Giant Horde Beast Nezura
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Giant Horde Beast Nezura (大群獣ネズラ Daigunjū Nezura) was a canceled 1964 Japanese tokusatsu kaiju film directed by Mitsuo Murayama and written by Kimiyuki Hasegawa, with special effects by Yonesaburo Tsukiji. A precursor to Gamera the Giant Monster, the film entered production at Daiei Tokyo Studio in late 1963 and was scheduled for a New Year 1964 release, but union disputes over the film's use of live rats led to the project's demise. Only about 20 minutes of effects footage was captured, which Gamera director Noriaki Yuasa edited into a trailer that was not seen until the 1980s.[citation needed] A biopic film detailing Giant Horde Beast Nezura's failed production, entitled Nezura 1964, was produced by 3Y Films and released in 2021.
Plot
At a Food Research Institute located on one of Japan's surrounding islands south of Tokyo, scientists develop a revolutionary high-calorie food source labeled the "S602." One of the scientists discovers the nutrient has terrible side effects that cause mutation in those who consume it. Plans to continue with the experiments of S602 are halted and the current supply is supposedly disposed of. An infestation of rats on the island leads to a number of disappearances. An investigation uncovers giant rats attacking and eating livestock, as well as human victims. One of the dead man-sized rats is dissected for study, and a decision is made to spray poison gas on the island to kill all the rats. Many of them escape to the sea and Tokyo is invaded by a horde of rodents as well as an enormous mammoth-sized rat. The rats eventually cannibalize each other, thus eradicating the threat on their own.
Staff[4]
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Mitsuo Murayama
- Written by Kimiyuki Hasegawa
- Planned by Kazumasa Nakano
- Executive producer Hidemasa Nagata
- Cinematography by Kimio Watanabe
- Production design by Koichi Takahashi
- Recording by Kojo Saegusa
- First assistant director Kozo Kanno
- Director of special effects Yonesaburo Tsukiji
- Special effects
- Cinematography by Yuzo Kaneko
- Lighting by Tatsugoro Kimura
- Production design by Takezaburo Watanabe
- Production assistant Kiyoshi Kawamura
- Nezura modeler Ryosaku Takayama[5]
Cast
Appearances
Monsters
Development
In the early 1960s, Japanese film company Daiei began planning to produce a film series that would serve as a competitor to their rival Toho's internationally popular Godzilla franchise. The company's first attempt was a film about a giant octopus, titled Great Demon Beast Dagora. However, they canceled that project in favor of making a film about giant rats attacking Tokyo,[7] taking inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and recent reports of a rat epidemic on an island in the Seto Inland Sea.[3]
Production
In the fall of 1963, the special effects unit at Daiei began filming Giant Horde Beast Nezura at Daiei Tokyo Studio in an attempt to capitalize on the monster movie trend kicked off by Toho's Godzilla. Several still shots and promotional photos for the Nezura movie were produced and released, but the film was canceled by Kojima, the executive at Daiei, due to very bad conditions (lice, ticks, and germs) brought on by the live, untrained sewer rats which they caught to shoot the movie, plus the worry caused for the neighboring town of Daiei Studios.[2]
Daiei did not give up on making a kaiju film, however, and creating Gamera the Giant Monster the following year.[2]
Gallery
A horde of Nezura in a promotional still for Giant Horde Beast Nezura
Ryosaku Takayama compares a Nezura puppet to a rat
Nezura swarming a train
Nezura swarming a house
Nezura swarming a house
Nezura on fire
Crew members attending a memorial service for a rat that was accidentally killed during production
References
This is a list of references for Zillaman98/Sandbox/Giant Horde Beast Nezura. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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