Pulgasari

Written byKim Se RyunBased onBulgasari (1962)
by Kim Myeong-jeProduced byShin Sang-ok
(uncredited)StarringCinematographyEdited byKim Ryon SunMusic bySo Jong GonDistributed byTwin (1995)
Raging Thunder (1998)95 minutesCountriesLanguageKoreanBudget$2–3 million

Pulgasari^[a] is an epic kaiju film directed and produced in 1985 by Shin Sang-ok during his abduction by North Korean authorities. A multinational co-production between North Korea, Japan, and China, it is a remake of the 1962 South Korean film also depicting the eponymous creature from Korean folklore. The ensemble cast includes Chang Son Hui, Ham Gi Sop, Jong-uk Ri, Gwon Ri, and Yong-hok Pak, with Kenpachiro Satsuma as the titular monster. Set during the Goryeo Dynasty, it follows a blacksmith's daughter who brings to life a metal-eating monster envisioned by her father to defeat the monarchy.

Pulgasari was the last film made by Shin under the orders of Kim Jong Il (then-heir apparent); Shin and his wife, Choi Eun-hee, had remained in confinement in North Korea since 1978. The film was initially put forward in February 1985. Principal photography took place in Pyongyang from June to August 1985, with the support of the North Korean military and roughly 13,000 extras. A team of 15 Toho employees handled special effects photography from September to December. With an approximately ¥200–300 million ($2–3 million) budget, Pulgasari was one of the most expensive films ever produced in North Korea.

Initially scheduled for a 1986 worldwide release, Pulgasari was banned upon Shin and Choi escaping North Korean supervision in March. Shin later worked on an American remake of the film. Pulgasari was released on VHS in Japan on January 21, 1995, and officially debuted in Tokyo on July 4, 1998, to critical acclaim. According to Cine21, it outperformed Godzilla (1998) in Japan and became the highest-grossing North Korean film of all time. In the subsequent years, it has gained an international cult following.

In feudal Korea, towards the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, a king controls the land with an iron fist, subjecting the peasantry to misery and starvation. The finest blacksmith in the land, Takse, is imprisoned for defending his people. Shortly before his death, he makes a tiny rice figurine of a monster and asks the gods to make his creation a living creature that protects the rebels and the oppressed. The blacksmith's daughter, Ami, soon receives the figurine and it springs to life upon contact with her blood after she accidentally wounds herself while sewing.^[4] It becomes a giant metal-eating monster dubbed "Pulgasari" by Ami, which is the name of the mythical monster her father used to mention as an eater of iron and steel.^[5] Pulgasari now shares a special bond with Ami and evolves into a giant and powerful figure after eating some of the farmer's tools.

After much suffering, the peasants form an army, storm the palace of the region's Governor, and kill him. Soon after the evil king becomes aware that there is a rebellion being planned in the country and he intends to crush it, but he runs into Pulgasari, who fights with the peasant army to overthrow the corrupt monarchy.^[5] Pulgasari wins many battles because of his unending hunger for all kinds of metal, readily provided by its enemies. Nevertheless, after capturing and executing In-dae, the rebellion's leader whom Ami is betrothed to, the king's army threatens to kill Ami if Pulgasari does not surrender. Pulgasari lets itself be trapped to save the woman, and the royal army seemingly kills the creature by burying it under the ground. After escaping, Ami revives Pulgasari by again pouring some of her blood on the burial site. Pulgasari grows strong once more and attacks the king's palace, destroying it and simultaneously killing the king.

After the king's defeat, Pulgasari becomes a new problem, since he starts eating the rebels' weapons and farmers' tools given to the creature without objection since the peasants still believe Pulgasari is a benign savior. Ami realizes that Pulgasari's hunger will never stop and that the monster is inadvertently oppressing the people he fought for. She decides to sacrifice herself by hiding inside a big bell that Pulgasari finds and quickly eats. Pulgasari yells in anguish as Ami's presence in its system causes it to turn to stone and crumble into pieces, tragically killing both of them, but saving the people once and for all.

Kim Jong Il was a lifelong admirer of South Korean filmmaker Shin Sang-ok—who rose to fame in his home country during the 1960s—as well as cinema in general. A collection of around 15,000^[22][23] to 20,000^[4][24] titles was reported to be in his possession, with new releases from around the globe being added shortly after opening in theaters.^[4] In 1978, Kim arranged the kidnapping of Shin and his wife, famed actress Choi Eun-hee, purposely intending for them to make propaganda films for the North Korean government and gain North Korean cinema international recognition.^[25][26] After being jailed in North Korea for attempting to escape twice, Shin worked in the North Korean film industry from his release in 1983 until in their escape in 1986. Pulgasari was Shin's fifth film of 1985 (following Love, Love, My Love, Salt, The Tale of Shim Chong, and Breakwater),^[26][27] and last North Korean production altogether.^[28][29]

Pulgasari was a remake of Kim Myeong-je's 1962 South Korean film, Bulgasari, with the story itself based around the legendary creature Pulgasari (or "Bulgasari") from Korean folklore.^[d] The 1962 film, which is now considered lost, was the first ever Korean kaiju film, predating Yongary, Monster from the Deep and Space Monster Wangmagwi by five years.^[17][33]

Although the planning of Pulgasari was accredited to Shin,^[21] author Paul Fischer argued that Shin showed no apparent interest in the Japanese kaiju genre and never explained who originally conceived the project. Kim is said to have been a fan of Toho's Godzilla franchise and saw its 1984 reboot The Return of Godzilla since it was the first in the series to receive a Korean-dubbed release.^[34] He reportedly loved the reboot so much that he sought employees from Toho's special effects department to work on North Korea's very own monster film.^[12][22][34]

According to suit actor Kenpachiro Satsuma, the film was pitched in mid-February 1985, with location scouting commencing in Pyongyang and Beijing that April.^[35] It soon became a co-production between Joseon Art Film Studio^[7] and Shin Film^[4] of North Korea, Toho Eizo of Japan,^[4] and Beijing Film Studio of China.^[36] Special effects art director Yoshio Suzuki flew to North Korea on April 20, to attend the first meeting between the film's Japanese and North Korean crews, with the help of an interpreter. The meeting was held at a studio near the Taedong River that produced films about Kim Il Sung and his family, which had been set up as a temporary office for Shin's production team while a larger studio was under construction for the film. Shin told Suzuki his plans to set the film in China during the Three Kingdoms period if the historical research and costumes make it "match up well". He also said that if this turned out to be successful, he would start filming on August 15 and "ask the Chinese side to adjust it accordingly".^[37] Although the film itself would ultimately take place in Goryeo, the King's palace was based on the Forbidden City complex in Beijing, and the special effects crew specifically referred to it as the Hall of Supreme Harmony during production.^[38]

The Japanese crew developed the Pulgasari suit in Japan from April 28 to late May, with Nobuyuki Yasumaru in charge of modeling.^[39][35]

21-year-old Chang Son Hui, who previously starred in Love, Love, My Love,^[40] played the lead in Pulgasari.^[4] Chang was a trainee flight attendant who met Shin at Pyongyang International Airport, and was immediately asked to become a full-time employee at Shin Film.^[40][26]

Kim reportedly praised Satsuma's portrayal of Godzilla in The Return of Godzilla and thus demanded that he play Pulgasari.^[12] He accepted an invite to work on the film in April 1985, having been deceived into believing it would be a Hollywood production.^[35][29] Fischer noted that Satsuma only met Shin once during production; and asked him whether he would ever return to South Korea, to which Shin replied "It would be too complicated, politically, to go back."^[41]

Principal photography took place in Pyongyang from June to August 1985 while special effects photography followed from September to December.^[4][35] Satsuma later said that the film was produced on an estimated budget of ¥200–300 million (equivalent to $2–3 million), making it one of the largest and most expensive North Korean productions to date.^[42] In addition, some sources described its production budget as "unlimited",^[20][43][44] claimed that it was supported by the North Korean military,^[43] and featured 13,000 extras.^[45]

Shin recalled that Kim was "very supportive" of Pulgasari's production despite never being present during filming.^[20][e] For Shin to create the film, Kim ordered the construction of Munsu Studio, an immense complex described by Satsuma as a "state-of-the-art film studio", which covered approximately 20,000 pyeong (66,000 square meters). The facility featured four studios (the largest two each covered 400 pyeong while the other two were 200 pyeong), as well as six screening rooms, six recording studios, and around 300 waiting rooms and other spaces to store art equipment.^[46] Munsu Studio was still in development when used for special effects photography.^[4][46]

Through his Japanese office, Shin invited 15 of Toho's special effects sector staffers, including Satsuma and Nakano, to work on the film.^[47] In mid-September, before departing Japan, the crew filmed the Pulgasari suit wandering around a miniature village in Studio 9 at Toho Studios, but this was omitted from the film's final cut.^[35] Satsuma and an assistant director flew from Tokyo to Beijing via Shanghai, on China Airlines Flight 930 on September 11, 1985. On September 14, they began working at Beijing Film Studio to prepare the miniature palace and set for the film's climax, which the Chinese crew had already been creating.^[48] Conflict soon arose between the two crews, with the Chinese believing that the Japanese team "just walked in and started damaging the [Hall of Supreme Harmony] set that we put our heart and soul into building for three months."^[38] Regarding destroying the palace in the Pulgasari suit for the film, Satsuma reflected that he was "impressed that the Chinese government could allow such an ambitious filming, even if it was just a movie".^[36]

