Review of The Host (2006) by Stephane C — 08 Aug 2009

Monster movies have seem to have had a little bit of a revival, with "Cloverfield" and now Korea's "The Host." Hazardous waste has been dumped into a river, and years later, a giant monster emerges, stealing away a young girl, Hyun-Seo, and sending her family on a frantic chase to find her against the will of the local authorities.

Although ostensibly a movie about a giant salamander monster terrorizing a Korean city, there is a surprising amount of comedy in this film. A lot of it actually seems out of place, although this is probably due to cultural differences between the US and Korea. There are other plot points that also wouldn't have happened had this been a US-made film, but that's kind of refreshing once in a while.

It's rated R but it's not particularly gory. Definitely a tame R by American standards. There are a few minor scares, but it's really just an old-fashioned monster movie with more modern effects. Unlike "Cloverfield," they don't attempt to hide the monster at all--it's up close and in your face for the entire duration of the movie.

The morale of the movie seems to be an ecological one: basically, don't dump toxic chemicals into rivers, or else giant monsters will come to eat you.