and hipper" than Gamera the Guardian of the Universe (1995) and Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996) as well stating that the monster Gamera appeared "more threatening".[2] Variety also described the special effects in the film as "good by model/miniature/animated standards" but felt that were not up to the standards of American special effects.[2] The San Francisco Chronicle felt the film's plot was similar to an episode of The X-Files and praised the special effects in the film opining that "The special effects are terrific, although the monsters still look like guys in rubber suits. Fans of the genre wouldn't have it any other way."[16] Film critic Tom Mes referred to the film as the best Gamera film to date, opining that the film "delivers everything a movie about huge, fighting, city-stomping monsters should have: excitement, slam-bang action sequences, beautifully designed creatures, and yes, even stunning special effects"[17][18] Time felt that the film was stronger than Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, stating the film is stronger "because it has much less Gamera; there's only so much character richness, let alone fun, to be found in shell, teeth, eyes, claws, scales, etc. But the movie has thrills for those who need 'em. Toward the end, a young scientist faces Iris and his doom and, a moment before he dies, screams like a cheerleader at his own immolation: "Oh boy, is this scary? Yes!" I second that notion."[19]

• List of films featuring giant monsters
• List of Japanese films of 1999
• List of science fiction films of the 1990s

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