Movie Review // Pulgasari (CULT and CLASSIC Fims)

https://cultandclassicfilms.com/

When I joined the CULT and CLASSIC Films Patreon it felt like a no-brainer.  I got my first movie and it felt like you get extras for joining through the Patreon, but I essentially look at it as this service which will send you a blu-ray once a month that is among the weird or unusual type of films.   This is the second film I've received as part of the Patreon and it is a big one, in a literal and on screen sense.

"Pulgasari" is a film which was produced in North Korea and it is a kaiju film, which is to say it's not too much unlike watching a Godzilla film but that's also because this film had a lot of involvement from that group of film makers in the making of this film.  There is a lot of history within here and having this movie in hand just feels like a prisoner of war was released from North Korea and sent home to me.

I don't want to get too much into the plot of this film because it shouldn't be spoilers but one thing I do enjoy about "Pulgasari" is that he is found as a baby and then grows up with these kids who come to love him in some weird way.    I know there should be an easy way to compare this with a movie where a child has a pet, like "Lassie" or something, but those movies never use their pets to overthrow the government.  

In the simplest form possible to state: if you're a fan of kaiju films, then you should definitely go out of your way to see this because everything else aside, the time you spend watching the screen is going to be more than worth it for you.   As a film, this just lives up to the expectations and so much more, really, as I expected it to feel more low budget than it did.  I was impressed by the costumes, for example, as they felt like the film had some money behind it.

Now we get into the good stuff.  This special edition blu-ray comes with two versions of the film: one is restored from DVD and the other from Laserdisc.  I watched the Laserdisc version and will likely watch the DVD version again in the near future, so when that happens I can update this review to include if I feel they look dramatically different somehow but I'm under the impression that they won't.

There is an interview on here with Paul Fischer, who wrote about Kim Jong-Il and the film history of North Korea, which is just such a fascinating topic to dive into in and of itself.   The physical media with this blu-ray is the set of bottlecaps (can I say POGs?), a double sided poster which is slightly larger than 11x17, and perhaps my favorite part: a small paper Pulgasari that you can fold and put on your desk.

One of the things that makes me think about the country of North Korea is that this past year- in December 2023- there was a Godzilla film in theaters, largely loved by everyone, here in the United States.  Now, another Godzilla film, in a different series, is coming into theaters as well.   Imagine "Pulgasari" having this big release in theaters to go along with all of this monster mayhem.  Imagine someone out there rolling out toys to go with the Godzilla and King Kong toys I currently see in stores.

It really is wishful thinking more than anything else.  In a different time line, we'd be able to do such things, but the state of the world here and now only leaves us room to watch this film in our own homes.   But, I'm happy and appreciative that we are at least able to do that.  This also just very much feels like the best way we could've gotten this film to view in the United States, without paying much more for the VHS on eBay, but again, if you're into kaiju then this is for you.