A nuclear test in the Middle East either awakens (creates?) Yongary, a giant reptilian monster OR generates earthquake with a mobile epicenter that travels to Korea where it awakens (creates?) the creature (Yongary's origins are unclear). Once in Korea, the fire-breathing kaiju proceeds to destroy cities, shrug off mankind's puny weapons, and drink fuel-oil to sustain itself. All the while, the beast is being observed by a young boy who becomes key in devising a successful strategy to destroy the colossus. Throw in a ridiculous gimmick like an 'itch ray', a monster who dances (or maybe it's the itch ray or the ammonia bath, that is unclear as well), horrible acting (admittedly, I was watching a dubbed version), an annoying child in a lead role, a disjointed and incoherent plot, and second-rate special effects, and you end up with this bottom-of-the-barrel Korean Godzilla knockoff. The titular monster, which looks a bit like an emaciated Godzilla with a glowing horn on its snout, both breathes fire (during which its tongue seems to disappear) and emits some kind of energy-beam from the aforementioned horn that is accurate and powerful enough to slice attacking fighter-jets in half. Despite this impressive weaponry, the scientist-hero takes his girlfriend, her friend and her little brother in the helicopter that is going hover above the behemoth and drizzle it with ammonia, which it does not like in the least. And the final insult to the viewer: if they have not suffered enough watching the film through to the climax, there is a tedious epilogue before the film mercifully fades to black. I have low expectations of, and high tolerances for, monster movies, but "Yongary, Monster from the Deep" is pretty awful. Apparently the original Korean version has been lost (although there seem to be undubbed versions on-line), so we may never know if it was as bad as the Western release I watched. For hard-core kaiju fans only (unless you can find the MST3K annotated version, which may appeal to a broader audience).
