is a 2020 Japanese

crowdfunded Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

kaiju is a Japanese media genre that focuses on stories involving giant monsters. The word ''kaiju'' can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monster ...

'' biopic film directed by Hiroto Yokokawa. The film was based on

Daiei , based in Kobe, Hyōgo, Kobe, is one of the largest supermarket chains in Japan. In 1957, Isao Nakauchi founded the chain in Osaka near Sembayashi Station on the Keihan train line. Daiei is now under a restructuring process supported by Maruben ...

's unfinished 1964 ''

Gamera is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. Debuting in the 1965 film ''Gamera, the Giant Monster'', the character and the first film were intended to compete with the success of Toho's ''Godzilla'' film ...

'' precursor, '' Giant Horde Beast Nezura'' and stars

Yukijirō Hotaru is a Japanese actor. He is best known for the role of Gonza Kurahashi in the ''Garo'' television franchise. Filmography Films *'' Sexy Battle Girls'' (1986) *'' Time Adventure: Zeccho 5-byo Mae'' (1986) *''Itoshino Half Moon'' (1987) *''Ogenki ...

as a character based on the president of Daiei, Mai Saito, Mach Fumiake, and

Shirō Sano is a Japanese actor. Career Born in Yamanashi Prefecture, Sano lived in Tokyo and Matsue, Shimane as a child, before returning to Tokyo to enter art school. He joined several theatrical troupes, including Jurō Kara's Jōkyō Gekijō. He had h ...

Cast

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

* Kazuma Yoneyama as Yukawa * Norman England as Schmidt * Ippei Osako as

Shigeo Shigeo (written: 茂雄, 茂生, 茂男, 茂夫, 成雄, 成男, 重雄, 重男, 重夫, 繁雄, 繁男, 晟郎, 殖生 or 滋雄) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese swimm ...

* Yoshiro Uchida as Takiyama *

as Azuma *Noboru Sato as Muraoka * Mai Saito as Junko * Mach Fumiake as Monto * Masanori Kikuzawa as Tsukaji *Himawari Ono as Sachiko * Bin Furuya as Oyaji *

Akira Ohashi (born June 6, 1968) is a Japanese actor known in the west for his performances in ''tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainl ...

as Mammoth Nezura

Production

On December 7, 2020, Takuya Imahori and

Michiaki Watanabe , born , (August 19, 1925 – June 23, 2022) was a Japanese film score and television score composer. He worked on various tokusatsu shows and mecha anime. Personal life His son, Toshiyuki Watanabe Toshiyuki Watanabe (渡辺俊幸 ''Watanabe ...

was announced as the film's composers.

Release

Theatrical

''Nezura 1964'' was first released in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

released on December 19, 2020. A month later, it was released nationwide on January 16, 2021.

Home media

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

Giant Horde Beast Nezura

is an unfinished 1964 ''kaiju'' film directed by Mitsuo Murayama and produced by

Daiei Film Daiei Film Co. Ltd. ( Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ''Daiei Eiga Kabushiki Kaisha'') was a Japanese film studio. Founded in 1942 as Dai Nippon Film Co., Ltd., it was one of the major studios during the postwar Golden Age of Japanese cinema, producing ...

. The film's production was shut down by the health department because the wild

brown rat The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat and Parisian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown o ...

s used were escaping the set and had the potential to transmit disease to the surrounding area. Despite the project's cancellation, the studio was not dissuaded from producing more kaiju films, and released ''

Gamera, the Giant Monster is a 1965 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Noriaki Yuasa, with special effects by Yonesaburo Tsukiji. Produced and distributed by Daiei Film, it is the first film in the ''Gamera'' franchise and the Shōwa era. The film stars Eiji Funakos ...

'' the following year.

Development

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

References

External links

Official website
* {{IMDb title, id=11571408 2020 films 2020s Japanese-language films Japanese drama films 2020 biographical drama films Prequel films Prequels Giant monster films Crowdfunded films Kaiju films 2020s monster movies Films about films Films about filmmaking Japanese prequel films