The year is 1985, and the son of North Korea’s supreme leader has aspirations of producing a kaiju movie to compete with Godzilla and to propagate North Korean values to the world. To that end, he has kidnapped a famous South Korean director and a plane-ful of Japanese effects artists. The end result is Pulgasari: a little known and completely campy cautionary tale which imagines unfettered capitalism as a literal insatiable monster. Lee fell asleep while watching but is grateful for the chance to learn more about Korean history while Sarah finds it all to be a bit of a bummer. Plus: feudal hwacha rockets, bowhead whales, tucking your kaiju in for bed, and an exciting opportunity for our listeners: donate $20 to the show or Pants Pending Studios and we’ll watch and review a movie of your choice!

Thank you Austin for the listener letter!

Source:

Vanity Fair: How Kim Jong Il Kidnapped a Director, Made a Godzilla Knockoff, and Created a Cult Hit (https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/04/pulgasari-north-korea-cult-hit)