Godzilla was a monumental film when it was released in America in 1956 since it showed that English language markets were open to Asian cinema outside of prestigious art house flicks. The success Toho obtained with their mutant monster movies inspired fellow Japanese studios and producers from other countries to dip into the genre. If you could create a giant rubber costume and build a model city to stomp, you were ready to conquer the world’s box office. Although not all monster movies captured the fascination of kids around the globe for various reasons. Space Monster Wangmagwi! was South Korea’s first local giant monster science fiction movie. It beat Yongary, Monster from the Deep to the marquees of Seoul by 2 months. Yongary came to America thanks to a deal with American International Pictures. Space Monster Wangmagwi! remained trapped in South Korea until SRS Cinema finally brought the invasion plan here.
Aliens from Gamma star orbit around Earth with world domination on their mind. Instead of directly broadcasting the “Take me to your leader” spiel; they beam down what appears to be a normal sized monster to do their initial dirty work. How much destruction can a furry creature with bad dental work to the Earth? Turns out that the monster grows upon immediate exposure to the Earth’s atmosphere like an evil sponge creature. The people of South Korea quickly notice the beast when it becomes tall enough to squish cars and knock over apartment buildings. There are plenty of human stories told during the attack. A woman is ready for her wedding day except it all gets interrupted because her fiancé must fly the jet missions against the monster. Even worse things happen to the bride than losing the venue deposit when the monster gets his clawed paws on her. When the monster attacks a street urchin, the fella climbs up the monster and hides within an orifice. The kid uses his knife to attack from within like what Hall and Oates’ “Maneater” does to you in the morning. It’s like an anti-Gamera moment. Wangmagwi is not a friend to children. This scene alone makes Wangmagwi! so worth watching. Can the South Koreans put an end to the monster and save the planet for the next stage of the invasion?
The Korean translation of Space Monster Wangmagwi! is Devil King, the Space Monster. Which is right in the since the monster looks like a devilish Tiki idol with his freaky teeth. The film has classic low budget effects desired from this period. The aliens from Gamma wear sauna suits and helmets that look like gallon milk jugs spray painted silver. The building models of the city look great when crushed. This has what you expect from a giant monster movie. What sets the movie apart from others is having a small kid who knows how to attack a giant monster. He’s not like the annoying Kenny in the Gamera movies. Why this film didn’t get brought to America in the early ’70s for the Creature Double Feature is a mystery. Perhaps distributors didn’t want to let little kids know they can defeat giant monsters by crawling into their ears and nostrils and stabbing away? There’s excitement when then kid dangles above the city holding on the monster’s nose hair. This is the kind of rubber monster movie that would be perfect to run on Mystery Science Theater 3000 or Svengoolie (except there’s no English dub track). If you’re a big fan of Godzilla and Gamera, you must grab a copy of Space Monster Wangmagwi! He’s finally arrived!
The Video is 1.33:1 full frame. There’s a bit of damage now and then on the screen, but nothing too irritating. The Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. Things sound good when the monster crushes stuff. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary with Seung-hoon Jeong (Assistant Professor of Film and Electronic Arts at California State University Long Beach) and Kaiju Historian John Goodrich opens with Jeong explaining how to pronounce the name of the monster. They get into the movie’s cast and crew. There is discussion how the monster appears to attack from the DMZ and heads down South. Was this a movie about a North Korean invasion? What’s also interesting is that there’s no American actors. Even in the military scenes, the Americans aren’t mentioned.
Trailer (1:21) is newly made trailer for the movie promoting how the film is finally out on home video.
Acquiring The Monster is a text feature of Ron Bonk describing all he went through to bring Space Monster Wangmagwi to North America. It truly is an amazing find.
The Fans Speak is a series of video and articles from fans of the film and genre.
Trailers has other Kaiju based movies distributed by SRS.
SRS Cinema presents Space Monster Wangmagwi! Directed by Kwon Hyeok-jin. Screenplay by Byeon Ha-yeong. Starring Namkoong Won, Seon-kyeong Kim, Sang-cheol, Eun-jin Han & Hie-gab Kim. Running Time: 83 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: November 11, 2025.
