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Nezura 1964

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Nezura 1964
Theatrical release poster
Japanese name
Kanjiネズラ1964
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnNezura Ichikyūrokuyon
Directed byHiroto Yokokawa
Written byHiroto Yokokawa
Kensaku Sakai
Based onGiant Horde Beast Nezura
Produced by
  • Hiroto Yokokawa
  • Kazuma Yoneyama
  • Takuma Asai
  • Avery Guerra
Starring
Music byTakuya Imahori
Michiaki Watanabe
Production
companies
3Y Film
Kadokawa
Distributed by3Y Film
Release dates
  • December 19, 2020 (2020-12-19) (Tokyo)
  • January 16, 2021 (2021-01-16) (Japan)
Running time
55 minutes[1]
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Budget¥3.5 million[1][2]

Nezura 1964 (ネズラ1964, Nezura Ichikyūrokuyon) is a 2020 Japanese crowdfunded kaiju biopic film directed by Hiroto Yokokawa. The film was based on Daiei Film's unfinished 1964 Gamera precursor Giant Horde Beast Nezura and stars Yukijirō Hotaru as a character based on the president of Daiei, Mai Saito (jp), Mach Fumiake (jp), and Shirō Sano. Yokokawa later reused its props for a 2021 short film Yatsuashi (Japanese: ヤツアシ), which was based on Giant Sea Demon Dagora (Japanese: 大海魔ダゴラ), a scrapped Daiei film before Giant Horde Beast Nezura.[3]

Plot

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On July 25, 1963, assistant director Kazuaki Yukawa introduces a documentary about an upcoming Daiei film. At the company's first meeting, producer Shigeo Nagano, stresses the need to come up with a fresh idea to complement their existing franchises. Special effects director Yonejiro Tsukaji suggests a lavish kaiju movie. CEO Yuichi Nagano is impressed and approves it, although director Mitsuo Muraoka points out that one of their competitors just released its own kaiju movie.

Tsukaji and Yukawa, tasked with deciding what kind of monster should star in the film, visit a zoo in Tokyo. However, none of the animals appeal to them. After Yuichi watches a movie featuring birds, he suggests that the monsters should be based on mundane animals. He and Tsukaji settle on rats and announce their decision at an August 5 meeting. The title will be "Giant Horde Beast Nezura", featuring a group of gigantic rats as its premise. Muraoka is skeptical that the rats will cooperate, so Tsukaji agrees to shoot some test footage.

Daiei begins filming test footage on October 10, but the staff find controlling the domesticated rats and decide to use wild rats instead. Tsukaji captures wild rats in downtown Tokyo, which succeed as expected.

Yuichi is delighted with the footage and allows the project to proceed, with Muraoka assigned as the director and Tsukaji as the special effects director. Tsukaji meets with sculptor Takiyama to commission a human-sized Nezura prop. Yuichi records a public announcement of the film, which is scheduled for a January release.

To keep up with Muraoka's insistence on sets covered in rats, Daiei offers the public ¥50 for every rat they bring in. Cages of the animals soon fill a small warehouse. Takiyama completes the prop, and Daiei staff create a Mammoth Nezura puppet as well. The film's actors, including Utsumi, Michiko Ogata, Junko Kamei, and Schmidt, assemble for a table-read. Screenwriter Hasebe's story features the United States and the Soviet Union announcing a joint lunar expedition. Mikami Space Laboratory's experiments on rats, intended to create a new type of space food for the astronauts, instead produce ravenous monsters. The Nezura escape the lab and rampage through Tokyo. A Mammoth Nezura emerges and battles the smaller rats, with the JSDF ultimately killing them all.

However, the rats eventually become infected with fleas and disease, with many crew members forced to wear masks in filming. Tsukaji watches a televised interview between a famous special effects director and his son Azuma, who agree that the public's attention has shifted from film to television, and Tsukaji's mood sours further. Citizens living near the studio interrupt the shoot on October 25 in protest, concerned about the rats spreading disease.

On November 3, Daiei receives a stern letter from the Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health recommending the termination of the film and the rats. A morose Yuichi complies. After Tsukaji immolates the rats the following day, he stands silently amidst one of the sets, then crushes one of the buildings in a fit of rage. Yukawa reflects in his documentary that even though Giant Horde Beast Nezura was a failure, it taught him a lot about filmmaking.

Yukawa visits Yuichi, who has been in poor health, at his home on January 3. The CEO happens upon a small spinning firework and Yukawa offers to light it. The firework's motion gives Yuichi an idea for a new monster spinning through the sky, and they rush off to Daiei to get to work.

