Yongary

  (imdb)

YONGARY, MONSTER FROM THE DEEP-1967-After some stuff about a scientist being called back to work from his honeymoon and an astronaut coming back from space, Korea is threatened by a massive earthquake which turns out to be the legendary giant reptile Yongary until now thought to be a myth. It crashes through the countryside while a group of scientists and the army try to stop it with the help (?) of Iro, a young boy who at one point dances with the giant! This is an entertaining giant monster movie directed by Ki-Duk Kim.

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Pulgasari

PULGASARI-1985-In feudal Korea, a cruel governor makes all his subjects give up their iron so he can make weapons. An old metal worker is imprisoned and beaten for not cooperating. His future son in law Inde and his group of bandits fight back but are also imprisoned. Before he dies the old man creates a small statue of a creature and prays to the gods. After his death, his daughter Ami takes the figure home. While sewing she pricks her finger and some blood drops on the creature which immediately comes to life! It likes to eat metal and grows bigger as it does. It saves Inde from getting his head chopped off. Later after Inde’s mom and little bro are killed, he and bandits attack the governor's fortress. They win so the king orders General Fuan to crush them. 

The farmers flee to the hills for their last big encounter but Ami brings Pulgasari to help. The farmers give all their iron to it and it starts growing to Godzilla size. But Fuah has Ami captured and forces Pulgasari into a cage that's set a fire (it seems like an elaborate set up that they put together in no time). Pulgasari seems to die but reappears as a red hot monster that sends the army fleeing in terror. Later the farmers decide to attack first. The general comes up with another plan. Lure the monster into a giant hole (which the army dug again in no time!) and have an old priestess exorcise the monster (because the blacksmith’s spirit is in it). The exorcism features some colorfully dressed women dancers. Pulgasari falls into the hole and is buried under a hail of rocks. Inde is captured and hanged. However you can't keep a good monster down and Pulgasari escapes its rock prison to lead the farmers in an attack on the capital city. Despite making new weapons, Pulgasari destroys the enemy stronghold and crushes the king. Literally! 

With that out of the way, it turns its hunger for iron toward the farmers. “Our savior has become our enemy”. Ami seems to sacrifice her life to destroy the giant but in the end the spirit of the mini Pulgasari enters her body, though she doesn't appear to be alive. Fun giant monster film from Korea.

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Korea

THE HOUSEMAID-2010-A young girl becomes the new maid/nanny for a rich decedent couple with a small daughter. Along with having to put up with the stone faced Mrs. Cho, she has to watch the daughter, cook meals and even wash the hair of the pregnent wife. The wine drinking husband sort of seduces the maid and they have an affair. She winds up pregent herself. Mrs. Cho finds out and tells the wife's mother. She tries to kill the maid and make it look like an accident but the maid is only slightly hurt. When the husband goes on a business trip the wife and Mrs. Cho decide to punish her. They poison her but she survives although she loses her baby. The maid vows revenge but in the end she hangs herself (and sets herself on fire) in front of the whole family. Much has been made about the ambiguous final scene which to me seems to signify insanity.

Director Sang-soo Im puts together a lot of excellent scenes in this Korean thriller/mystery but the story could have been better. It's a remake of a 1960 film.

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Korean Giant Monster

REPTILIAN-1999-An archaeological expedition led by the pompously deranged Dr. Campbell (Richard Livingston)) is looking for Yonggary, a legendary dinosaur 50 times the size of T-Rex. Just when he and his assistant Holly (Donna Philipson) are on the verge of discovery the long thought to be dead Dr. Hughes (Harrison Young) shows up to say  they have to call off the dig. Campbell convinces Holly that Hughes is crazy but later on she quits the expedition and goes to a bar. She encounters Hughes again and he semi-convinces her he might be right. 

The two go back to the dig just in time to see Campbell unveil the skeleton of the ancient Yonggary. It's promptly revitalized by some aliens in a spaceship (it's of alien origin to begin with) and stomps Campbell to death. Then proceeds to wreck the town. When missiles and bombs fail, a group of soldiers with jet packs and laser guns fight it. They discover that the aliens use a diamond embedded in the monster's head to control it. Once the diamond is destroyed Yonggary becomes a good guy so the aliens (who look like metallic Ridley Scott aliens and talk like Darth Vader) send another prehistoric monster to fight the new hero. An all out monster battle ensues! 

The goofy dialogue sounds just like it would have been used to dub an Asian movie even though it's not dubbed! Despite this there is some funny intentional humor. The SFX could have been better but it's still more enjoyable than any shit on The SyFy channel. Despite being filmed in English and starring American actors this was produced in Korea by director Hyung-rae Shim. It was inspired by the 1967  Godzilla inspired Korean Kaiju/giant monster film YONGGARY. 

An "updated" version with new scenes was released in 2001.

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