Later, when arriving in North Korea, Satsuma recalled that their passports were confiscated "for our own safety".^[29] He and the other Japanese were kept as guests at Kim Jong Il's villa for one-and-a-half months to shoot the film, where each of them had a large, well-ventilated, room featuring a bed, TV, bookshelf, and radio.^[49] One of the Japanese employees testified that their rooms were bugged, as evidenced when one of them was talking to himself while alone in his room about how he missed drinking Japanese beer, only to discover the next day that it had been added to the refrigerator.^[12] Kim often visited the villa, but refused to meet the Japanese guests and avoided them.^[46] Satsuma also said that they were working at Shin's studio around October 1985 and it "felt like mid-winter" because the windows in the building featured no glass.^[49]

Post-production on the film reportedly took place in Japan,^[4] and was completed in December 1985.^[21][35] Having escaped North Korean supervision in 1986, Shin's name was later removed from the credits and replaced by assistant director Chong Gon-jo's.^[14][20] Some South Korean sources also credit Chong with having completed the film.^[16][17][18]

Satsuma cited that Pulgasari was lauded upon its first screened at Toho Studios in January 1986.^[35] On February 16, Shin flew to Berlin under the supervision of North Korean bodyguards, to offer the film to several Western film distributors at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival.^[50] The film's 1995 Japanese flyer stated that an unidentified major enterprise acquired Pulgasari for worldwide distribution.^[4] However, it was banned both in North Korea and overseas in the wake of Shin and Choi's escape while in Vienna on March 12.^[f] The Japanese website Tocana suggested that it was prepared for release in celebration of Kim Il Sung's birthday,^[24] which was on April 15. Contrarily, Fischer contended that the film was released in North Korea a few weeks after Shin's escape and achieved financial success.^[52] Satsuma remarked circa 2007 on his knowledge of the initial cancelation of the film's release:

It was soon decided that the film would be released in Japan. However, in a sudden turn of events, the joyous mood took a turn, and our Pulgasari was caught up in a political vortex and disappeared from the public eye. And as we all know, 13 years later, the movie, which was thought to have been shelved, miraculously saw the light of day.^[35]

On January 21, 1995, Pulgasari was released by Twin on VHS in Japan;^[8][53] its flyer proclaimed it was the film's first public distribution in any format.^[4] According to the Associated Press, Twin's president Yoshimitsu Yoshitsuru claimed to have acquired permission from Shin for the release.^[8] Nevertheless, Tocana later declared this release was pirated.^[44] Critic Takashi Monma [ja] reported in 1996 that several Japanese film festivals had attempted to screen the film but were all turned down.^[54] The film's official premiere^[6] took place at the Kineca Ōmori theater in Tokyo on July 4. It remained playing there until September due to high demand,^[55] and was also released in several other Japanese cinemas and on home video later that same year.^[g]

In November 1998, Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) announced it would broadcast Pulgasari on their television channel in 1999.^[56] Shin subsequently accused MBC of copyright infringement, filed a lawsuit against them, and petitioned for a ban on broadcasting Pulgasari and Love, Love, My Love in South Korea.^[h] The following year, Judge Shin Jeong-chi [ko] of the Seoul High Court dismissed Shin's request to ban the film in two trails, and concluded that, although Shin holds the moral rights to the films, the North Korean production company owns the broadcasting rights.^[57][59]

Park Jie-won of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism declared in May 2000 that the film had been approved for release in South Korea due to a cultural exchange agreement for the June 15th North–South Joint Declaration.^[57] Thus on July 22,^[60][61] Pulgasari became the first North Korean film distributed in South Korean theaters.^[i] That same month, Sisa Journal reported that its release was attracting controversy on whether films from North Korea should be handled as foreign or domestic distributions, and was under consideration to acquire screen quotas.^[60]

The film was later screened at the 22nd Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in July 2018,^[16] and on June 5 of the ensuing year, opened the 7th Muju Film Festival.^[17]

A.D. Vision distributed Pulgasari on VHS in the United States in 2001 through their subsidiary Rubbersuit Productions.^[22][62] It subsequently received several screenings in the US, United Kingdom, and Canada.^[22] In 2006, the film had its New York premiere as part of Columbia University's year-long "Godzilla festival."^[20] It was also shown in Paris at the Jeu de Paume museum on April 11, 2015.^[64]

Pulgasari achieved several box office records in Japan,^[55][65] attracting around 18,000 attendees during its theatrical run at Kineca Ōmori alone.^[60][45] In 2018, Joo Seong-cheol of Cine21 stated that Pulgasari outgrossed TriStar's Godzilla (1998) at the Japanese box office and held the record for the highest-grossing North Korean film of all time.^[61]

