Nezura 1964 (2020)

An under-rat-ed making of a failed Kaiju mockumentary

(Warning! Rat puns ahead!)
Director Yokokawa returned to the mockumentary by giving Kaiju fans an imagined look into the making and scrapping of the 1964 film Giant Horde Beast Nezura. Yokokawa displayed his devotion for the genre and once again made sure that a bit of Tokusatsu history was not forgotten. Before there was Gamera, Daiei began production on their vision of a giant monster to compete with Toho-a horde of rats! This short film showed an enor-mouse amount of love on a tiny budget for the forgotten terrors.

The movie was largely in black and white as if the filming was done in 1963. The film starts with the executives brainstorming ideas for their next big hit. Feeling that their competitor (ahem, Toho’s Godzilla) had grown stale they sought out a new monster to fill the void. After watching Alfred Hitchcock’s Birds and being inspired to use a more common animal, the vile enemy was agreed upon…rats. They also decided to use real rats for filming with their miniature sets. The “documentary” takes us through the miniature set making, the model creator, and the crew trying to make the rats more menacing. Ultimately, they took a truck up and down the streets offering to pay 50 yen for every rat given to them. The street rats were much more active. Unfortunately, they were also carrying fleas and disease. The powers rat be at the Bureau of Public Health upon hearing complaints from nearby residents shut them down. In real life and alluded to in the film, the rats were doused in oil and set on fire to dispose of them more humanely. I doubt the rats thought it was that painless.

I’m not sure who thought rats were a great idea for a film, they are notoriously difficult to work with. Everyone has heard the horror stories of how demanding Jerry was while Tom was a real pussycat to get along with (ancient Tom and Jerry cartoon reference). Jokes aside, because of the difficulties the movie was abandoned after only 3000 ft were shot. This mockumentary did not use any of it, if any footage is still in existence, nor any photo stills. The model for the super giant rat was tusked and frightening. It’s no sec-rat that if they’d stuck with just a guy in a rubber suit and not used disease carrying rodents, the film would have been completed.

Yokokawa gave Nezura the star treatment with a mice little theme song, a jaunty number, sung by Gamera Super Monster’s lead female alien (Fumiake Mach)! Once again Yokokawa preserved a Kaiju from complete obscurity and did so with much respect. The Great Buddha Arrival was more ambitious than this project but his passion for his subjects comes through on the screen, even when using people with little or no acting skill and a miniscule budget. I found the behind the scenes making of the miniatures worthwhile and the filming of rampaging rats interesting even when they were hilariously just sitting around licking themselves.

Though Nezura was canceled before he came to movie life, in his wake, a guardian awoke-Gamera the Invincible in 1965. Gamera would go on to become the guardian of little children. Hindsight says a turtle ended up being a safer choice than a horrifying rat. Gamera squeaked away with the win!

For Kaiju enthusiasts this is an entertaining short film to check out, to see what might have been. There’s nothing earth shattering or rat-ical about it, simply an hour to support one man’s passion for our beloved Kaiju. Sorry for the puns, I was just trying to a-mouse myself.

1/27/23

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