Wolfguy: Enraged Lycanthrope

Wolfguy: Enraged Lycanthrope (Urufu Gai: Moero Okami-Otoko) (1975)

Runtime: 86 minutes

Directed by: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi

Starring: Sonny Chiba, Koji Fujiyama, Haruki Jo, Kenji Kawai, Hiroshi Kondo

From: Toei

Here's an obscure film I have known about for awhile now and I am greatly excited I got to see a Sonny Chiba werewolf picture, even if it's not exactly what I expected. Find out why:

I do not remember when I first heard about this movie, except it was a few years ago on some website, and I was greatly amused to hear there was a Sonny Chiba werewolf motion picture. Trying to track it down was impossible; I now know that the movie never came out on home video even in its native Japan, and that's unfortunate. Thank goodness for Arrow Video, who just released this on Blu-ray under the title Wolf Guy; that release was delayed as it was originally going to come out last month. Purchasing this was a must, as it was not something I was expecting to get such a release. Thank heavens I was not let down by this movie.

I will be honest up front and say that this wasn't always what I expected; after all, Chiba does not actually turn into a werewolf. To steal a line from someone else here, SONNY CHIBA IS WOLVERINE is a more apt comparison (and one that will also be appealing to people), but naturally he isn't at full power unless it's the time of the full moon. He is a reporter who spots a mysterious death and he investigates. I won't say much more, except that he is the last of his kind, mysterious people are interested in his powers, there are psychic attacks... the movie has action, horror, mystery, and other things that blend together into its own beast... pun intended.

The movie is pretty weird; yeah, it's not weird in comparison to such Japanese cinema as Funky Forest (I've only seen a short clip from that and that is MUCH more surreal than Wolf Guy) but by most other standards this is still odd. Various genres are mixed together, there's a lot of bloodshed, a funky as hell 70's score, some psychedelic imagery, the typical Sonny Chiba martial arts, and the typical Sonny Chiba thing of multiple women falling in love with him on the spot. The film's only 86 minutes long so it's never boring.

If this movie sounds like something you'd enjoy and you always wanted to see Sonny Chiba use healing powers in an unforgettable way, I highly recommend this new release.