Nezura
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Nezura (ネズラ Nezura) are giant rat kaiju from the unfinished 1964 Daiei film Giant Horde Beast Nezura. A winged counterpart, called Nezoorabat (ネズーラバット Nezūrabatto), was also later created by Nezura's special effects director Yonesaburo Tsukiji, but ultimately went unused.[4] The 2021 film Nezura 1964, which chronicles the failure of Giant Horde Beast Nezura, depicts the live rodents playing the kaiju.
Name
The Nezura's name is derived from nezumi (ネズミ), the Japanese word for "mouse" or "rat," combined with the suffix -ra which is commonly used in kaiju names. In the treatment for Giant Horde Beast Nezura, the mutant Nezura which grows to enormous size as a result of Nezuras artificially made to devour each other is known as the Mammoth Nezura (マンモス・ネズラ Manmosu Nezura).[5]
Design
The regular Nezura appear identical to sewer rats. The Mammoth Nezura, however, lacks fur, instead having reddish skin that appears plated. It has three horns on its face, all facing forward; two jut out in front of its eyes, while the third sits on its nose. It has sharp teeth, with particularly prominent incisors; the two longest teeth curve upwards like tusks. Its ears are quite small, resembling those of a bat. It has a row of spikes down its back with one on top of its head, as well as a fin in the middle of the back. Its arms are skinny and short, though its legs and feet are bigger and thicker, and its tail is long.
Development
Giant Horde Beast Nezura was an attempt by Daiei to capitalize on the monster movie trend kicked off by Toho's Godzilla. Several still shots and promotional photos for the Nezura film were produced and released, but the film was canceled by Kojima, the executive at Daiei, due to very bad conditions (fleas, lice, ticks, and germs) brought on by the untrained live sewer rats which they caught to shoot the movie, plus the worry caused for the neighboring town of Daiei Studios.[citation needed]
Daiei did not give up on making a kaiju film, however, and ended up creating Gamera the Giant Monster the next year.
The biopic Nezura 1964 features an original design for the Mammoth Nezura which took inspiration from Jiger, Barugon, and Titanosaurus.[6][7]
History
Giant Horde Beast Nezura
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 "S602." One of the scientists discovers the nutrient has terrible side effects that cause mutations 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.
Nezura 1964
To be added.
Gallery
- Main article: Nezura/Gallery.
Trivia
- Some elements of the Nezura and their scrapped film were incorporated into the 2002 Japanese film Nezulla the Rat Monster.[citation needed]
- Some Nezura make a cameo appearance in the Zigra anatomy artwork used for Shout! Factory's 2011 DVD release of Gamera vs. Zigra and Gamera Super Monster, trapped within one of Zigra's three stomachs with the other two housing Gamera's child friends and various marine animals, including an unlucky Virian and Pairan.[8][9]
Notes
- ↑ While promotional materials for Giant Horde Beast Nezura say that the Nezura are 2 meters tall, Gamera Daimajin Kaiju Kaijin Complete Works (p. 112) says that the Nezura are 2 meters long.
References
This is a list of references for 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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