YONGARY: MONSTER FROM THE DEEP (1967)
Director: by Kim Ki Duk
MGM

By 1967, the Japanese monster movie boom was in full force with Toho’s never-ending series of films featuring Godzilla and his friends (SON OF GODZILLA and KING KONG ESCAPES) and Daiei’s third Gamera production (GAMERA VS. GAOS) while Nikkatsu chimed in with GAPPA, THE TRIPHIBIAN MONSTER and Shochikku with THE X FROM OUTER SPACE. That same year even a Korean film company got into the monster mash with this cult classic which is clearly modeled on Godzilla both in appearance and in film making technique. Now, as part of MGM/Fox’s triumphant return of the too long dormant Midnite Movies series, YONGARY (on side A) makes its long awaited DVD debut as part of a double bill with the already released 1961 cult film, KONGA on side B (Note: this release of KONGA is identical to the one previously released as a single DVD by MGM/Sony, so for more on that, check out our review HERE).

Mysterious earthquakes in the Korean countryside are eventually explained to be caused by an ancient reptile dubbed YONGARY by the locals. After the monster makes his initial appearance, he of course goes on the rampage through Seoul. All conventional weapons appear powerless against him and it is up to brilliant Dr. Eee Loo Nami to devise a special chemical which when sprayed on the monster, causes him to die.

YONGARY made the jump from Korean theaters to American audiences via AIP-TV (American International Television) as part of the infamous package of Japanese monster films released directly to U.S. television. These titles include such gems as the Gamera series of films plus the aforementioned THE X FROM OUTER SPACE and GAPPA (aka MONSTER FROM A PREHISTORIC PLANET) in addition to two of the three MAJIN films and THE MAGIC SERPENT. Anyone of this reviewer’s age (38) who grew up in the New York City/Long Island area during the 1970s will remember will great nostalgia the frequent showings of YONGARY on New York’s long gone, but fondly remembered, THE 4:30 MOVIE. YONGARY also marks one of two efforts the Koreans made at roughly the same time. The other was the still unreleased-in-the-United States effort, MONSTER WANG-MA-GWI (1967).

YONGARY was obviously meant as a replay (some MIGHT say “rip-off”) of the Godzilla films. This is most notable in the destruction scenes where YONGARY walks through a building VERY similar to Japan’s Diet Building which Godzilla walked though in the 1954 original and which King Kong climbed atop of in KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (1962). The special effects in YONGARY are passable, but are not up to the standard set by Toho’s effects wizard, Eiji Tsuburaya. In particular, the scenes of the monster shooting fire features an obvious metal pipe protruding from the costume’s mouth. Actually, a Japanese cameraman was recruited by the Koreans to help make this film look as much like the Japanese monster films as possible.

MGM’s transfer is absolutely gorgeous of a film that, up until now, was shown in very poor full frame 16mm transfers. It was obviously taken from original Korean film elements as evidenced by the longer opening music. The image is anamorphic in 2.35:1 with a crisp and clear picture and in sparkling color. The mono sound is excellent and features the classic AIP-TV English dub with which we all grew up. There is also a new stereo mix track, as well as Spanish and French language tracks in mono. Subtitles are optional in English and Spanish. The only unfortunate thing is that no other extras are included.

It is nice to see MGM/Fox make YONGARY: MONSTER FROM THE DEEP part of their Midnite Movies series. If this trend continues, one can hope they will also release such Japanese cult classics as THE X FROM OUTER SPACE and JOHNNY SOKKO AND HIS FLYING ROBOT series as well as the movie spin-off, VOYAGE INTO SPACE. (Joe Cascio)

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