#bulgasari

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Cover for Madame Choi and the Monsters, a 2024 graphic novel by Patrick Spät (writer) and Sheree Domingo (artist). It chronicles the life of actress Choi Eun-hee, who was kidnapped by North Korea in 1978 and forced to make movies there with her ex-husband Shin Sang-ok (also abducted). They fell back in love and ultimately escaped their captors in 1986 while overseas in Vienna.

Of course, I'm posting about it here because of Pulgasari, far and away the most famous film Shin directed in North Korea. Spät posits (citing historians I'm unfamiliar with) that a North Korean agent stole a print of Bulgasari (1962), the first South Korean giant monster movie, on behalf of Kim Jong Il, motivating him to greenlight a remake. Later, we're treated to a cameo from Kenpachiro Satsuma, Pulgasari's suit actor, who's under the impression everything's above board. Spät and Domingo also retell the Korean myth both films are based on in ways that parallel Choi's life (with an atomic bomb metaphor added for good measure). That's a tale well told, even if Choi, who didn't appear in Pulgasari, has a somewhat tenuous connection to the kaiju. Also, Domingo has an adorable take on the iron-eater.

[memimic]

Bulgasari

CR 13 Giant

Forged by hunger and legend, the Bulgasari devours metal to harden its flesh and fuel its fury. Steel becomes bone, mithril becomes muscle, and gold glints in its eyes as it charges.

💬 What metallic object would you sacrifice to avoid its wrath?

Art by Midjourney

[thefalloutwiki]

💥 Trivia Tuesday 💥

The Rip Daring and the Cryptid Hunt mentions the Bulgasari, a creature from Korean mythos. The characters in the play describe it as a "tapir-like creature" who has the ability to eat and absorb metal.

[chernobog13]

Really, really nice soft vinyl figure of Pulgasari, the North Korean kaiju and star of the 1985 film of the same name.

BTW, Heisei-era Godzilla suit actor Kenpachiro Satsuma was the man inside the Pulgasari suit.

[vermilllionsands]

On set of Pulgasari, 1985

[rhetthammersmithhorror]

Galgameth | 1996

[briefbestiary]

The unkillable beast. Some say that the Bulgasari actually was successfully killed, yet others say that it could not be killed, and instead wanders the forests of Korea today.

[blazescompendium]

From what I've known, the special effects team, along with the monster suit actor behind Godzilla series, was hired for the North Korea Pulgasari movie, so no wonder there's a pokemon based on this one 😆 After all, it's technically a collaborate project between North Korea and Japan! BTW, the original director of Pulgasari movie was actually kidnapped from South Korea, and he later escaped during the Berlinale, which is the reason why the international release got delayed. They later erased his name and promote the vice director as the director instead. Crazy stuffs.

Oh man this stuff escalated so quickly. I was like, hey how cool the original monster suit actor from Godzilla was there, hey how cool it was a partnership between two countries that usually hate each other, and then.... THEY WHAT!? But yeah, i knew for some time this movie has some problems related to it, but i never dive deep in it. I really like kaiju movies, i think they are essentially modern folklore, or at least they build towards it. And mostly are created by the same cultural forces that created myths. My favorite Kaiju has to be Mothra! But i think Pulgasari is almost there haha.