New South Korean Giants

With the upsurge in international awareness of Asian genre films, collaboration has become even more desirable and will hopefully inject some originality into such subgenres as the B-schlock “rampaging giant monster” film.

Polygon Entertainment (a film production company based in Marin County, California) seems to have been set up by founders Hans H. Uhlig and Doo Jin Kim specifically to work with South Korean film companies in producing feature films for an international market.

Their July press release lists three films of interest. The first — and the one closest to completion — is Chaw. Directed by South Korean filmmaker Jeong-won Shin (who has made a couple of ghost movies, Sisily 2km and To Catch a Virgin Ghost*), Chaw is described as “an action/adventure thriller”.

* Note: Rob Keith Akin of SciFi Japan has informed via Avery that Sisily 2 km and To Catch A Virgin Ghost are the same film. Apparently Sisily 2km was marketed outside of Korea as To Catch A Virgin Ghost.

Produced by Soo Jack Films and starring Tae-woong Eom and Yu-mi Jeong, Chaw is the story of a small village being terrorized by a man-eating, mutant boar.

There seems to be a “giant mutant boar” meme doing the rounds at the moment, what with Hogzilla (US-2007; dir. Diane Jacques), The Legend of Hogzilla (US-2008; dir. Rick Trimm), Pig Hunt (US-2008; dir. James Isaac) and Cemetery Gates (US-2006; dir. Roy Knyrim) [OK, that last one’s a mutant Tasmanian Devil, but it’s close enough… as a mutation it’s in the same ball-park, surely?]. Razorback (Australia-1984; dir. Russell Mulcahy) has a lot to answer for.

So far this is the only image from the film that has surfaced on the net:

You can bet that, as in Pig Hunt, dismemberment and gore will play a significant role in proceedings!

Principal photography has apparently wrapped on the film, which is due to appear in 2009. The press release continues:

Hans Uhlig, Polygon’s founder and CEO, explains, “Although we were able to use a practical, fullscale model of the creature for some of the effects shots, the majority of these shots required computer-generated imagery. We assembled our own team of highly skilled and experienced artists who created a fully CG creature, and their work is truly amazing. Be prepared to see some really incredible, and frightening visual effects!”

Uhlig, who also served as 2nd Unit Director, added, “As the majority of the film takes place in a rural setting, we were able to shoot most of the principal photography right here in northern California.”

Soo Jack recently wrapped the remainder of the principal photography requiring Korean locations. Director Shin will soon be returning to California to edit the film at Polygon’s facility in San Rafael. “We have brand new, state-of-the-art high definition editing system,” said Uhlig, “where we will be ingesting, editing, color-correcting, and outputting the digital intermediate of the entire film. The system also allows us to export (and import) our effects shots requiring the CG elements.”

Polygon is also working with Korean company Doosaboo Films on two other SFX-heavy films:

Haeundae (directed by Doosaboo head Yoon Je-Gyun and starring Ha Ji-won and Seol Kyeong-gu), which is described as “South Korea’s first big-budget disaster movie”, centering on a tsunami that wipes out South Korea’s most famous beach. It is currently in pre-production.

Also in pre-production is the intriguing Sector 7, “a science fiction action/adventure blockbuster about the crew of an oil rig battling deep sea monsters.” This one will be shot in the United States with a Korean director and cast, and an American crew — as yet unnamed.

According to the press release Polygon will be overseeing the special effects on Haeundae, but will be providing complete production and special effects services on Sector 7.

Adds Uhlig, “We are very excited about our partnership with Doosaboo. Both of these films are extraordinary opportunities for spectacular visual effects.”

• • Chaw image sourced from the Seen in Jeonju website
  • Polygon website
  • Doosaboo Films
  • via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery