User reviews

PULGASARI is a hoot for lovers of demented, low budget cinema. It's the one and only North Korean kaiju movie out there, a film that's been inspired by the likes of GODZILLA and YONGGARY, although I think plot-wise it has most in common with the Japanese DAIMAJIN trilogy.

The story is a straightforward one in which the poor are presented as a righteous, oppressed people and an evil general and his army are the out-and-out villains. A humble blacksmith is captured and starved to death by the villains, but not before he's created Pulgasari, a tiny humanoid creature who eventually grows into a lovably, Baby Godzilla type beastie.

After a time, Pulgasari becomes the city-stomping giant monster that kaiju cinema loves, although given the budget there's little destruction on offer here and the effects are lacking to say the least. But the story with its uniquely North Korean slant is a solid one and the novelty value alone is enough to keep you watching. It's good fun!

I like to watch Kaiju films and this Korean monster movie it's a funny monster movie with great battle scenes. In the beginning I supposed that will be other bad movie, but after some scenes you'll be invited to appreciate the story about poor villain people that fight against a bad king and his cruelty governor. Besides the poor special effects, most of them inside the atmosphere behind the Pulgarasi monster, other great battle scenes with hundred extras acting and fighting, You'll like all the crew efforth to create power and big scenes. This movie was produced by Jong-il Kim and directed by Sang-OK Shin. This is the first movie that I watch directed by Sang-OK Shin, but I felt interested in watch other movies directed by him.

Since I began living in South Korea several years ago, I have always been curious about what life and art would be like in the isolated North. The educational channel in South Korea (EBS) has a weekly show that gives us clips of North Korean newscasts, movies, music, dramas and animation.

When South Korean president, Kim Dae-jung visited North Korea last year in the first step toward normalizing relations and possible (albeit future) unification, we learned that the North Korean supreme leader is something of a movie fanatic. He has been secretly receiving western movies and monitoring South Korean tv dramas. It is not surprising to learn that he apparently ordered Pulgasari be made. Like every other artform from the North it can only be broadcast or shown if it matches the philosophy of the state. Pulgasari is a metaphor. The evil king represents the feudal government of the Chosun Dynasty which ended at the beginning of the 1900's. The monster, Pulgasari represents capitalism. It arrives apparently to help the people, but soon grows out of control. The heroes in the movie are the peasantry, the common people who must fix everything that people with power have wrought.

Nobody can claim that Pulgasari is state-of-the-art. Even by rubber monster standards, this movies special effects are poor. It does help to consider that the budget for this movie was probably around what we spend on lunch in a year. But for me, the true fascination of a movie like this is the chance to see how another culture, living under a completely different philosophy, sees the world.

As the workers have a hard time rebelling against the oppressive (pre colonized) Chosen regime they get unexpected help from the gods. Bulgasari awakens to life from a figure of clay and rice with the drop of blood from Ami and is thereby under her authority. This secret weapon was exactly what they needed in order to kill the king, but it grows out of control. Whether this monster represents capitalism or not is anyones guess, I didn't notice anything that pointed towards that conclusion in the movie, but there's always the juche discourse to look it in the light of. After all Kim Jong-il is listed as a producer. With that in mind, I got a little bit anxious by the ending.

As a movie it is OK. The script is very simple and the characters are, like the weapons, like cardboard cutouts. Some of the berserker smashing the temples (cultural revolution style?) however, were quite impressive. All the shouting and wailing were not. I wonder if there's a movie were the title of it is repeated more often than in this.

In the days of feudal Asia, the crops are not so good, and farmers are facing a takeover by Jong-Un Kim ... oops the self-proclaimed king (Yong-hok Pak.)

The farm Jugend becomes rebels and with the help of the local blacksmith physically challenges the king.

The king offers the blacksmith employment by supplying his army with weapons. Naturally, the blacksmith refuses. While he is imprisoned his last dying, wish is to make a revengeful "iron eating" Pulgasari.

Eventually, the king may meet the same fate as Bambi Meets Godzilla .

The big question is will any of the good guys survive?

Or will the world go to the peasants?

The film was loosely based on the legend of the Bulgasari.

The value in the movie is not the movie it is self but the historical value.

On the orders of Kim Jong-il, the South Korean film director Shin Sang-ok (1926-2006) and his wife, famous actor Choi Eun-hee, was kidnapped to North Korea.

