Quetzalcoatl

Working backwards: D-War (D for dragon) is scheduled for Korean release on August 2nd and U.S. release on September 14th. The flick was announced in 2002 and shot in 2004 at sizeable cost - $70 million (mammoth for a Korean film) is most often quoted, though some cite startup costs for the filmmakers' new production company as responsible for roughly half that total. The flick features various dragons and beasties laying waste to downtown Los Angeles. It's mostly in English, made with American actors as a sop to the international market. To that end, original title Imoogi (named for the folkloric snake so prominently featured) was scrapped in favor of something a little more distributor-friendly.

If this all sounds familiar, note the director: Shim Hyung-rae. D-War is the next ambitious project from Shim, dwarfing the record-setting budget for Yonggary (see previous post).

Trailers are up at the movie's website. They boast a lot of creatures, some questionable dialogue, and one colossal Imoogi rendered in loving Anaconda-grade computer graphics. The whole thing looks pretty silly, although Cloverfield madness seems to indicate a willing American hunger for ravenous ravenous reptiles or other oversized beasts.

One last note to bring it all around. Having established Shim Hyung-rae's willingness to adapt earlier material (specifically, to remake a knockoff), one might be forgiven for thinking the Imoogi resembled something else.

Looking back to the golden age: 1963 brought Toho's release of Kaitei Gunkan ("Undersea Battleship," or Atragon in the U.S.). The Atragon (originally Gotengo in Japanese, or "roaring heaven,") was a superpowered submarine in this underwater science-fiction flick, along the lines of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. While it wasn't really a monster flick, the contemporary vogue for giant creatures had producers calling for the addition of at least one monster to hook the public, and so we saw the first appearance of a monster serpent called Manda. Of course giant serpents weren't a 1963 innovation, but knowing Shim's proclivities, you have to wonder.

I'll leave you with something to consider.