Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope (1975)

Director: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi

Viewed on Shudder

 

Summary: A reporter stumbles onto a bizarre crime and launches an investigation that leads to him getting entangled with crime bosses, the J-CIA, and buck toothed Japanese rednecks.

 

Look at that title. Just look at it. Based on the title alone this is a must see, but if you can believe me this movie is somehow even more nuts than the title would suggest.  This isn’t just a werewolf movie this is a creepy sleazy gross violent film noir that’s bizarre and occasionally surreal where the lead just happens to be the lone survivor of a secret village of werewolves that were murdered decades before the events of this film. But this all started with the title. I saw that title on Shudder’s homepage and I said, “dammit, I can’t see that title and then not be curious as to what happens in that movie!” So please, join me on the journey through Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope.

Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope is about a reporter (who never does any reporting), Akira Inugami, who stumbles upon a terrified man running through the streets of Tokyo. The man is mumbling nonsense about a Tiger chasing him and is suddenly accosted by an invisible force that tears into him, slashing long claw like wounds on his torso. Curious about this bizarre event, Akira begins his quest to learn who this guy was, why he was targeted and what mysterious force was responsible for his death. There is a lot more plot but I don’t really want to spoil any of the weird plot threads that this movie takes on just because experiencing it organically would be a lot more entertaining.

 

This plot is strange, and becomes perverse, genuinely disturbing and absurd, but is it good? Would it be cheating to say kind of? The basic plot is pretty simple and straightforward and establishes immediately what kind of movie we are going to have.  Regardless of the bizarre plot structure and the strange musical choices

 

But why do I keep calling this movie bizarre? A lot of that has to do with two things: the music and the plot structure. Generally music isn’t something I talk much about here, because if it works well I don’t notice the music but rather the tone of the scene that it establishes. The music here, well, it definitely establishes something because I could only classify it as 70s electronic funk. Not only is this musc’s awesomeness that makes it stand out it is also how it is used. In the opening scene where a man is running through the streets, this music is playing and is almost as loud if not louder than his screams to passerby and the music continues while some invisible foe is attacking this man, tearing his clothes apart and ripping his flesh, blood is spraying everywhere and the funk continues! It only stops when Wolf Guy approaches. Now it doesn’t stop when Wolf Guy enters the scene, this funk continues for a good 15 seconds while Wolf Guy is watching this blood soaked man writhe on the ground and it stops at the exact second that this man dies, as if his own life force was what was projecting this music.

What makes this music so inappropriate is that the story is really dark, dealing with corrupt politicians, the terrible conditions that young women are exposed to in the Japanese entertainment industry, rape, sexually transmitted diseases, revenge, massacres of entire villages, shadowy government organizations with ulterior motives. These plot lines are so dark but they are scored with so much funk! It creates so much dissonance in what you’re seeing on screen that it is hard to believe that this score is the original score for the film and it wasn’t just added by a distributor to try and insert some levity or fun into a plot that skewed much darker than they originally anticipated.

 

The funk isn’t the only tonally weird thing though, the movie is full of things that clash intensely with the rather dark storyline, and I don’t really want to reveal them and spoil your viewing encounter so please trust me when I say that  this movie is just full of things that will make you go, “wait, what just happened?” Not enough to make things impossible to follow or incoherent, but just enough to remind you that this really serious movie is full of wacky things that really shouldn’t be in a movie that has half the plot be a rape-revenge thriller.

 

I’m cutting this one a bit short so I can keep as much mystery as possible. Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope is a must see film if you’re interested in bizarre 70s Japanese exploitation movies. Even if you are not part of that extremely specific subsection of movie lovers then I would still recommend at least giving it a shot to see something you will never forget.