Chiba Check Up Vol. 2: Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope (1975)

 

It’s that time again…#ChibaCheckUp is already over. Before I close out this year’s edition, there’s one last movie. This is no ordinary movie. It’s…

  

Wolf Guy - Inugami Akira (Chiba) is the last surviving member of a werewolf clan. As a child, hunters swarmed and slaughtered his family. Many years later, he’s a supercop with super senses to solve super crimes. One such supercrime is the mysterious tiger-related deaths of the band, the Mobs. All these deaths occurred after a gangbang turned rape. The victim, Miki (Nami Etsuko), cursed everyone. This is only the beginning of Akira's latest case.

By this point, directer Yamaguchi Kazuhiko and Chiba were an established team specializing in crazy, brutal, and viscerally exciting action films. Toei or Yamaguchi, someone down the line, decided to that 1973's Horror of the Wolf aka Okami no Monsho needed a sequel. Matsumoto Masashi didn’t return to direct and Shigaki Taro was replaced by Chiba. I, for one, have not seen the original but hopefully it’s at least half as nonsensically and oddly enticing as the sequel. The Chiba brand of action films was a more violent and silly take. The bloodshed was ridiculous, from the near cartoonish nature of it to the simplistic yet evocative gory aftermaths. Yet this detail adds a whole new dimension to this run of films, that eventually died out by the 1980s. Sister Street Fighter is one thing but Wolf Guy amps the crazy by making Chiba a got-darned wolf man that never transforms into a wolf but gets the powers of a werewolf plus invincibility with a full moon is another level all together. 

  

Despite the absurd and stupid veneer, there is a real story of trauma and grief underlying every plot pivot. Akira and Miki are not merely victims but survivors. His choice to become a cop and help out those who need it most is the logical extension following the trauma of losing everyone and everything at a young age. No one was there to help him or his werewolf clan. His first action is helping a man on the run. Instead of letting the man run off, Akira follows. His instinct to help is his greatest asset but leads him down a demented detective’s tale. The noir-ish elements are strong until the violence kicks in and the noir tropes creep back in. These don’t flow into each other smoothly but I appreciate the bloody explosions of violence interspersed throughout the film. Chiba's other star qualities are brought out into the forefront. Not just playing the action hero beats from films past but showing him as a charismatic leading man. To call him magnetic is an understatement. As an actor, not just a martial artist, he’s fantastic. I’m not sure how he’s perceived as an actor in general but he has the chops. This is the skill put him over his contemporaries, whose acting abilities certainly vary. A brooding loose cannon cop with a troubled  past is the perfect role. It promises the violence that you’d expect from a Yamaguchi/Chiba collaboration and gives them the chance to expand on what you’d assume a movie called Wolf Guy could be. 

  

Miki’s arc thrusts the dark pulp vibes into the shadows. She’s a woman wronged. She’s a woman hungry for revenge. All she wanted was a career, but then The Mobs and other entities get involved. Being raped wasn’t enough, they gave her syphilis. Shame dominates every aspect of her existence. As a result, this trauma awakens psychic abilities. The ability to slash up people with a psychic sword…or something like that. She can only harm from a distance, following the tradition of women or feminine coded characters having telekinetic and/or distance based powers (Jean Gray, Scarlet Witch, Antonio Banderas in Matador, Tina Shepard in Friday the 13th: The New Blood). Syphilis isn’t the only thing making her untouchable. As cold and closed off as she is, only one man can penetrate that wall…the wolf guy. Their romance, or animalistic attraction, whatever it is brings them together. They complete each other and provide a comforting presence for each other.

However with all the legitimate substance present, this is still a goofy as fuck movie about a werewolf. Starting out as a pseudo-noir infused detective story about a femme fatale in her own psychic-superpowered rape revenge story. It should be said that, the rape seemingly awakened her powers, but that gets brushed over quickly in the first act without much thought. Rape in the sleazier Japanese exploitation and B pictures is treated cavalierly or as a fetish (like in several Nikkatsu Roman Pornos). I’m used to seeing this but it's a complicated and upsetting topic to bring up. This particularly sleazy touch is an odd choice but not a surprising one. 

  

The rest of the plot is well…fucking nuts. Penned by Konami Fumio, who is credited on Female Prisoner Scorpion: 701, FPS: Jailhouse 41, Graveyard of Honor, Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs and other highlights from this glorious period of film. Upon learning that fact and that Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope was based on a manga, the insanity on-screen makes sense. Konami has a flavor of the bizarre, serious, but with an air of commercial approachability given his films made money and he worked a lot. The shifts in setting and mood are mildly jarring, which I took as purposeful as a tactic to keep you on your feet and ready for anything they may throw at you.

One of cinema’s biggest mistakes was this not becoming a full blown film series. The groundwork was there. The stars and crew were there. Toei and Nikkatsu had several silly, ridiculous, brutal, and outrageous film series out at this time. A werewolf series with a werewolf that never actually transforms into a wolf man mixed with police hijinks and good ole violence would fit right in. You could incoporate yakuza, samurai, or geisha elements and bring in guest stars like Sugimoto Miki, Oshida Reiko, and Sugawara Bunta into later potential entries. There were other insane film series that matched or surpassed this one - Hot Springs Geisha, Battles Without Honor And Humanity, Female Prisoner Scorpion, Terrifying Girls’ High School, Gojira etc. Toei messed up big time but at least we got one (or two technically).

  

With that, #ChibaCheckUp Vol. 2 has come to a close. The career of this cinematic legend goes beyond the small handful of films I’ve covered in this series and other assorted reviews in Jailhouse 701. There is a reason his mythic status as one of the greatest action stars to grace the screen endures to this day. All you need to do to see why Chiba is such a phenomenon is sit down and watch the master at work.

All the films covered are available streaming and on disc.