20th Anniversary of "Gamera 3"

When one gets to a certain age, time seems to accelerate. A lot of us "old-timers" think that "twenty years ago" means the 1970s or 1980s.

Actually, strange as it may seem, twenty years ago was 1999. And, on March 6, 1999, the release of  Daiei's Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris (the title given on IMDb) took place in Japan. The movie was directed Shusuke Kaneko.

The storyline (in case you geezers forgot):

This final installment of the recent Gamera trilogy begins with schoolgirl Ayana discovering a large egg in a cave that, according to legend, houses demons. The egg hatches into a small monster, which Ayana decides to raise and quickly develops as psychic bond with. As Ayana's monster, named Iris, grows to adulthood, the flying turtle Gamera begins to take an interest in this new potential threat. Who will be the victor in the final battle, and how much of Japan will be left standing at the end?

To this day, the movie's special effects are considered by many to be the best ever of all traditional Japanese "suitmation and miniatures" special effects. They were directed by Shinji Higuchi.

Well, happy 20th anniversary!