The North Korean Godzilla film. Considering the fact the director Sang-ok-Shin and lead actress were South Koreans kidnapped by the North to make movies... and the Japanese Toho studio were tricked into helping by thinking they were filming in China... and the undoubted propaganda nature of the film... this isn't that bad a film at all!
In Ancient Korea the evil (imperialist no doubt) King (Yong-hok Pan) is starving his population. Villagers rise up and the King orders a new army formed, weapons to be made by Takse (Gwon Ri) using iron seized from the villagers. He refuses and dies in prison, before hand he gives a strange little figure of a monster to his daughter Ami (Son Hui Chang). She accidentally drips blood on it and the monster, Pulgasari, comes to life. Pulgasari eats iron to grow and is soon a huge monster... however he obeys Ami and helps Inde's (Ham Gi Sop) rebel army fight the King...
This is an interesting mixture of period drama and monster movie. The special effects are quite poor and Pulgasari doesn't get to destroy as many buildings as usual in these kinds of film, however when he does it is pretty spectacular. The film has lots of action, though can get a bit repetitive after awhile. The twists in the story, the monster being the hero and then the enemy, keep your interest. The sheer novelty and strange nature of this film makes it well worth a watch and it certainly isn't the worst monster movie made by any means.
