In outer space, an alien ship from the planet Gamma is circling Earth, researching the planet to see if it is suitable for their needs. They are searching for a new planet to live on, and Earth seems to have what they need, except for it already being inhabited. No problem. The aliens have a monster that they believe will destroy the humans and leave the planet ready for them to take over. The monster is controlled by a device attached to its back. The creature is the same size as humans until it hits the Earth’s atmosphere. Then it grows rapidly. By the time the monster reaches the surface it is fifty feet tall.
In the meantime, Oh Jeong-hwan (Namkoong Won) is getting ready to marry Ahn-hee (Seon-kyeong). The wedding is planned for the next day. Oh Jeong-hwan is a South Korean air force pilot who is on leave. As soon as the monster is discovered, all leaves are cancelled and Oh Jeong-hwan is called back to headquarters.
After the monster lands on Earth, it begins its rampaging. Ahn-hee and her mother become separated when the monster kidnaps Ahn-hee. A young homeless boy, Squirrel (Sang-cheol Jeon), is raiding people’s homes who have fled in the path of the monster. When the creature tries to kill him, Squirrel climbs the monster and, with a knife, renders it deaf by slicing through its eardrums. He then manages to break the antenna the aliens planted on the creature so they can control it. Without the antenna, the aliens can no longer control where the monster goes.
The Korean defense forces decide to attempt to lure the creature out of the city so they can try to take the monster down.
“Space Monster Wangmagwi” AKA “Ujugoe-in Wangmagwi” or “Devil King, the Space Monster” was released in 1967 and was directed by Hyeok-jinn Gwon. It is a South Korean science fiction horror and a kaiju film. It is believed to be the oldest surviving South Korean kaiju film as well as the first all-Korean science fiction film. Inspiration came from the monster movies produced by Japan and America, in particular Godzilla and King Kong.
Well, thank God for South Korea. Without them the planet would have been taken over by aliens. Either it is intentionally comedic, or it is geared more towards children. It is rather silly, and there is a subplot where two guys do a couple comedy style routines having to do with betting on who of the two is the braver. Other random skits are stuck in to add padding to the film. Another comedic aspect of the film is the antics of the young kid, Squirrel. He is basically the hero of the story, although his tough guy antics were not amusing.
Nutty, yes, but there are some cold war aspects hidden within the plot of the film as well as a few randomly placed Korean social-economic views. All in all, I was OK with the monster, but not impressed with the comedy. I was hoping for more monster rampaging, but I guess they ran out of miniatures early.
At one point many believed that the film was lost. In reality it was just being kept in the Korean Film Archive and not released.