Not everything lasts. There are books, art, movies, music and more that have become lost media. Some have been rebuilt from multiple sources, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, or recreated by others, such as ‘Leda and the Swan’ by Leonardo da Vinci. But the intact originals have turned to dust.
However, hope is eternal. Most of the full version from the 1927s Metropolis was found and restored in 2008. George Romero’s thriller The amusement park returned to Romero’s family and was put on Shudder in 2021. 1928’s The passion of Joan of Arc was found in a Norwegian psychiatric hospital. So maybe these lost movies will show up somewhere someday.
8 Big Bug Man
Brendan Fraser returns to the cinema with The whale was one of the most heartwarming moments of 2022. Or the return of Big Bug Man would that spoil or not hang in the air. Originally intended to be released in 2004, Fraser starred in this animated film about Howard Kind, a candy factory worker who is bitten by insects and becomes a superhero.
The release was pushed back year after year before falling silent for good in 2008. The rise of 3D animation made it seem unlikely that the movie’s 2D would catch on in the 2000s, and perhaps not so well in the 2020s. But alongside Fraser, it was also the last film legendary actor Marlon Brando worked on. . He played the factory owner Mrs. Sour and reportedly had fun with the part. If it did appear, it would be one of the strangest capstones of a star’s career.
7 All-American Massacre
This unofficial sequel to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was made in 1998-2000 and is actually fully completed. It is said to have followed Bill Moseley’s character Chop Top as he tells his life story to a journalist in a mental hospital. It would flash back to how Chop Top joined Leatherface and his family, and what did he do next? TCM2.
Originally it was supposed to be a 10-minute short film to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original TCM movie. Then it got longer over time, with more actors like musician Buckethead as Leatherface. No one is sure why it was never released, with some rights issues and others a lack of funding. A small clip with Buckethead has come online, but otherwise there are only interviews with the cast and a trailer.
6 Heart rate in the brain
Scientist Amanda Feilding is known for her research into the nature of consciousness and psychoactive drugs, such as LSD and MDMA. But those aren’t the only ways to play with the brain. Trepanation (drilling holes in the skull) is also said to heal a variety of ailments and clear people’s minds. In 1970, Fielding produced a documentary following her research into the field, culminating in her drilling a hole in her own skull because she couldn’t find a doctor willing to do it.
Feilding somehow managed it and is still alive. Unfortunately, her documentary has all but disappeared. Clips of it appear in the 1998 documentary A hole in the head, but it was presumed completely lost afterwards. Until it resurfaced in 2011 for a screening at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, with further clips in Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia. So there are at least some private copies waiting for a wider release – for viewers who can bear it.
5 Spider-Man vs Kraven the Hunter
Nearly 50 years before Sony thought of their upcoming Kraven the hunter film, Bruce Cardozo and his fellow New York Uni put him on film along with his web-headed nemesis. Spider-Man vs Kraven the Hunter was a 30-minute fan film made with the intention of bringing their original comic book encounter to life. It got a thumbs up from Spidey co-creator Stan Lee himself, but rights issues kept it from a widespread release.
The film was shown at comic book conventions from 1976 to 2005, but no copies have appeared. Cardozo had converted it from 16mm to a digital format, but the PC it was stored on was reportedly destroyed. The original roles may still be there, but after Cardozo’s death in 2015, it’s up to his relatives whether they want to show them publicly. That is, if they have them, and if they wanted to show them if they had them. Still, Cardozo helped bring comic books to life as he worked as a VFX artist in 2011 Captain America and 2012 The Avengers among other movies.
4 Bulgarian
Many movie buffs today are familiar with Pulgasaria, the North Korean kaiju film made by director Shin Sang-Ok after the country kidnapped him to search for his previously kidnapped ex-wife Choi Eun-hee. That film can still be seen today and is quite easy to find online. That wasn’t the only version of the Korean monster filmed, though, nor was it the first.
1962’s Bulgarian preceded it by 23 years. Directed by Kim Myeong-Jae, it centers on a martial artist who turns into the metal-eating menace to avenge his death. It was not only Korea’s first Kaiju film, but also the first to use special effects, especially since the film industry at the time focused on grounded, historical dramas and sets. As such, the film was critically panned and disappeared shortly after its release. The only physical evidence left of it are some newspaper articles from the time and some posters.
3 London after midnight
Lon Chaney Sr. was known as the “Man with 1,000 Faces” and became a film pioneer in his use of makeup and prosthetics. His portraits of Quasimodo in The hunchback of the Notre Dame and the titular character in ghost of the opera are still famous today. However, another iconic role of his was in a film that has now been almost completely destroyed.
London after midnight saw Chaney play a detective who dons a vampire disguise to power a murder suspect to reveal the truth. His disguise has appeared in countless books, magazines, websites and more, inspiring The Babadook and other creeps. Still, the original film was believed to have been destroyed in a fire in a vault in 1967. The best fans can currently get is a slideshow created from the production stills available on the Lon Chaney Collection DVD set.
2 Peludópolis
The early 20th century spawned many animation pioneers, from Windsor McCay to the Fleischers, as well as a certain man and his mouse. But without the lesser-known Quirino Cristiani, they’re left paddleless in the proverbial creek. Cristiani was an Argentine director who was best known in his home country for his films satire on then-President Hipolito Yrigoyen. This critical eye helped Cristiani make Argentina’s first animated film, 1917 El Apoóstol.
But his magnum opus would be from 1931 Peludópolis, which was about an incompetent leader who sinks his floating city in shark-infested waters. It became the first animated film to use sound. Like London after midnight, Peludópolis, El Apoostol, and most of Cristiani’s work was lost in fires in 1957 and 1961. Apart from a making-of documentary and stills, Peludópolis maybe gone for good.
1 Wasei King Kong
godzilla is Japan’s most famous giant monster, but he wasn’t the first. 1934 saw Daibutsu Kaikoku, a film about a giant Buddha who wanders through Japan. That film has also been lost and would be worth seeing again for its quirks. Still, that wasn’t the first Japanese Kaiju film either. It was defeated a year early by Wasei King Kong. Could be. It depends on one’s definition of a ‘kaiju/monster movie’, as the King Kong may not have been a real monster.
The film, directed by Torajira Saito, was a short romantic comedy about a man who tries to earn money for his girlfriend by dressing up as the giant monkey for a show. Since the American film was released in the same year, it would have been the talk of the town worldwide. The film has been gone for so long that it was lost, possibly even destroyed by the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Still, there’s a chance there’s one or two reels lying around somewhere in Japan.
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