# Nezura 1964

Nezura 1964 (ネズラ1964, Nezura Ichikyūrokuyon) is a 2020 Japanese crowdfunded kaiju biopic film directed by Hiroto Yokokawa (jp). The film was based on Daiei Film's unfinished 1964 Gamera precursor Giant Horde Beast Nezura (jp) 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.

## Plot

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

* Yukijirō Hotaru as Nagano
* Kazuma Yoneyama as Yukawa
* Norman England (jp) as Schmidt
* Ippei Osako (jp) as Shigeo
* Yoshiro Uchida (jp) as Takiyama
* Shirō Sano as Azuma
* Noboru Sato as Muraoka
* Mai Saito (jp) as Junko
* Mach Fumiake (jp) as Monto
* Masanori Kikuzawa (jp) as Tsukaji
* Himawari Ono (jp) as Sachiko
* Nōmaru Abe (jp) as Mikami
* Bin Furuya as Oyaji
* Akira Ohashi as Mammoth Nezura

## Production

On December 7, 2020, Takuya Imahori and Michiaki Watanabe were announced as the film's composers.
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. Its theme song Nezura March by Mach Fumiake (jp) was also a homage to Gamera March (ja).

## Release
### Theatrical

Nezura 1964 was first released in Tokyo 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

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