The history of the 1999 YONGGARY film is more interesting than the movie itself. The original YONGGARY movie was Korea’s answer to the classic Godzilla series. American International Pictures Television released that 1966 film in English form as YONGARY, MONSTER FROM THE DEEP. Now over thirty years later, YONGGARY lives again in the 1999 feature, released domestically as REPTILIAN. Like the recent Godzilla and Gamera films of the 1990’s, Yonggary gets a facelift and a new concept, and director Ray Shim takes his cues from the American GODZILLA fiasco. This is unfortunate as Ray Shim is no stranger to Asian fantasy films; his ZeroNine productions has produced such unique genre fare as DRAGON TSUKA and TYRANNO’S CLAW. YONGGARY was filmed in Korea with an entirely Korean crew, though the actors and extras all speak English. The location for the movie is set in some unnamed metropolitan city, though New York is continually hinted at. YONGGARY also has the distinction of being the most expensive film to emerge from Korea. Despite the lack of native actors, poor scripting, and some shoddy effects work, YONGGARY was a huge hit when released there in 1999 (in a Korean subtitled version). After Ray Shim shopped the English language film around (with no takers apparently) the director got a case of Lucas-itis, and decided to produce an improved director’s cut with polished new CGI effects. This new director’s cut was released in Korea earlier this year as YONGARRY 2001 UPGRADE EDITION to poor box office receipts. Somehow, Columbia Tristar came into the picture and decided to release the movie under the more marketable name, REPTILIAN. The version released on DVD by Columbia Tristar is the YONGARRY 2001 UPGRADE EDITION.

A greedy, fame-seeking archeologist, Prof. Campbell (Richard B. Livingston) and his assistant, Holly (Donna Philipson) steal and decode enough information to lead them to the burial site of the fossilized remains of a mysterious prehistoric creature. With the excavation almost complete, an unscrupulous reporter, Bud Black, arrives at the site seeking a big story. What Bud soon learns is that there have been several strange accidents near the excavation, leaving several of the workers dead. As Holly becomes more disgruntled with Campbell's desire to continue the excavation without investigating the deaths, Dr. Wendell Hughes (Harrison Young), a noted paleontologist who has been missing for the last two years, suddenly appears at the excavation, pleading with Campbell to stop and re-bury the fossils before the monster awakens. Dr. Hughes is dismissed as a babbling idiot and thrown out of the camp by Campbell’s team. Frustrated, Holly quits the excavation when another worker is mysteriously found dead. Teaming with Dr. Hughes, Holly attempts to decode part of the ancient hieroglyphics and stop Campbell before it’s too late. But the hieroglyphics that Dr. Hughes has uncovered are different, more complex writings left by a civilization, which doesn’t appear to be human. When Dr. Hughes and Holly arrive at the excavation site to stop Campbell, it's too late. A great green light, emitted from a strange spacecraft hovering over above the earth, strikes the fossil unleashing the wrath of Yonggary unto the world.

Ray Shim is a talented director, but in trying to make the film attractive to English-speaking audiences, he overstretches his boundaries. Somehow, Ray knew he could not pull off the English language approach to the dialog, and he made a huge mistake in hiring screenwriter Mark Poole to write the script. Poole’s only experience in the film industry is writing micro budgeted direct-to-video features. The end result is a hacked conglomeration of military movie clichés, made worse by the poor performances of these no-name actors. Remember how bad the American filmed sequences were in GODZILLA 1985, and how all the American military characters exchanged riduculous banter? Well, in YONGARRY, screenwriter Mark Poole worked awful hard to come with characters, situations, and dialog just as dreadfully annoying as the ill-fated tack-on footage to GODZILLA 1985. Only this time, these annoying scenes last throughout the entire movie, except when the special effects sequences take center stage. Never have I been so elated to witness the death of a bad actor, knowing that we won’t have to listen to them again.

The special effects and CGI range from average to very good, depending upon the scene. Close-ups of Yonggary’s and Cyker’s heads are unconvincing. While the CGI work is commendable, it sure falls short of Hollywood productions. Most of the effects shots resemble a computer video game. The destruction and combat scenes all take place at night, and things look very dark especially during the climatic battle between Yonggary and Cyker. It is difficult to see the details of these fearsome creations, but perhaps the darkness is there to hide the low budget limitations. The miniature cityscapes are just as good as those from their Toho inspirations, and the CGI enhanced explosions are even better. There are several shots of cartoonish helicopters attacking Yonggary, followed by a multitude of jet fighters swooping down on the creature. Yonggary avoids the missiles, and they destroy the buildings around him. Surprisingly, there is very little ground forces, and not a tank in sight. Though the destruction scenes are obviously inspired from Toho, the rest of the monster action is more akin to the pathetic GODZILLA 1998, only not quite as polished, obviously.

From the Special Features menu, you can access Production Notes that detail the convoluted history of the most expensive feature film ever produced in Korea. There is also a Yonggary Profile option that shows several views of Yonggary and Cyker, along with their vital statistics. You can access a Photo Gallery with 14 color pictures of the monsters and cast members. Here are the trailers that are on this disc:

• REPTILIAN English Language Trailer (FF, DD 2.0, 1:00)
• GODZILLA 2000 American Theatrical Trailer (FF, DD 5.1, 1:34)
• GODZILLA 1998 (2.35.1, DD 5.1, 1:54)

- Tony Mustafa