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Pulgasari is an epic monster film directed and produced by Shin Sang-ok (pictured) during his abduction in North Korea. Filmed in 1985 as a co-production between North Korea, Japan, and China, it is supposedly a remake of a lost 1962 South Korean film. The story is set during the Goryeo dynasty and centers on Ami (played by Chang Sŏnhŭi), a peasant who animates the fabled creature Pulgasari (played by Kenpachiro Satsuma) that her late father contrived to overthrow the monarchy. Intended to capitalize on the success of The Return of Godzilla (1984), Pulgasari was Shin's seventh and final film for Kim Jong Il, whose agents kidnapped Shin and Choi Eun-hee in 1978. An international ban on its distribution was imposed when Shin and Choi escaped their North Korean overseers to the United States in 1986. The film was ultimately released on VHS in Japan in 1995 and Japanese theaters in 1998, to critical and commercial success. Pulgasari is now considered a cult classic. (Full article...)