Space Monster Wangmagwi

Although Space Monster Wangmagwi has an overarching plot, much of the film is instead composed of comedy sketches that have little-to-no impact on the story.[5] They are described here.

• Two men make a bet about who is the braver man. One man bets his house and his wife, the other bets his life savings. The latter man claims to have won, and tries to take the former man's wife as his own. When the monster frightens them, all three embrace each other and declare that they are one family.
• A man in a crowded building needs to defecate. He finds a newspaper and starts defecating on it. At the same time, a woman begins giving birth. When the monster swats at the building, the man falls into his feces.
• The gamblers from the first sketch make a bet about where the monster will throw a large rock, this time only betting cash. The same man wins this bet as well.

Although Space Monster Wangmagwi concerns an attack by alien lifeforms instead of any real-world aggressor, Sueng-hoon Jeong and John Goodrich point out that the film contains many allusions to the Korean War.[4] Notably, the monster appears to arrive in Korea near the Joint Security Area, and proceed south, as if attacking from North Korea. In addition, the separation of Ahn-hee from her family may be symbolic of the separation of North and South Korea,[6] American involvement on the side of South Korea is implied,[7] and the monster sprays a liquid from its head which has an effect resembling that of napalm,[8] which was dropped on North Korea during the Korean War.

Sueng-hoon Jeong points out that Ahn-hee, with her western-style clothing and modern attitude, is "a symbol of a new, emergent nuclear family." This modern perspective on family values is especially apparent in Ahn-hee and Oh Jeong-hwan's decision to adopt Squirrel, when blood-relation was traditionally very important in Korean culture.[9]

Space Monster Wangmagwi presents a patriarchal view of marriage and social-structures. This is shown when the gamblers stake one of their wives on their bravery.[10] At the same time, Oh Jeong-hwan is presented as a masculine role-model because of his ability to rescue and protect his bride-to-be.

Space Monster Wangmagwi opened on June 27, 1967 in the Daehan and Segi theaters.[11] It competed with Yongary, Monster from the Deep, which was released less than 2 months later the same year.

Until 2022, the Korean Film Archive had the only remaining copies of the film, and held occasional screenings.[12][13][14] They also made it available for digital viewing on demand in their library.[15]

It screened for the first time in North America on July 23, 2022, in Concordia University's J.A. DeSève Cinema as a part of the 26th Fantasia International Film Festival, having been provided by SRS Cinema.[1][5]

After watching the film at the Fantasia International Film Festival, Christopher Stewardson of Our Culture Mag gave it one and a half stars out of five, writing: "While not a good film, Space Monster Wangmagwi has its moments of weird delight. Its appeal may be elusive for most, but I’m glad it’s getting its moment in the sun."[5]

The film received no home media release in any country until 2022, when SRS Cinema acquired the license to distribute it in the United States,[5][14] and released it on Blu-ray, VHS, and DVD. The Blu-ray and VHS releases were limited editions, but the DVD was not.[16][17]