The Host

The Host

2006-07-27 2h 0m R
Horror Drama Science Fiction
7.0
User Score
2900 votes

"HER BIRTH WAS AN ACCIDENT, AND SO WAS HER DEATH."

Overview

A teenage girl is captured by a giant mutated squid-like creature that appears from Seoul's Han River after toxic waste was dumped in it, prompting her family into a frantic search for her.

Bong Joon Ho

Director

Hah Jun-won

Writer

Top Billed Cast

Movie Details

Status

Released

Original Language

ko

Budget

$11,000,000

Revenue

$88,489,643

Runtime

2h 0m

Release Date

2006-07-27

Recommendations

Reviews

Peter McGinn

Peter McGinn

2021-12-13T11:43:00.558Z

This is a monster horror movie that really tries, to the point where they don’t give a clear view of the creature in the previews, presumably not to ruin the initial shock moment for the viewer. It is in Korean with English subtitles, with a few bursts of English with Korean subtitles when the speaker is American. The movie focuses on one family’s ongoing battle: not merely against the monster but also struggling against the authorities who want to capture them, suspecting they have been infected with a virus by coming in contact with the creature. The dialogue is pretty ordinary. I seem to recall a few unintentionally funny moments, though I cannot say for sure that it wasn’t due to the translation. I don’t intend to be hyper critical here: I sort of let the movie wash over me to get to the end, and you may or may not need to do the same. I found I was a little confused as to the final fate of one of the family members at the end. Perhaps I was inattentive and it would have been cleared up if I backed it up and watched again, but unfortunately I wasn’t quite inversted in the movie enough to do that. I put in my time and that was sufficient unto the day.

GeekyRedhead

GeekyRedhead

2024-06-18T00:10:35.875Z

These sites all missed the point. It's farce, it's funny. I actually liked the creature! He's kinda gruesomely-cute! Don't expect drama. It's all tongue-in-cheek, reminiscent of the old Godzilla creature films.