After three years in prison, Shin was united with Choi, and the two were instructed by Kim Jong-Il to make films for him to gain global recognition in the film industry. After making various films for Kim Jong-Il, including Pulgasari in 1985, in 1986 Choi and Shin escaped from North Korean caretakers to a US embassy while in Vienna.

The Lovers and The Despot.

Filmed in 1985 by a director (Sang OK Shin) who had been kidnapped by North Korea, this movie is about a monster who is created by a blacksmith just prior to his death to help his village against an evil king. Now from what I understand Kim Jong Il (the eventual leader of North Korea) was an avid movie buff and wanted Sang OK Shin to produce a film along the lines of "Godzilla". This movie is the final product. Unfortunately, this movie doesn't translate as well to world-wide audiences as its famous predecessor did. That's not to say that this movie is necessarily bad but it clearly had some weaknesses. For starters, the special effects were quite poor and the movie had some scenes which could have definitely been trimmed here and there. Along with that the movie I saw was filmed in Korean but had English subtitles. I only mention this because this is a film that is probably best suited for young children and subtitles simply won't suffice for that particular audience. Be that as it may I rate the movie as slightly below average.

A lot of people here might not be familiar with one of my favorite pages on the entire Internet, Wikipedia's list of unusual articles. It's just a collection of weird stuff that this very movie happened to be featured on. I actually first heard about this film when watching a segment with Lewis Black on "The Daily Show". It's very hard to talk about this film at all without explaining its backstory. It was actually made when Kim Jong-Il kidnapped a movie director. Yep, this guy was actually a fan of movies and probably would have himself made a good Bond villain in real life. For a propaganda film, this didn't really have that much that was offensive in it.

It's still a pretty dumb movie as it features a toy monster that comes alive when blood gets on it. The monster grows when eating iron. It's very silly, but it's really no dumber than most of the films in the Gamera series. North Korea is known for knockoff products, but this really wasn't one. It seems like every country has done a kaiju movie. Pulgasari is actually a mythical figure so it's no Godzilla ripoff. The colors in this film are just plain gaudy. Some of the action scenes really aren't that bad. It is very hard to enjoy something that was forced. Imagine if people could kidnap those who worked on their favorite franchises like "Pokémon" or "Doctor Who". George Lucas would be cliché. It's still a shame the Kim family has yet to be put to justice. Oh, and this is all the fault of religion, according to Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher. Yeah, it's hard not to get political when talking about this. **

first of all, its unfair to compare this movie with a Hollywood product: this is an eastern "man-in-rubber-suit" monster movie made in north Korea and must be evaluated as such. and in his niche this is one of the very best. for the originality and meanings it deserves to be put on the same level of Honda's Godzilla of 1954. it sports believable effects, real mass scenes (ok they were soldiers drafted to act in a movie but nevertheless it's better than what i've seen in "Gappa") and believe it or not a plot that is less nonsense than the usual Gamera - Rodan - Godzilla - Gappa stuff we got used to. at least all the story is more fantastic than Sci-Fi and this places everything on a completely different perspective. "comedy" episodes are laughable but i suppose that asking to a North-Korean movie to meet the standard humor tastes of a western audience is way too much. the interpretative key of the story revolves around the goods and evils of capitalism ,one may appreciate or not the intentions but go find another Kaiju with more sense than "the Japanese are still scared after the atom bomb, poor souls", and "the Japanese scientists save the world". Pulgasari is finally less nationalistic than the average Japanese movie, and this is outstanding for a product of a dictatorial country, isn't ?

We all know the story, Shin Sang Ok was captured by North Koreans with his ex wife to make great films, that's all the movie is known for, but what about the movie itself?

A carpenter who is expert in sword making refuse to melt all the people's iron and he is in prison. While there he is dying, in his last breath with rise and mud he create a figur Pulgasari. His daughter takes it and with a drop of her blood she makes pulgasari alive. He destroy the evil empire, but larger he gets gen more hungry he gets and might danger his people.

The story is brilliant, Ofcourse since it was made in North Korea, the budget is what it is in those communist states of the 80s. And since North Korean film industry started like 1979 so it's no wonder it's very much behind in technology. But for what it is, it's amazing movie not the strongest but worth to look at as the 1001 movies must see, 6/10.

I first heard about Pulgasari when the late Emer Prevost covered it on Reaction & Review. He absolutely HATED the film and just tore it to shreds, saying that the miniatures would've looked like garbage by 1965 standards, the acting was nowhere to be found, among other things.

