The Host
By Ian Wilson
Monday. Jan 14, 4:03 PM
Destined to be a classic of our time.

I grew up watching classic monster movies: Creature From the Black Lagoon, Dracula, Frankenstein, and of course Godzilla. As time went on, movies were expected to become more visceral, gory, and scary. In the process, all of what drew me to these classics was lost and we hurtled right into the gross-out horror movies of today. It's not about scaring you with something that doesn't leave you even after the film anymore. This is why I'm so glad that Bong Joon-ho decided to make a monster movie.

The Host has all the elements in place but at the same time throws in current events and things that couldn't be done in the older films. It melds everything together so beautifully that I don't think it could be done any other way. Of course, Hollywood thinks different and is currently at work butchering this movie with a remake.

It starts off with a mortician forced to dump formaldehyde down the drain. We aren't talking a bottle, no: we are talking maybe 50 to 60 quartz of the stuff. All of this, of course, empties out into the Han River and somehow the creature is born from it. Flash forward several years (though it's not readily apparent that we skipped time) and we get to know the Park family. First there is Gang-du and his father, Hee-bong, who run a food stand near the Han River. Hyun-seo, Gang-du's only child, shows up next just getting back from school. Gang-du’s sister Nam-joo, a national medalist archer, is on TV. We don't get to meet his drunk of a brother yet, but Hyun-seo mentions Nam-il in regards to an embarrassing PTA. Moments afterward, the monster makes its debut and everything goes terribly wrong.

A movie of this magnitude doesn't come around very often. It plays on satire of real events and the Korean way of life. It has every emotion careful mashed into its context, making you feel a whole wash of things, even things that you aren't sure you should feel given what is happening on screen. Everyone in the movie is very believable, and because of this the tension is always there, even when you are laughing.

Fans of classic monster movies need to see this, as they will not be disappointed. Fan of gore and ultra violence will be, though. This is a classic monster movie for our time: don't let the fact that it's made in Korea get in the way. The film really makes you think of what all the toxic waste around the world could do, or is doing to animals. For all we know, there really is a monster out there like The Host, just waiting for the right time to show itself.

Ian Wilson

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