The Flying Monster (비천괴수) (1984)

 The Flying Monster is one good example of Korea’s attempt at the “Kaiju” genre back in the 80’s. Sadly the genre as died since Shin Hyun-ray last 2 films (Yonggari and D-War) which were epic failures. The Flying Monster is sheer fun and cheese, since back in the days everything had to be made with the traditional “man in the rubber suit”, so this movie has its laughable moments but also has a strong dramatic sub-plot to it (which is common to Korean productions). Of course the effects are dated and the scenario is fairly poor but you get to see some full scale battles mixed with ambitious city destruction which at the same time becomes a bit confusing since many monsters (some from the Ultraman series and others like a giant dragon from the Taiwanese production Monster from the Sea) appear at some point and start destroying everything with no rational explanation for it.

After Dr. Kim is gone missing trying to find dinosaurs traces, the young and pretty reporter Kang Ok-hi is sent by her chief editor to investigate on Dr. Kim's new theory. She disguises as a maid and searches Dr. Kim’s house to steal his thesis. During the day, Dr. Kim investigates about some archeological work nearby the coast and manages to discover dinosaurs footprints. Suddenly, a mysterious giant bird (who looks like a prehistoric bird with a chicken head) appears and some disastrous incidents occur one after another. Dr. Kim believes that the only way to prevent those is by destroying the bird’s eggs. He then starts to search for the eggs as new monsters appear and rampage the nearby cities.

Needless to say this was an attempt at a big comeback to the giant monster genre since the late 60’s but seems to have somehow failed at the box office. However, The Flying monster gained a cult status among the Korean sci-fi genre, since most of the similar production of that era were aimed at children and they were featuring a strong sense of comedy which is not a characteristic of The Flying Monster. In general, I must admit that this movie has a good suspense and some good ol’ special effects which must have been so much fun on the big screen back in the days.

ORIGINAL TITLE
Bicheongoesu

DIRECTOR
Kim Jung-yong

CAST

Kim Ki-ju
Nam Hye-gyeong
Kim Da-hye

RELEASE DATE

1984