Yongary, Monster From the Deep (1967) aka Taekoesu Yonggary
It should be said up front that Yongary, Monster From the Deep is an imitation of Godzilla. A funny, delightful, cheesy imitation, but still an imitation. The basic plot is very familiar. It has a prehistoric monster awakened, causing massive damage to cardboard cities. It fights toy tanks and helicopters …. And only a brilliant young scientist can devise a way to stop the monster.
But Yongary does have some unique twists of its own. The movie begins with a wedding, between a scientist and a lovely young woman. But their wedding night is disturbed by his new father-in-law. He sends the scientist to investigate a traveling earth tremor. Which, of course, turns out to be Yongary. The bride’s young brother‘s job in the film is to be alternatively cute and annoying. He does a dance scene with Yongary at an oil refinery. Seriously. Where it’s revealed to the audience that Yongary is drinking the oil. Also, that he’s got a weakness to some offshoot of ammonia. And that’s what’s used in the end to destroy the creature. The movie ends with the stereotypical remorse at having killed the creature, with another annoying younger brother moment.
In all, Yongary, Monster of the Deep is enjoyable mindless entertainment – I rate it two stars out of five.
Editorial review of Yongary, Monster from the Deep courtesy of Amazon.com
A monstrous creature creates destruction throughout Korea… as scientists running against time create a refrigerant that maybe the only weapon to stop the monster before it destroys the whole country. This cult-classics was Korea’s first entry into the kaiju movie genre, made famous by the Japanese with classics Godzilla and Gamera. After a nuclear test causes a massive earthquake, scientists realize that the quake is the least of their problems”¦ the intense radiation has awoke the legendary reptilian monster, Yongary. Martial law is declared and cities are evacuated as the armed forces battle the fearsome creature with all the arsenal firearms available to them.