When I watched Pulgasari, I was expecting the worst film ever, something that barely qualifies as a kaiju film. Emer's opinion made me think that the production value was going to be akin to a school play; obvious cardboard furniture, obvious cardboard miniatures, I was basically expecting a kaiju equivalent to Manos: The Hands of Fate. Thankfully, Pulgasari was not THAT bad. The acting is very poor but there are a handful of actors who are trying. The monster costume looks amazing, it's on par with the Heisei Godzilla suits! The animatronics are good, Pulgasari is actually able to show emotion!

The miniatures are good, on par with the miniature effects of the '70s.

Still I can only recommend this movie for die-hard kaiju fans, those who want to watch every kaiju film ever. Me personally, the chances of giving this movie a second watch is very unlikely.

I had made a top 10 list of worst giant monster movies. Pulgasari was number 3, with Godzilla's Revenge at number 2 and finally Gamera: Super Monster at number 1. Having now seen Pulgasari, it's position on the list is still number 3.

The fact that Gamera vs Barugon, at the time of me writing the review, has a lower rating than this when it's a far better movie, makes me trust IMDb a little bit less.

The backstory to this movie is pretty darn incredible - made in North Korea by the country's dictator - the director and two lead performers were actually kidnapped from S. Korea after they refused to work on this movie with the dictator. Seriously - not kidding. As for the movie itself - it is pretty good in many ways. The story itself works as an old village myth - an iron eating monster comes to life to save poor farmers and villagers from a cruel warlord. The effects are cheesy and silly but some of the battle sequences are impressive for no other reasons then you can tell there are literally thousands of people fighting in these scenes. After all the CGI effects of recent time - it was refreshing and stunning to see so many actual people being used in a big battle. Then again, they probably didn't have much choice. I guess if the dictator of a country tells you to be in his movie, you are in the movie!!

A tiny figure made from a starving prisoner's rice and empowered by a drop of his daughter's blood grows into a towering metal-eating creature that aids a group of desperate farmers who are rebelling against a tyrannical king. The film was produced in North Korea by future 'Dear Leader' and movie-buff Kim Jong Il, and directed by prominent South Korean director Shin Sang-ok, who had been abducted out of Hong Kong and into the Hermit Kingdom by the North Korean secret police. As kaiju films go, 'Pulgasari' is not too bad. The 'suit-mation' costume is as good as those in most of the later Showa-era Godzilla films (and better than those in the rival Gamera canon) and, although the optical special effects integrating the creature and the 'real world' are weak (especially when its catching cannonballs in its mouth), the battle scenes are epic (apparently the North Korean army provided a host of extras), and the scenes in which the monster tears down palaces and fortresses are quite well done (the miniature work is on par with the better Showa-era Japanese kaiju films). The story, acting and script are pretty typical for the genre but the ending is quite good. It's interesting to speculate what exactly the 'message' was, but as a political metaphor, the transition of the monster from saviour to threat could easily be taken as an indictment of Kim Il Sung (Kim Jong Il's father and North Korea's supreme leader at the time the film was made). The film was rarely seen outside North Korea but now, like so many cinematic obscurities, it's available on-line (and with English sub-titles). Worth watching for both itself (for kaiju fans) and for its provenance (for anyone).

Yet another movie the story of whose making is far more interesting than the film itself. One of the world's craziest dictators abducted this film's director and his wife to make a film that resembles an episode of 'Monkey' crossed with 'Godzilla' on a decent budget; which also serves as a public information film advising it's malnourished people that if there was more iron in their diet they would grow up big and strong like Pulgasari.

One of many earlier films it reminded me of was Cavalcanti's 'The Monster of Highgate Ponds' (1961); and apart from it's occasional gory violence it could pass for a co-production between Toho, the Children's Film Foundation and Irwin Allen.

The movie in the reality is about revolutionary violence, that is needed when the people have to fight the powerful pigs, but when the people got the power back is not necessary anymore.

PULGASARI is a North Korean film, directed by an abducted South Korean. It's plot concerns villagers forced by their Overlord to turn all of their iron tools into weapons for the war effort. Instead, the villagers hide their tools, causing their oppressors to round them up.

Through supernatural means, the titular creature is conjured. To be honest, the story of the monster is interesting, as is its way of enlarging itself. The motive for the monster's arrival is completely different than in the original, lost film, BULGASARI. Here, instead of simple revenge, the monster arises in order to conquer the devilish king and his minions, for their oppression of the masses.

Fans of giant rubber monster movies should enjoy this one. There are also some big, human battle sequences. As with all such films, it takes quite a while before the monster really gets going.

This movie is also worth seeing for its historic and political value...