It's been years since the first time I watched this brilliantly badass monster movie, but last night I watched it for a second time and it's just as wickedly fun as I remember. The Host is a film that proves why Korean cinema owns the monster genre. Taking place in Seoul, South Korea, it is a film about a giant man eating fish monster that emerges from the Han River and proceeds to wreak havoc on the inhabitants of Seoul. It follows a family whose daughter is taken by the creature, and their desperate attempts to get her back.
Going into The Host, it's not what you would expect. It's a surprisingly fitting blend of creature feature horror, compelling family drama, and quirky comedy satire, three elements that work charmingly well together in some weird way. It's a movie that breaks a lot of horror/monster film conventions which surprisingly does the movie a lot of good. For one, we see our scaly green friend in the full glory of midday sunlight about 20 minutes into the film. Nothing is left to the imagination as The Host gets right to the point.
The opening exposition scene of the film shows a scientist being ordered to dump countless bottles of formaldehyde down the drain which runs off into the river, so any mystery element surrounding our creature is removed, which frees up the filmmakers to just go nuts and have fun with the baddie as he viciously terrorizes Koreans in broad daylight. Some people might hate this. I love it.
Some of the best movies of this genre often have some sort of undertone, and The Host definitely fulfills this aspect. The eco- friendly message of this flick is comically overt, but the over-the- top nature of the opening scene sets the tone for a heavy handed message brought to you in the most abrasive and bloody way possible. Come for the monster madness, stay for the poignant ecological subtext (subtext being a term used lightly here). There is no hiding the fact that this movie can be silly and extreme, but it doesn't make a point to hide this either. It embraces its wild nature in a perfect way, making it a very easy film to just enjoy the hell out of.
And to top it all off it's a beautifully shot film as well! There are some expertly crafted compositions set within the ominous beauty of Seoul's sewers or its immaculate bridges. We've got a great blend of intense close-ups and Kurosawa-esque wides. It handles action scenes incredibly well, while the dialogue heavy scenes carry just as much weight. There is no doubt that these filmmakers knew exactly what they were doing from start to finish, and this is reflected in virtually every aspect of the film. For all of its whack you over the head satire, over-the-top comedy, and multitude of characters that we bounce around from in a slightly disjointed fashion, at the end of the day there's a damn fine monster movie in The Host, and it's just a damn good movie overall.
Going into The Host, it's not what you would expect. It's a surprisingly fitting blend of creature feature horror, compelling family drama, and quirky comedy satire, three elements that work charmingly well together in some weird way. It's a movie that breaks a lot of horror/monster film conventions which surprisingly does the movie a lot of good. For one, we see our scaly green friend in the full glory of midday sunlight about 20 minutes into the film. Nothing is left to the imagination as The Host gets right to the point.
The opening exposition scene of the film shows a scientist being ordered to dump countless bottles of formaldehyde down the drain which runs off into the river, so any mystery element surrounding our creature is removed, which frees up the filmmakers to just go nuts and have fun with the baddie as he viciously terrorizes Koreans in broad daylight. Some people might hate this. I love it.
Some of the best movies of this genre often have some sort of undertone, and The Host definitely fulfills this aspect. The eco- friendly message of this flick is comically overt, but the over-the- top nature of the opening scene sets the tone for a heavy handed message brought to you in the most abrasive and bloody way possible. Come for the monster madness, stay for the poignant ecological subtext (subtext being a term used lightly here). There is no hiding the fact that this movie can be silly and extreme, but it doesn't make a point to hide this either. It embraces its wild nature in a perfect way, making it a very easy film to just enjoy the hell out of.
And to top it all off it's a beautifully shot film as well! There are some expertly crafted compositions set within the ominous beauty of Seoul's sewers or its immaculate bridges. We've got a great blend of intense close-ups and Kurosawa-esque wides. It handles action scenes incredibly well, while the dialogue heavy scenes carry just as much weight. There is no doubt that these filmmakers knew exactly what they were doing from start to finish, and this is reflected in virtually every aspect of the film. For all of its whack you over the head satire, over-the-top comedy, and multitude of characters that we bounce around from in a slightly disjointed fashion, at the end of the day there's a damn fine monster movie in The Host, and it's just a damn good movie overall.