Takatukahane

Bulgasari (Chinese: bu ke sha = cannot be killed) is one of the rare monsters in Korean folk tales. The monster grew with every needle he ate. According to the story, Songdo’s evil governor ordered all Buddhist monks to be imprisoned. A monk who escaped from the governor’s soldiers hid in a closet in his sister’s house.

To pass the time in hiding, he made a little creature out of steamed rice grains. The creature came to life, and seeing it hungry, the kindly monk fed it the only thing he could find: steel needles.

Pulgasari got bigger and grew with every needle he ate. He devoured every piece of metal he found in the city and became giant. In an attempt to catch him, the government assembled people to shoot it with arrows or slay it with swords, but all failed. As a last resort, they tried to melt him with fire.

The monster didn’t die. It simply ran around, his body aflame, and ignited everything he touched until the city had been destroyed. In some variations, the monster is killed by an eminent monk. This was the myth part. Let’s come to the interesting story of the Pulgasari movie.

Pulgasari is a 1985 North Korean fantasy action movie with a similar plot. Being a lifelong admirer of the director, Kim Jong-il ordered to kidnap the South Korean director Sang-ok and his wife, a famous actress, with the specific purpose of making fantasy/propaganda films for the North Korean government.

The creators of Godzilla, who made special effects, are the Japanese Toho Studios Film crew and were deceived and said to have filmed in China. Pulgasari is the last movie the director and his wife shot before they fled to the USA.

In 2006, Pulgasari made its New York debut at the end of Columbia University Japanese culture center’s year-long “Godzilla” festival.

• Impossible-to-Kill, Encyclopedia of Korean Culture
• Pulgasari, Wikipedia
• 11 Terrifying Mythological Creatures That Expose Humanity’s Worst Fears, allthatsinteresting.com