Not to be confused with the Danish monster film Reptilicus

Reptilicus

Reptilicus, a giant monster film about a fictional prehistoric reptile, is a Danish-American co-production, produced by American International Pictures and Saga Studios, and is upon close examination two distinctly different films helmed by two different directors.The original version, which was...

.

Yonggary (용가리

Hangul

Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...

 – Yonggari, released in the U.S. as Reptilian) is a 1999

1999 in film

The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...

 South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

n Kaiju

Kaiju

is a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....

 film. It is a modern-day remake of the kaiju film Yonggary

Yonggary

Yonggary or Yongary , also known as Yongary, Monster from the Deep, is a 1967 South Korean Kaiju film directed by prominent genre-film director Kim Ki-duk...

. The film was released in Korea in 1999 as Yonggary but released in the United States under the new title Reptilian in 2001. Though the film is a remake, it does not follow the original in any way.

Background

Inspired by the success of the Heisei era

Heisei era (daikaiju eiga)

In the context of Japanese monster cinema the Heisei Era refers not to the current era in Japan but to all kaiju eiga made between 1984 and 1999...

 Godzilla

Godzilla

is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...

 and Gamera

Gamera

is a giant, flying turtle from a popular series of kaiju films produced by Daiei Motion Picture Company in Japan. Created in 1965 to rival the success of Toho Studios' Godzilla during the daikaiju boom of the mid-to-late 1960s, Gamera has gained fame and notoriety as a Japanese icon in his own...

 films in Japan

Cinema of Japan

The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...

, and Roland Emmerich

Roland Emmerich

Roland Emmerich is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer.His films, most of which are Hollywood productions filmed in English, have grossed more than $3 billion worldwide, more than those of any other European director...

's Godzilla

Godzilla (1998 film)

Godzilla is a 1998 science fiction monster disaster film film co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich. It is a loose remake of the 1954 giant monster classic Godzilla. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The film relates a tale of a nuclear incident...

 remake, director Shim Hyung-rae

Shim Hyung-rae

Shim Hyung-rae is a South Korean former-comedian and filmmaker best known for directing the 1999 re-make of Yonggary and D-War , by far the most expensive Korean movie in history...

 envisioned his own monster film. Titled Yonggari in South Korea, internationally Yonggary, and in the US Reptilian. A remake in name only of Yongary (1967

1967 in film

The year 1967 in film involved some significant events. It is widely considered as one of the most ground-breaking years in film.-Events:* December 26 - The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour airs on British television....

), Shim's film uses conventional computer-generated imagery

Computer-generated imagery

Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

 effects, and an American cast to appeal to international markets.

Synopsis

An archaeological party explore some caverns underground. Dr. Campbell and Dr. Hughes are the two leaders of the archaeological expedition, and get separated. While Dr. Hughes finds an alien corpse with a fossilized diamond, Dr. Campbell finds hieroglyphics at the cost of the party except for Hughes and himself. Two years later, Campbell and his assistant Holly are digging up the bones of Yonggary, a gargantuan dinosaur 50 times the size of a tyrannosaurus rex. Out of nowhere, people slowly are being killed around the site. While Holly is working Dr. Hughes, who has been legally dead for 2 years, goes to Holly and tells her to stop the dig. Dr. Campbell comes into the tent and sends Dr. Hughes off. Holly quits the expedition when another "Accident" occurs. In the town bar, Dr. Hughes finds Holly and takes her back to her Hotel room to tell her why he thinks the bones of the Dinosaur, which he calls Yonggary, are going to bring the end of the world. After explaining, Holly and Hughes go to the site to stop Campbell but it is too late and Aliens resurrect Yonggary. After Yonggary's first appearance, the Army comes in and takes Holly and Campbell to an army base when Yonggary is dispatched by the aliens again. The army sends choppers after Yonggary, but he destroys them. Yonggary is then sent to the city (which was thought to be New York by fans, but is actually an all CGI Los Angeles near Korea Town) and does some damage, where some jets attack him. Then Yonggary is transported to a power plant where he is attacked by rocket pack soldiers. During the fight, Hughes and Holly find out that the diamond on Yonggary's forehead is the device giving the aliens control of Yonggary. Yonggary is transported back into the city, where the remainder of the soldiers destroy the diamond on his head. Enraged, the aliens send down their own monster, Cycor. Yonggary and Cycor battle, with Yonggary winning. The following morning, Yonggary is sent to an uninhabited island where Yonggary can adjust to normal life.

