Production credits •
Noriaki Yuasa – director, special effects director • Kazufumi Fuji – special effects photography • Shima Abe – assistant special effects director • Tomohisa Yano – special effects art director • Yuzo Kaneko – special effects synthesis • Masao Kobayashi – assistant director • Yukio Okumura – sound • Heihachi Kuboe – lighting • Akira Inoue – art director • Nobuyoshi Ogura – sound effects
Gamera vs. Gyaos was planned immediately after the release of
Gamera vs. Barugon and it was decided that the third film would be targeted towards children. The film was financed through the UniJapan Film Association. The film's production cost was ¥60 million ($167,000), however, this figure does not include studio overhead, cast and crew salaries under contract, nor print and advertisement. Due to the underperformance of
Gamera vs. Barugon, Daiei president
Masaichi Nagata assigned
Noriaki Yuasa as the director and special effects director due to the first
Gamera film, directed by Yuasa, being a success. When Naoyuki Abe was cast, many mistook him as Yuasa's son. A real office in
Akasaka, Tokyo was used for the road construction board meeting after Yuasa asked the son of the company's president (working for Daiei at the time) to arrange the location. Daiei's dubbing studio was used as a laboratory set in the film's opening, with a few set pieces attached. The park scenes were filmed in
Setagaya at the Futako-Tamagawa garden. Scenes of
Nagoya Stadium were filmed at
Ajinomoto Stadium. The ending theme ''Gamera's Song'' was composed and arranged by Akira Komachi, lyrics by Hidemasa Nagata, and performed by the Hibari Children's Choir. The song was released by Daiei Records as a single. Historian August Ragone deduced that the song may have been inspired by the instrumental release of "Gammera" by The Moons, a song produced specifically for the American release of the first
Gamera film. The film, along with
Wrath of Daimajin (1966) and other Daiei Film productions, obtained tax-based loans from the governmental foundation , which was established under the influence from
Masaichi Nagata to support declining domestic film industries by exporting productions to global markets. This resulted in appointing foreign cast members and enhanced child-friendly direction for subsequent Gamera films.
Writing Gyaos was created as a response to Toho's
Frankenstein Conquers the World and
The War of the Gargantuas. Yuasa pitched to writer Niisan Takahashi an idea to turn Dracula into a
kaiju. Yuasa approached the film like a children's book, after feeling that children became bored during the human scenes of the previous films. Yuasa held a meeting to discuss how to jump into the action scenes as quickly as possible to retain children's attention. The film's opening was inspired by real volcanic eruptions from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Kamchatka that were happening at the time of production, with fears that
Mount Fuji would become active. The expressway protest was inspired by the
Sanrizuka opposition against the construction of the New Tokyo International Airport. Producer and senior managing director
Hidemasa Nagata wanted to include the protest because he found societal issues made films more interesting. Nagata also wanted a correlation between the protest, roadblocks, bid hike, and Gyaos' awakening, stating, "I want to let the children know that there were consequences for doing bad things." In an early draft, Takahashi used the working title
Gamera vs. Vampire. Gyaos was named "Vampyra" and stood 67 meters high with a wingspan of 172 meters. Nagata coined the name "Gyaos" for the monster. Yuasa "hated" adding scenes with military and scientific figures on the film, and other films as well, feeling that the characters were "useless" but seemed obligatory due to the 1954 film
Godzilla. On Eiichi's role, Yuasa stated, "we wanted all the ideas to come from the child. It may be a bit silly but we didn't want theories of the adults to work in the Gamera universe". Yuasa made Eiichi point out Gyaos' nocturnal nature, feeling that it was a detail only a child would notice. Yuasa felt one of the film's messages was to show the purity of children, stating, "I think the main point of the whole film is that Eiichi and Gamera had some sort of bond or one mind. I thought that was better than some needless exposition." The car split scene was added after Takahashi saw the Toyota Corolla deluxe at a motor show, as a result, the vehicle was not produced for the film.
Special effects The special effects were directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Gyaos was designed by art director Akira Inoue. The Gamera suit was recycled from
Gamera vs. Barugon, however, the eyes were modified to look more friendly. The upper-half portion of the suit from
Gamera, the Giant Monster was recycled for fire-breathing scenes. The Gamera shell that Eiichi rides was a full scale prop built at 20 meters square. The monster footage was filmed on an indoor soundstage set. Yuasa recalled spending time, energy, and money on the shot of the miniature volcano exploding, however, he later felt the result was not worth it. Yuasa disliked the oatmeal formula used to simulate flowing lava in other films and instead backlit translucent molds and had them pulled by hidden cables. Yuasa felt that nighttime matching shots were easier to achieve than daytime opticals due to film elements not requiring precision. The Gyaos cave was a set constructed at Daiei. For the scene with Okabe being lifted by Gyaos, the camera was tilted at a 90 degree angle while the background shifted horizontally. The full scale Gyaos claw was operated by three people that required them to pull on a cable attached to it. Historian Stuart Galbraith IV deduced that the giant Gyaos claw was recycled for Gyaos' severed toes. Gamera's blood was pumped manually by the crew, which Yuasa found difficult to match the animation to Gyaos' beam. For the shot of Eiichi climbing Gamera's shell, Yuasa filmed a stunt double climbing a ladder that was later layered into the shell. The Highland Park miniature was based on
Fuji-Q Highland. The Hotel Hi-land miniature was inspired by the
Hotel New Otani Tokyo, which upset the then-hotel president and told Daiei president
Masaichi Nagata, "we're barely open yet Gamera has already broken it." For the scene of Gamera recovering underwater, a 20 centimeter prop was built and filmed in a fish tank. Lighting up Gamera's leg sockets for flying scenes cost ¥12,000 ($33) per socket. Gyaos' beam required optical work that cost ¥3,500 per cut. ==English versions==