The Host

by Brian Zitzelman

The Host is likely not what you expect. South Korea’s highest grossing film of all time is yes, a monster movie. However, think more along the lines of Guillermo del Toro’s vision of horror than say, Wes Craven’s. Recently, del Toro has been discussing the notion of being deemed a horror director, as if it is a bad thing. The director stated that the genre is only as limited as one allows it to be and coincidentally, loved The Host. The last sentiment is an easy one to do.

Directed by Joon-ho Bong, The Host is, at its deepest core, a film about a gigantic creature running amok, capturing and killing whatever is in its sight. The picture is really about themes more than violence though. As the original Gojira, a.k.a. Godzilla, did in 1954, the monster is not merely massive limbs but the state of the world, both self inflicted and brought upon by those from the outside. The creature in The Host is a mutated fish thing, to be technical, created when a U.S. scientist orders all formaldehyde be dumped into a sink, despite the run off into the Han River.

Some will leap to conclusions that the movie is anti-American, and while there is some blame, it is to be spread around. Two Korean fishermen see the mutated monster in its early stages, letting it go by as a case of amusement rather than caution. Nicely, unlike so many monster films, not too much time is killed waiting for our beasty to pop up and do its thing. None of this would mean a thing minus its character, which as so much of The Host is, manages to be a pleasant surprise.

The core family is fun but rich in detail. They consist of the wise grandfather, the ever-so tired father, an angry brother, an Olympic archer as a sister and a playful daughter. Upon the monster’s taking of little Hyun-Seo, the family unites to find her - skills and lack there of in full readiness. One problem though, the government is positive a virus has spread due to Mr. Big Fish-thing and the family, along with countless others, are taken away and quickly quarantined. The bumbling, foolish and short-sighted nature of those in charge is evident and Bong uses it to a nice combination of drama and near slap-stick comedy. The director finds the right line for it all, knowing when to let the eeriness of it all rise, echoing recent memories of the SARS virus that caused such mayhem.

A few qualms can be had with The Host for sure, one in particular. In the film’s late stages, a few characters come and go with ease, knocked unconscious for the exact amount of time needed for story purposes. Two incidents occur as the conclusion builds and the end is spectacular but the means feel a bit awkward.

Not to be underestimated are all the fine details Bong infuses the movie with. Byung-woo Lee’s score runs with energy and emotion as Hyung-ku Kim’s cinematography imbues the exact emotion, be it anxiety or curiosity, into each frame. Combined with the stellar cast and effects, The Host is one of the truly unique pictures to hit theatres in a while. Nothing like the old monster-family-political-comedy-horror picture to do so.