Yongary: Monster from the Deep

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 dinosaur named Yongary. 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; Yongary, enraged, starts attacking until a chemical explosion at the refinery proves to have an effect on it. The South Korean government then uses oil to draw Yongary on a local river, and kills it with a refined version of the ammonia compound.

Production

Keukdong Entertainment Company employed staff from Equis Productions and Daiei Film's special effects staff to helm the film's special effects. Masao Yagi, who built the Godzilla and Gamera suits for Toho and Daiei, supervised the construction of the Yongary suit. Director Kim Ki-duk found that the suit lacked terror and was disappointed with the final results but proceeded to film with the suit since there was no time or money to produce a new suit. Lee Byoung-woo, the film's associate producer, acted as an intermediate between the South Korean filmmakers and the Japanese staff and helped train the South Korean staff in the special effects techniques used by the Japanese crew.

Principal photography began on April 3rd, 1967 while the special effects photography commenced on April 6th with Cho Kyoung-min performing in the Yongary suit, who was paid ₩100,000 ($400 in USD). The special effects took three months to shoot and were filmed in two studios in Seoul. The miniatures and models cost ₩5 million ($20,000 in USD), the 12 constructed sets cost ₩7 million ($27,000 in USD), and the Yongary suit cost ₩1.2 million ($5,000 in USD).

English version

For its release in North America, Keukdong Entertainment Company sold the film to American International Pictures and released it under the new title Yongary, Monster from the Deep through their television division in 1969. AIP attached Salvatore Billitteri to supervise the English version's post-production and had the film dubbed by Titra Studios.

Infamously, when the film was being sold overseas, the producers (due to a lack of experience) shipped all the original materials, including negatives. As a result, the original South Korean version of the film has been deemed lost and the AIP-TV English version is the only version of the film that survives.

The film was shown regularly during the '70s on syndicated television. U.S. ownership of the film kept changing: AIP was picked up by Filmways, Inc. in 1979, which merged with Orion Pictures, which was later acquired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1997. Orion released the film on VHS and on pan & scan laserdisc in November 1989 and MGM reissued the film to cable television on the Starz/Encore channels and Monsters HD channel and on DVD in 2007, where it was presented in its original 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio for the first time.

Release

The film opened in Seoul on August 13, 1967 and sold 110,000 to 150,000 tickets during its theatrical run, which was a success for the film at the time due to a low amount of cinemas in the country (550 screens total) and the population at the time being 25 million.

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). James Owsley, a former Director of Technical Services for MGM, could not find the original South Korean negative, and believes that it may no longer exist. However, it was soon discovered that roughly 48 minutes of the cut of the film in its original language still exists.

Due to the original prints having been lost, the film became unavailable on television and home media in its native country for 44 years until it was broadcast on television for the first time on June 19, 2011, however, it was the English dub version of the film that was broadcast with Korean subtitles taken from the film's original Korean script.

Analysis

Film scholar and critic Kim So-Young published an essay in 2000 where he noted how the evacuation and destruction scenes in the original Godzilla film reminded Japanese audiences of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the evacuation and destruction scenes in Yongary similarly reminded Korean audiences of the Korean War. Young also addressed the film's theme of masculinity, stating that the astronaut and the young scientist are "tested to prove their masculinity throughout the story" and alludes to the country's crisis of masculinity at that time. Young addressed that the little boy is the real hero of the film, believing the boy to be a mirror image of Yongary and a symbol of Korea's future.

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.