Lost Fan Film Godzilla vs. Legendary Wolfman Might Not Be Lost Much Longer
One of the oddest footnotes of Godzilla fandom is the strange saga of Godzilla vs. Legendary Wolfman, a 1983 feature-length fan film produced by former Toho filmmakers that Toho has kept buried for over 20+ years. Until this summer – maybe, when the legendary fan film might finally see the light of day; or should I say, light of full moon?
The short version of this long, sordid saga is that former Toho production assistant Shizuo Nakajima, along with several other ex-Toho employees, decided to make their own Gojira fan film pitting the King of the Monsters against a giant werewolf. This wasn’t just some rinky dink 8MM short film, either. This was a full-length motion picture with real actors, an actual script, cinematic production values, and creature suits designed by Fuyuki Shinada (20 years later, he would go on to design the monsters for Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack).
Nakajima drew inspiration from Curse of the Werewolf and his love of classic kaiju flicks to craft a feature about a Japanese man transformed into a werewolf; in true atomic age fashion, he also becomes irradiated, causing him to become a gargantuan wolfman. The enlarged lycan encounters Godzilla, who’s on his own countryside crushing spree; and a mighty monster throwdown occurs.
Only one little problem: Nakajima didn’t have Toho’s permission to use Godzilla, and given how notoriously litigious Toho is about Godzilla’s likeness, they put a silver bullet in any plans for the world to ever see Godzilla vs. Legendary Wolfman. All that had ever seen the light of day were a handful of production stills that had trickled out over the years confirming it to be more than just rumor.
The project remained unreleased and regarded by Godzilla fandom as a “lost” film… until a few years ago, when renewed interest began thanks to dedicated G-fan Mark Jaramillo tracking down Nakajima, himself shocked to learn anyone even knew of the film’s existence outside of Japan. This lead to articles chronicling the strange history of this epic fan film for websites like Sci-Fi Japan, Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, and even panels at the annual Godzilla convention G-Fest. Nakajima even attended G-Fest XX in 2013, presenting footage from his lost labor of love to a wildly enthusiastic crowd. Since then, Nakajima has vowed to restore the film and finally get it released. Clips from it have appeared on YouTube, and all manner of production stills have been posted on his own Facebook page.
Nakajima now seems to be indicating on said Facebook page that the film will be finished by this summer, presumably for a DVD (Blu-ray?) release, right around the time Godzilla: Resurgence opens in theaters in Japan this July. This news is not official, nor is it even confirmed if Toho has signed off on allowing it to happen. This could all just be wishful thinking on his part, or hoping that fan goodwill will help pressure Toho into making it a reality, a la the recent dust-up between Paramount and Star Trek fans that raised a million dollars on Kickstarter for their own high-end fan film.
Godzilla fans might be getting two new Zilla flicks this summer. And if they’re not, we can at least enjoy these clips from Godzilla vs. Legendary Wolfman and be left to wonder what might have been.
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