Yonggary

Yonggary

Theatrical poster
Hangul 대괴수 용가리
Hanja 大怪獸 용가리
Revised Romanization Taekoesu Yonggary
McCune–Reischauer Taegoesu yonggari
Directed by Kim Ki-duk
Written by Kim Ki-duk
Seo Yun-sung
Starring Oh Yeong-il
Nam Jeong-im
Music by Jeon Jeong-Keun
Cinematography Byeon In-jib
Production
company
Keukdong Entertainment Company
Distributed by AIP-TV (USA)
Release dates
  • August 13, 1967
Running time
 80 minutes
Country South Korea
Language Korean

Yongary (Hangul: 대괴수 용가리; RR: Taekoesu Yongary; lit. Great Monster Yongary), is a 1967 South Korean monster film produced by Keukdong Entertainment. Directed by Kim Ki-duk, and featuring special effects by Kenichi Nakagawa, the film starred Yeong-il Oh and Jeong-im Nam. The film was made to rival the success of Godzilla and featured the same style of special effects filmmaking used in Godzilla and other Kaiju films utilizing suitmation and miniature sets. Indeed the Japanese production company Toei would help co-produce the film with Keukdong Entertainment.

The film was released direct to Television in the United States by American International Pictures in 1968 as Yongary, Monster from the Deep.

In 1999, a remake simply called Yonggary was produced by Younggu-Art Movies and Zero Nine Entertainment and released direct to video in the United States as Reptilian.

Synopsis

In the Middle East, a bomb is set off that creates massive earthquakes. Meanwhile in South Korea, a young couple is about to get married and the tension builds when South Korea sends a manned space capsule to investigate the bomb site. The earthquake makes its way to South Korea, caused by a giant monster named Yongary (inspired by a mythical creature in Korean lore). Yongary attacks Seoul and makes his way to the oil refineries where he consumes the oil. A child related to the aforementioned couple turns off the refineries' oil basins; Yonggary, enraged, starts attacking until a chemical explosion at the refinery proves to have an effect on it. The Korean Government then uses oil to draw Yonggary on a local river, and kills it with a refined version of the ammonia compound.

Availability

In the United States, the original film is now widely available on DVD in various budget-DVD packs and single budget DVDs. MGM released the original Yongary, Monster from the Deep as part of their Midnite Movies series on September 11, 2007. It is paired as a double feature with the giant ape film Konga (1961).[1] James Owsley, a former Director of Technical Services for MGM, could not find the original Korean negative, and believes that it may no longer exist.[2] However, it was soon discovered that roughly 48 minutes of the cut of the film in its original language still exists.

Remake

The film was remade in 1999 by Shim Hyung-rae. To date, the Yonggary remake is the most expensive Korean film ever produced. The film was a moderate success and due to its success, a 2001 Upgrade Edition was produced a few months after its initial release. This version was slightly different from the original 1999 cut. The 2001 Upgrade featured new additional scenes, a new soundtrack by Chris Desmond, and new effects. 60% of the original 1999 cut made it to the 2001 upgrade version. It first premiered at a Japanese film festival in 2000 and then had its worldwide release in January 2001, which flopped due to poor promotion. The original 1999 cut was never released on VHS or DVD and the only version of the film available is the 2001 upgrade edition, which is now known as Reptilian. It has been debated whether prints of the original 1999 cut had been destroyed by the studio when at the time they believed that the 2001 upgrade edition would be a box office success. The 1999 cut was a proper remake of the first film, where Yonggary dies at the end, and the aliens were not in it.

In other media

An edited version of the film is featured in an episode of This Movie Sucks! where it is made fun of by Ed the Sock and Liana K, with regular contributor Ron Sparks only in the show occasionally as a voice with Ed telling him "you're not in this episode". Instead of being taped on the usual set the episode features Liana on the set of a giantess video that she is shooting, where (like Yongary) she is destroying a city. It also features a lengthy comparison by Ed of Yongary's rolling around to his dog when he has to go to the bathroom. The 1993 comedy Young-Goo and Dinosaur Zu-Zu, also directed by Shim Hyung-rae parodies Yongary several times, mainly the design of the titular monster.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Fangoria - America's Horror Magazine
  2. ↑ Aiken, Keith; Kim Song-Ho (2007-08-27). "YONGARY, MONSTER FROM THE DEEP on MGM DVD". SciFi Japan. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
  3. ↑ "Toho Kingdom • View topic - YOUNG-GOO AND DINOSAUR ZU-ZU". tohokingdom.com. Retrieved 2014-07-28.

Bibliography

External links