In South Korea, the film opened in 50 theaters,^[60] and was a massive box-office bomb, drawing under 1,000 theatergoers.^[21][66] Due to its low number of initial attendees, many theaters decided to pull the film within the first week of its release. Author Johannes Schönherr remarked that contemporary publications cited many reasons for its failure in South Korea, including the unpopularity of Japanese kaiju movies released there, and the adolescents' lack of interest in films featuring low-budget special effects.^[62]

Pulgasari attained critical acclaim in Japan.^[57][67] Jun Edoki [ja]—one of the film's main advocates—referred to it as "one of the greatest monster movie masterpieces in history, something that neither Hollywood nor Japan can ever replicate".^[55] According to the Choson Sinbo, the film was positively compared to Godzilla (1998) by Japanese reviewers at the time, who believed that Pulgasari was not "sophisticated" like that film and "reminds the viewers of Japanese monster movies of their good old days".^[9] Likewise, Lee Dong-jin of the South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo compared the film's technical prowess to Godzilla (1998). He wrote that Pulgasari "feels a bit old, but is a fun work that cutely mixes drama and spectacle".^[45] Some also deemed that the film was more reminiscent of the Daimajin trilogy than the Godzilla series.^[68]

Reviewing its initial American video release, Film Threat noted the film's political background and felt that it should have been parodied in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.^[69]

Satsuma later spoke of how he adored Pulgasari and remembered performing in it fondly,^[9][55][65] deeming it to be the "most memorable work in my long acting career".^[70] In October 1988, Bungeishunjū published a book written by him, titled Godzilla's View of North Korea, which detailed his experiences working on the film.^[71][72] He told the Choson Sinbo in 1998 that his favorite scene in the film was when the titular monster was caged and set ablaze, and that he wanted to return to North Korea to work on a sequel.^[55] The Daily Telegraph also claimed that Satsuma considered the film to be better than Godzilla (1998).^[73]

In 2005, Shin articulated to The New Yorker that he believed the film's special effects were outdated.^[20] According to Fischer, Kim Jong Il considered the film to be a masterpiece.^[74]

According to The Guardian in 2003, there has been some speculation that the director Shin Sang-ok included a hidden message of his own in the film. The film's titular monster is often interpreted as a metaphor for Kim Il Sung betraying a revolution for his purposes and as a plea to the North Korean people to rise against the Kim regime. This is represented by Pulgasari demanding his subjects feed him more iron even after the former regime has been defeated, leading to the workers turning against and ultimately defeating their former savior.^[5]

Shin disputed interpretations that the film has commentary on North Korea's contemporary class conflict.^[21][73] In 2005, he said that the film is instead a plea for pacifism because "there are limits to what weapons can do".^[20] However, a 2019 article in The Daily Telegraph quoted Shin saying "It was a pure monster film, I didn’t put any ideology in it".^[73]

In 1995,^[75] Shin (under the pseudonym "Simon Sheen") worked on a remake of Pulgasari.^[20] Directed by Sean McNamara and produced by Sheen Communications, Galgameth (1996) told the story of a young prince, aided by a warm-hearted monster, reclaiming his deceased father's medieval kingdom. Shin said that Galgameth, along with The Gardener (1998), "caused me a big financial loss".^[27]

Pulgasari is now considered a "cult classic" and has become Shin's best-known film and the most widely seen North Korean film internationally, partly due to its involvement in his abduction by North Korea.^[j] According to Fischer, the film "defined [Shin's] career and changed his life".^[79]

In the years following its US premiere, Western critics and kaiju fans have frequently mocked and overlooked the film.^[62] In 2015, Fischer described it as Shin's worst movie.^[79] A 2016 review on Screen Anarchy condemned it as propaganda, and solely praised Shin's efforts and the monster's depiction.^[80] Simon Fowler of The Guardian ranked it the third-best North Korean film ever made, but noted that "it's [easy] to get lost in the ridiculousness of it all".^[81] Jonathan Ross mentioned that Pulgasari was among the few North Korean films he had seen, and described it as an "enjoyably campy kaiju flick".^[82] In March 2024, Collider ranked the film No. 10 on their "10 Best So-Bad-They're-Good Monster Movies" list, and Vulture called it "quite bad as a film"; both agreed that its behind-the-scenes story is more fascinating than the film itself.^[83][84]

• Culture of North Korea
• List of North Korean films
• Propaganda in North Korea

• Pulgasari at IMDb 
• Pulgasari at AllMovie
• Pulgasari at Box Office Mojo
• Pulgasari at Rotten Tomatoes