Cast

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Production

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On December 7, 2020, Takuya Imahori and Michiaki Watanabe were announced as the film's composers.[18]

The plot focused on the production of Giant Horde Beast Nezura before the Gamera franchise, and various members of film crews and casts have previously participated in Gamera productions.[19] Its theme song Nezura March by Mach Fumiake was also a homage to Gamera March (ja).[20]

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Nezura March"Hiroto YokokawaTakuya Imahori1:21
2."Giant Horde Beast Nezura"Takeyuki TanokuraMichiaki Watanabe1:40
Total length:3:01

Release

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Theatrical

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Nezura 1964 was first released in Tokyo released on December 19, 2020. A month later, it was released nationwide on January 16, 2021.[1]

Home media

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The film was released to DVD in Japan in January 2021[2] and will soon be released in North America by SRS Cinema.[21]

Giant Horde Beast Nezura

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Giant Horde Beast Nezura[22] (大群獣ネズラ, Daigunjū Nezura, lit. 'The Great Rat Swarm') is an unfinished 1964 kaiju film directed by Mitsuo Murayama (jp) and produced by Daiei Film. The film's production was shut down by the health department because the wild brown rats used were escaping the set and had the potential to transmit disease to the surrounding area.[23] Despite the project's cancellation, the studio was not dissuaded from producing more kaiju films, and released Gamera, the Giant Monster which reused Giant Horde Beast Nezura's sets.[19]

The film developers were inspired by Hitchcock’s The Birds "animal attack" concept, but decided to replace birds with giant rats.[19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "ABOUT". nezura1964.com. Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b Miller, Stephen (2020-01-25). "Lost Projects: Giant Horde Beast Nezura". The Kaijuologist. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  3. ^ Nezura 1964 Official X Account, February 10, 2021, 大映は『大群獣ネズラ』以前に本物のタコを用いた『大魔獣ダゴラ』という企画がありました。『ネズラ1964』では、この「ダゴラ」については割愛しましたが、代わりに同ミニチュアセットで横川監督による短編『ヤツアシ』を撮影しました。, X (Twitter)
  4. ^ a b c d e "Makuake｜ガメラの原点！製作陣の挫折と奇跡を描く『ネズラ1964』を映画化したい！｜Makuake（マクアケ）". Makuake(マクアケ) (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  5. ^ "米山冬馬インタビュー". 映画『ネズラ1964』公式サイト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2021-05-09. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  6. ^ "大迫一平インタビュー". 映画『ネズラ1964』公式サイト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  7. ^ a b Natasha Inc. "「ネズラ1964」に佐野史郎と古谷敏が出演、「いちファンとして楽しみ」（動画あり）". 映画ナタリー (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  8. ^ "佐野史郎インタビュー". 映画『ネズラ1964』公式サイト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2021-05-09. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  9. ^ "佐藤昇インタビュー". 映画『ネズラ1964』公式サイト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2021-05-09. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  10. ^ Natasha Inc. "「仮面ライダー555」の斉藤麻衣、「ネズラ1964」で約17年ぶり映画出演". 映画ナタリー (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  11. ^ "斉藤麻衣インタビュー". 映画『ネズラ1964』公式サイト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2021-05-09. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  12. ^ "Gamera Legend Mach Fumiake Joins Cast of NEZURA 1964!". 15 June 2020.
  13. ^ "マッハ文朱インタビュー". 映画『ネズラ1964』公式サイト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  14. ^ "菊沢将憲インタビュー". 映画『ネズラ1964』公式サイト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2020-11-01. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
  15. ^ "小野ひまわりインタビュー". 映画『ネズラ1964』公式サイト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  16. ^ "古谷敏インタビュー". 映画『ネズラ1964』公式サイト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2023-03-16. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  17. ^ "大橋明インタビュー". 映画『ネズラ1964』公式サイト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2021-05-09. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  18. ^ Natasha Inc. "串田アキラがシャウト、渡辺宙明とのタッグ曲を「ネズラ1964」に提供（動画あり）". 映画ナタリー (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  19. ^ a b c Keith Aiken. "NEZURA 1964 -- Exclusive First Look At Concept Art For New Kaiju Movie!". SciFi Japan. Retrieved 2024-12-09.
  20. ^ Nezura1964 Official X account, November 27, 2020, 本日11月27日は『大怪獣ガメラ』公開日！祝ガメラ55周年！そんな記念日に「ガメラマーチ」をオマージュした「ネズラマーチ」を大公開！是非お聴きください♪、X（Twitter）
  21. ^ Keith. "SRS Cinema Secures THE GREAT BUDDHA ARRIVAL and NEZURA 1964 For North American Distribution!". www.scifijapan.com. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
  22. ^ LeMay, John (2019). The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films. Roswell, NM: Bicep Books. ISBN 978-1701683945.
  23. ^ Supekutoru man vs raionmaru : Ushio sōji to pī puro no jidai. Tomio Sagisu (jp). 太田出版. 1999. ISBN 4-87233-466-3. OCLC 676157356.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
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