Godzilla vs. The Wolfman (1983-Film)

## Godzilla vs. the wolfman (1981-1983)

***Godzilla vs. Wolfman*** (伝説の巨獣狼男対ゴジラ *Densetsu-no Kyoju Ookami Otoko tai Gojira*?, lit. *Legendary Beast Wolfman Against Godzilla*) is a fan film directed and produced by Shizuo Nakajima and several former filmmakers of Toho in 1983.

***Legendary Giant Beast Wolfman vs. Godzilla*** (伝説の巨獣狼男対ゴジラ, *Densetsu no Kyojū Ōkami Otoko tai Gojira*) is an unreleased Japanese fan film directed and produced by Shizuo Nakajima.

## History

The film was directed and produced by Shizuo Nakajima and several former filmmakers of Toho in 1983. Toho said they had nothing to do with or even approved of this film, and because of this the film remained unreleased and "lost" for over thirty years.

In recent years, director Shizuo Nakajima has made efforts to publicize the film to fans and push for an official DVD release. Nakajima discussed the film at G-Fest XX, and has revealed several pieces of footage in subsequent events. By 2016, Nakaijima announced that he had been working to splice together the footage for the film and hoped to give the film a DVD release soon. Nakajima shared an image on his Facebook page that said the film would be coming to DVD in summer 2016.

## Production

Director Shizuo Nakajima conceived the idea for the film during his employment with Toho as a production assistant. He envisioned it as a feature-length film with human drama and location shots and as a love-letter to Eiji Tsuburaya's works, however, Nakajima also drew inspiration from *The Curse of the Werewolf*. The team purchased materials directly from Toho and built miniature industrial factories, buildings, and a replica of the 1964 Godzilla suit. Using former Toho employees, principal photography began in 1983 and wrapped in the mid-80s, with 10 hours of raw footage completed. The film was shot on 8 mm film. Post-production has been active since the mid-80s and is currently continuing on the film.

## Release

The film has remained unreleased due to litigation from Toho (owners of Godzilla) for the unauthorized use of Godzilla.

## Plot

From what has been revealed, the plot of *Godzilla vs. Wolfman* consists of a werewolf appearing in Japan, which becomes irradiated and grows to daikaiju size. This giant Wolfman encounters Godzilla in the countryside, and the two monsters battle. Godzilla is portrayed as a rampaging monster like in the early Showa series, but the lesser of two evils compared to the Wolfman.

According to Shizuo Nakajima, many drafts of the film were made in the 1970's, most of them starting out simply as short films. One of them featured a Godzilla suit that closely resembled the MosuGoji suit. The Wolfman's design was also drastically different, somewhat resembling a mummy, with a head that bears a slight resemblance to one of the Gargantuas. Another one of these short films featured the Wolfman character in battle against Baragon as well. All of the costumes made during the film's production were made by professional costume maker Fuyuki Shinada, who would go on to design the monsters in *Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack*. By 1983, production had changed and much of the monster action was re-filmed in order to create a feature-length film, featuring a new Godzilla suit that was based on the KingGoji. This is the version of the film most people have been familiar with, while the older drafts were believed to be entirely lost, with only stills surviving. However, Nakajima recently revealed some of the earlier footage and stated that he intended to splice together the old and new footage of the film prior to giving it a DVD release. According to Nakajima, over ten hours of raw footage for the film exists.