Pulgasari (1985-Film)

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***Pulgasari*** (Korean: 불가사리; RR: '**Bulgasari'**) is a 1985 North Korean dark fantasy-action monster film directed by Shin Sang-ok and Chong Gon Jo. The film starred Chang Son Hui and Pak Sung Ho and featured special effects by Duk Ho Kim, supervised by Teruyoshi Nakano. The film was loosely based on the legend of the Bulgasari.

Director Shin had been kidnapped in 1978 by North Korean intelligence on the orders of Kim Jong-il, son of the then-ruling Kim Il-sung, and was coerced into making several films as a director, with *Pulgasari* being his final before he and his wife, actress Choi Eun-hee, escaped to the United States.

## Plot.

In feudal Korea, during the Goryeo Dynasty, a king controls the land with an iron fist, subjecting the peasantry to misery and starvation. An old blacksmith who was sent to prison for defending his people creates a tiny figurine of a monster by making a doll of rice, and before dying asks the gods of earth and sky to make his creation a living creature that protects the rebels and the oppressed. When the figurine comes into contact with the blood of the blacksmith's daughter, the creature springs to life, becoming a giant metal-eating monster whom the blacksmith's daughter names Pulgasari, which is the name of the mythical monster her father used to mention as an eater of iron and steel. Pulgasari now shares a special bond with the blacksmith's daughter, and after he starts eating some of the farmer's tools, becomes a giant and powerful figure.

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. Pulgasari wins many battles because of his unending hunger for all kind of metal, readily provided by its enemies. Nevertheless, after capturing and executing the leader of the rebellion (who was also the future husband of the blacksmith's daughter), the King's army threatens to kill the blacksmith's daughter if Pulgasari does not surrender. Pulgasari lets itself be trapped to save the woman, and the royal army apparently kill the creature by burying it under the ground. After escaping, the blacksmith's daughter 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 defeat of the King, Pulgasari becomes a new problem, since he starts eating the rebel's weapons and farmer's tools, which are given to the creature without objection, since the peasants still believe Pulgasari is a benign saviour. The blacksmith's daughter realizes that Pulgasari's hunger will never stop, and that he 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 the blacksmith's daughter presence in its system causes its stomach to explode, tragically killing both of them, but saving the people once and for all.