The new Yonggary

The new design of Yonggary is completely different from the creature in the 1967 film. He is taller, has three horns on his head, and a diamond on his forehead. It was placed there by the aliens to control Yonggary and use him to conquer Earth. When it was destroyed, they lost all control of Yonggary and he helped defeat the aliens. The original Yonggary had flamethrower breath and could shoot a laser beam from the horn on his snout. The new Yonggary shoots fireballs from his mouth and, according to the aliens at the end of the film, has powers yet to be discovered.

Reception

The film's publicity started in 1998. This was supposed to be the one movie to bring the Korean Film Market to international stature. In an article in Variety, it was stated that of the $6.1 million spent on the budget, $2.1 million was already earned through pre-sales at the Cannes and Mifeld film markets. Also, while American, Japanese, and some European territory's distribution of the film was pending, an interview with the film's Director of Photography, An-Hong Kim confirmed that Germany, Poland, Turkey, Maylsia, Indonesia, Russia, China, Taiwan, and Latic America was also had agreements to distribute the movie. It was around this time that Sonokong made its 12 inch Walking Yonggary figure. In Korea, the CNN network regularly reported on the film.

The film was panned by critics, but sold 3 million tickets. Many audiences disliked the special effects. It was considered successful in Korea, comparable to Godzilla 2000's US release. The film was also released in Pakistan and was featured in the Cannes film festival. It did poorly on a global scale, but has since gained a cult following. Publicity, while largely ignored by the media, was big. Giant posters were hung outside Korean theaters and a parade was staged with a life size replica of Yonggary from the waist up. The toy company Songokong released more Yonggary figures including a SD Wind and Walk figure and a 12 inch vinyl figure. The SD Wind and walk was the least produced of the figures and most of the 12 vinyl figures were shipped to Japan.

Yonggary upgrade

The film was re-released in 2001, with improved special effects and additional scenes. The re-release did not do well in the box office, possibly due to poor promotion. This version of the film was first shown at a Japanese film Festival in 2000, being retitled ARMAGGEDON BEAST: YONGARI, before its 2001 showing at the film's native country South Korea. When the film was shown in South Korea for a special showing on the 14th (6 days before its widespread release in South Korea), Hyung Rae Shim did introduce the film in person. Overall, when it was widespread released on Jan. 20th 2001, it only reached at highest, number 10 at the box office. Unlike the first version of the film, this 2001 Upgrade edition had barely any publicity. Among the scenes that are added to the "2001 Upgrade", the beginning scene with a team of archeologists entering the cave was an addition. Along with added scenes, an extra character "Mr. Mills", the original Korean score by Sung Woo Cho was replaced by a new ambient score by Chris Desmond. Overall, the original version of the film was tampered with by 60% to make YONGARI Millennium.

Availability

Although a box office success, Yonggary was not popular in South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 due to the usage of American actors and weak storyline, and has not been released on DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 there, although there is a Korean subtitled VHS in which is out of print. In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 and France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, it can be purchased online and at some stores. It has also been broadcast on the Sci Fi Channel. All DVD and VHS versions of Yonggary are of the 2001 version and not the 1999 version. And all of the DVDs have special features. The Japanese release has a trailer, the French one has a trailer, file on Yonggary, and a documentary on eastern monsters. The American release, titled Replilian, has a modest amount of extras, including trailers for the 1998 Godzilla, Godzilla 2000, and the DVD release trailer. The US release also has production notes, a file on Yonggary, a photo gallery, and an option to see the film in English or French.

Overall, all releases of Yonggary are of the 2001 version. The 1999 version has not been released as of 2008.