Following the success of the post-World War II feature, Godzilla Minus One, Japan is ready to deliver its follow-up. This time, the monster at large will be a creature influenced by the Creature From the Black Lagoon in the imminent film Orang Ikan. Godzilla Minus One achieved the 2024 Academy Award for the film that used a familiar icon to tell a harrowing story about the Japanese experience. Orang Ikan is on a similar track, according to the synopsis via Sci-Fi Japan.

"A Japanese Hell Ship transports prisoners of war to occupied territories for slave labor. Onboard the ship is Saito, a traitor to the Japanese who is being sent back to the motherland to be sentenced to death. As further punishment, Saito is shackled to another POW, a British soldier named Bronson who holds nothing but hatred for Saito because of his Japanese nationality. When the Hell Ship is torpedoed by Allied submarines, Saito and Bronson are thrown overboard and wash ashore on a deserted island. But they are not alone. Bronson and Saito are hunted by a monstrous creature - the Orang Ikan - who will stop at nothing until both men are dead."

The film stars Dean Fujioka of Fullmetal Alchemist fame and Callum Woodhouse from All Creatures Great and Small. The survival horror film endeavor place during the Second World War when tensions could not have been higher.

'Orang Ikan' Images Feature a Creature From the Watery Depths Close

Orang Ikan is the brainchild of producer Eric Khoo, who told Variety he had a lightbulb moment during the pandemic. Already a massive fan of the Creature From the Black Lagoon series, he recently came across the 1968 film Hell in the Pacific. The film similarly features a Japanese and American fighting on a remote island. Adding in a fish monster was an easy addition for the creative.

If the images are any indication, this new film will not be a soft-hearted look at monsters like Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water. Orang Ikan will be bloody and horror-filled as these two enemies have to depend on each other to survive. Even more terrifying, director Mike Wiluan reported that "rather than create a monster to merely kill without purpose, the Orang Ikan has a motive." Orang Ikan is in its early stages, and there is no official release date yet. Fans looking forward to the horror film should stay tuned to Collider for more updates to come.