Space Monster Wagmagwi

I did the unthinkable.  I found a kaiju flick so obscure, I had never heard of it.  To be exact, it's a South Korean title.  Initially, 1967's Space Monster Wangmagwi (exclamation point optional) seems direct, but the sinuous plot bobs in and out of rhyme, ultimately settling as a quaint, yet anfractuous (!?) stretch of celluloid.  The script goes through the sci-fi motions.  Aliens with toaster heads are devising a full-scale invasion of Earth.  Their designs preclude them from getting their hands too dirty, as part of the plan involves dropping a monster into our orbit.  I'm not making this up; when we first see the titular varmint, he (I don't think I'm overstepping the bounds by assuming its gender identity) is handcuffed and behind bars.  That's when I knew this was a "special" film.

Wangmagwi abducts the wife of an Air Force pilot.  I would call out the subtle allusion to King Kong, but the movie beats me to the punch.  That has to be one of the earliest examples of wry, self-aware humor in genre history.  Well-played, Korea.  Well-played.  Before you can predict the next move, a child crawls his way into the fiend's colossal nasal cavity.  We follow Spider (I'm just now learning his name) as he stabs Wangmagwi and - again, I'm not making this up - takes a piss inside his skull.  In another scene, a man defecates in the middle of a crowded room.  I can understand the impulse to aim for potty humor, even if I don't personally find it funny, but gee whiz.  Get it?  Whiz?  Oh, bother.

For the most part, the film plays it straight.  Once Wangmagwi reaches his maximum height, we ride a wave of miniature-demolishing action to the resolution.  I enjoyed the workaday special effects, although I've seen so many kaiju wonders, I should really withhold judgment on the technical side of things.  I mean, would you be able to spot substandard miniatures if you saw them?  Maybe you could.  Good for you.  Hey, here's some filler...the Guinness World Book of Records lists Space Monster Wangmagwi as having the most extras on a film set at 167,000.  Wait, strike that.  IMDb says that's bullshit.  That's what happens when you let alcoholics record world records.  Get it?  Guinness?  I'm done.

EDIT: I'm not done.  Three paragraphs is too long for a blood capsule, so I might as well add more filler.  Did you know that Space Monster Wangdoodle was considered to be a lost classic for decades?  It was only recently emancipated onto Blu-ray.  Give it a whirl.  It's as entertaining as most Godzilla entries, and in my opinion, it's actually better than 1956's Rodan or 1961's Mothra.  Robert Z'Dar says, "I once pissed in a guy's skull.  No one called me a hero, that's for sure."