The Host

This is a movie which will go straight into "best monster movies" lists; it is ground-breaking in the way humorous and horror content has been intertwined by a master film director. It was the closing film, shown last night (July 30) in the Auckland International Film Festival. There was a packed house of which about 60% were Korean people living in New Zealand. The audience was very attentive and the reception given to the movie was justly big applause. The animatronic effects have been done scrupulously well and viewers can look forward to being enthralled by the skills of those who "made the monster". We got the print which had come straight from Cannes and apparently the film opened just two days before we saw it in Auckland. There is no doubt that this movie will go on to do very big business wherever people appreciate great horror films. My inclination to rate it 10/10 was tempered only by a little doubt about the pacing of some sequences, but it is certainly worth 9/10. Look out for when it comes to a theater near you.

I happened to watch this tonight at the cinema although I don't speak or understand Korean... let alone Japanese...however it wasn't difficult to grasp the story or get caught up with the characters and the situation.

This film is comical in parts and borders on science fiction, drama and even horror, but it is really fantastic to watch and displays a lot of emotion and realistic reactions. The special effects are excellent, the characters are believable and it is one movie well worth watching even if it is in a different language. There is nothing like a creature from hell to add a bit of excitement to your day....

For the first time ever I knocked over my coke and jumped 6 feet out of my seat when I was suddenly and unexpectedly given the fright of my life....for those of you that like this kind of excitement....be on the watch out for this little gem. (Subtitles would be an idea).

I highly recommend this film and cant wait to buy it and own it on DVD!!!!

I just saw this film at the 2006 Melbourne International Film Festival. So invigorating to see a fantasy type film in a great setting on a big beautiful screen. Full house (aprox 400-500 people)Classic old theatre style of The Regent Theatre in the heart of Melbourne city.

What a great surprise to see a quality entertaining monster flick. You might begin to think as I tend to that the rest of your cinema going days will be spent avoiding such appalling Hollywood "Crap-busters" such as Godzilla or (enter current relevant movie here ;-) This film proves that adults can still be taken back...taken back to staring at the silver screen in wonder. It further proves, that a fantasy/adventure monster film can be a serious and funny film at the same time. Formula defying, original, intelligent... comical and sad. Comedy with pathos (just like real life refusing to fit neatly into categories)...very clever film making. Even with the alleged fear of subtitles, I would think there was a massive audience for this film amongst English speaking audiences...if only they would be given the chance to see it. Where's the mainstream distribution in Australia for a film like this? Best special effects and monster effects I've seen in years!

A release of chemicals into Seoul's Han River has an immediate and deadly impact when a mutation occurs within the animal life. The extent of this is made very clear when a massive creature attacks those enjoying a summer's day in the park. Many are killed, including young Hyun-seo. The military move in, quarantining everyone despite their grief. However Hyun-seo is still alive having been dumped in the creatures layer, deep in the sewer and uses a mobile recovered from another body to contact her father. Nobody believes his claims that his daughter is still alive though, so the family go out to hunt down the creature.

From the plot summary you would be forgiven for believing this to be a simple creature feature and indeed this idea is reinforced by a really stylish and exciting opening twenty minutes. Sadly this is not continued or indeed ever matched as the film seems to have far too many ideas and themes and far too little idea of how to pull them all together into a coherent or engaging story. It happens at the start with a clumsy and obvious "message" scene about pollution but I forgave this since everything from there went so well and the attack on the park was so professionally done. The sense of panic and voyeurism is conveyed convincingly while the action is so exciting. Once past this though we get lots of stuff about military intervention, mistrust of authorities, US intervention in Korea, foreign corporations and the inability of the man in the street to stop (or care about) any of it – or, as my partner described it, "lots of random sh1t". I do not agree with her rather harsh summary because in theory there is plenty of value in the themes and ideas that the film tries to work with and I could even accept it if I had not understood everything because I do not have the Korean frame of reference.

The problem was though that it didn't come together and the allegories and thematic content only served to slow and dull the film while also completely throwing any hope of a consistent tone. So we get suffering thrown up against comedy; horror thrown up against conspiracy; politics thrown up against family threads etc. And none of them merge at all with the end result of a film that constantly had me wondering where it was all going and, more importantly, when was it going to end? The latter question is valid because, with all these ideas the film runs to almost two hours – a trifle if a film engages you but for one this messy and erratic it is far too long a running time for this to carry.

The cast seem as lost as I was at times and their performances vary wildly. They are asked to be real people but yet also expected to carry the poor mix of humour, horror and political meaning and they cannot manage it. Ah-sung has the easiest ride as she is very much in the horror part of the film but the rest (Kang-ho, Hie-bong and Hae-il) has significantly harder roles that they cannot save from the rest of the film. Joon-ho's direction on the action and horror sequences is impressive and it is a shame that he fudges almost every other aspect of it.

The overall result is a horror movie that simply never gets close to the impact of the opening few scenes. The horror is lost in a clumsy and ineffective attempt at wider meaning and at two hours, it is far too long to sustain itself – long outstaying its welcome. Unfortunately this is one Korean film that does not deserve the hype and is only worth seeing for the excellent opening attack sequence.

This movie took me by storm, it is by far one of the more interesting, fast paced, seat-gripping movies to come out of Korea.

When I initially picked up this movie, I was sort of sceptical, a monster movie from Korea? Going to be mediocre at best. But this is where I thought wrong...

Right from the beginning, this movie was interesting, and it never lets you go once it got you. Fast pace from start till end. And it really helps that the effects are awesome.

The movie mixes humour well with the "horror" part of it, as it is a monster movie. And it works well. Even if you are not a particular fan of Asian movies, you might want to check this out for the effects alone.

I have seen this movie a couple of times already, and it doesn't get boring. It is somewhat of a gem in Asian film history - at least I think so.