Yonggary (1999 film)

Yonggary is a 1999 South Korean monster film directed by Shim Hyung-rae and is a reimagining of the character Yonggary, originating from the 1967 film Yongary, Monster from the Deep. Despite being a South Korean production, the film's principal cast consists of Western actors such as Harrison Young, Donna Phillipson, Richard B. Livingston, Briant Wells, Brad Sergi, Dan Cashman, and Bruce Cornwell.

Yonggary was released in South Korea on July 17, 1999. An alternative cut was later released with an altered plot, new footage, and updated special effects on January 20, 2001 as Yonggary: 2001 Upgrade Edition, which was distributed in North America as Reptilian. The film was considered the most expensive South Korean film produced at the time of its release and received negative reviews.

Plot
In Southeast Asia, Dr. Campbell and Dr. Hughes lead an archaeological party exploring caverns. Hughes is separated and finds an alien corpse with a fossilized diamond while Campbell uncovers hieroglyphics leading to the location of a dinosaur skeleton. Two years later, an alien mothership arrives near Earth's orbit and destroy two American satellites that get the attention of soldier Parker, who reports it to General Murdock of the United National Defense Agency (UNDA). Bud Black, a photojournalist, learns about a dinosaur dig, led by Campbell and his assistant Holly.

Hughes, who has been believed to be dead, arrives at the dig site to warn Campbell about the dinosaur's resurrection, but is quickly removed from the site. The alien ship sends beams to reanimate the dinosaur, killing several diggers. Holly confronts Campbell about the mysterious deaths and quits after Campbell refuses to launch an investigation. Hughes finds Holly and reveals to her about the legend of Yonggary, the alien fossil, additional hieroglyphics, and that he was held by the U.S. government as a "guest" for the last two years. She initially dismisses his claims, but comes around after he shows her classified data concerning the alien fossil.

They return to the dig site to stop Campbell, but arrive too late when the alien ship fully resurrects Yonggary, killing Campbell in the process. The alien ship dematerializes Yonggary. Both Holly and Hughes are taken into custody by Parker. Yonggary is then teleported to Los Angeles and proceeds to attack, where he's intercepted by jets. Looking for the story of a lifetime, Bud appears and steals the decoded information that contains the prophecy that may be the last chance to stop Yonggary, currently doing battle with a squadron of helicopters. Hughes and Holly catch up with Bud and retrieve the information, uncovering that the aliens are controlling Yonggary. Running out of options, Murdock dispatches his experimental Project T Forces, led by Parker, to attack Yonggary. The T-Forces manage to break the aliens’ control over Yonggary. However, the aliens send a new monster, Cykor, to battle Yonggary. Cykor initially gets the upper hand, but Yonggary emerges victorious in the end, forcing the aliens to flee. The generals manage to stop the bomber at the last minute and the following morning, the Military transports Yonggary to a deserted island, where he can live in peace. Sadly, the dinosaur's skin disintegrates. Hughes, Holly, Parker, and Murdock all bid a sad farewell to Yonggary as his skeleton falls apart and collapses into the sea.

Meanwhile, Bud finds a cavern full of dinosaur fossils, setting up an unmade sequel.

Production
In addition to receiving financial support from the Hyundai Capital Corp. and Korean Technology Finance Corp., the film received financial and technical support from the Korean government (and the government of Suwon) by allowing the filmmakers access to military bases, hardware, and locations such as the Historic War Museum in Seoul, a location where filming has never been permitted before. The film utilized 124 miniatures and the designers spent 6 months designing Yonggary. Sculptures of the monsters were made in 6 months which were then scanned to digital screens for 3D work. Suits were produced for the monsters but were replaced with computer-generated imagery during post-production. The film was in production for 18 months and resulted in 45 minutes of computer graphics.

2001 Upgrade Edition
After the film's successful opening, the filmmakers decided to expand the film with additional CG effects, new sets, a slightly different story, and additional characters, and began reshooting in December 1999. This version would later be released in early 2001 as Yonggary: 2001 Upgrade Edition and as Reptilian for its North American home video release.

Marketing
In 1998, a two-minute preview titled Yonggary 1998 was produced and shown at the Cannes Film Festival for potential international distributors, which generated interest from Warner Bros. and United International Pictures. Before entering production, the film was pre-sold at $2.72 million after signing nine contracts of copyrights with Germany, Poland, Thailand, Turkey, and others. Yonggary was given coverage in magazines that were published during the festival.

Theatrical
Yonggary was released in South Korea on July 17, 1999. The film opened at the Korean Culture Center in Seoul, the first time a film premiered at the center, and sold 120,000 admissions on its opening day and 1 million admissions during its opening weekend. The film was released in 85 theaters in South Korea, the highest number for any movie released in South Korea at the time. The film was considered the most expensive South Korean film produced at the time of its release.

The film was later re-released on January 20, 2001 with updated special effects and an altered plot as Yonggary: 2001 Upgrade Edition; however, the re-release was a critical and commercial flop.

Home media
The 2001 version was released on DVD by Columbia Tristar on August 21, 2001 as Reptilian. Columbia Tristar later released the film on VHS on March 5, 2002.

Reception
Chuck Arrington from DVD Talk gave the film a mixed review, criticizing the film's acting and dialogue, calling it "painful", but also wrote that the film was funny enough to merit renting it. StompTokyo.com gave the film a negative review, criticizing the film's poor quality special effects, calling it "cartoonish". In his book VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever, Jim Craddock awarded the film one out of four bones, noting that the film should have ended once the military defeats Yonggary. An anonymous reviewer in Fangoria declared the film as being so inept that the film had made as purposely intentionally awful with special effects that resembled a disappointing video game.