(2006, 119 min) At a US military installation in South Korea, a pasty-faced American officer tells his Korean lab assistant to throw dusty bottles of formaldehyde down the drain. The assistant tries to tell the officer that formaldehyde is toxic, and the drain dumps directly into the Han River, which runs through the heart of Seoul. But the officer insists, and the bottles are emptied. It's the year 2000.
Two older gents are fishing in the Han River, when one notices a small unusual creature in the water. It snaps viciously when he tries to pick it up. They call it a mutation. It's 2002.
The Park family's home base is the food stand they run at the banks of the Han River. Gang-du's daughter Hyun-seo is angry at him for missing a parent-teacher meeting. His father is continually angry at him for his laziness. Gang-du's brother Nam-Il is an unemployed college graduate, and sister Nam-Joo is in competition for the national archery team. On this sunny summer day, Gang-du notices a crowd gather at the river's edge. People have noticed a mass suspended from under a nearby bridge. The object uncurls, drops into the river, then comes ashore. For lunch. And it's not standing in line at the food truck. It's 2006.
The Host is a superbly crafted sci-fi/horror movie, replete with bureaucratic ineptitude, political conspiracy, weird humor, family friction and a truly scary, acrobatic monster with disgusting eating habits and a really wicked back flip. Gang-du shows his mettle in the face of crisis: he springs into action when the creature grabs his daughter, and the entire family puts their squabbles on hold and unites with absolute resolve to get her back. The US Army comes into play again, ostensibly taking over to capture the creature, but is it really just an elaborate cover-up? Mutated, flesh-eating abominations aside, the real horror is what humans do to each other.
Director Joon-ho Bong scores a hit with The Host, adroitly incorporating multiple storylines, making the most of an accomplished cast (Ah-sung Ko as the young Hyun-seo is notable), creating a superb creature, and testifying to the ongoing usefulness of the Molotov cocktail. For creature feature aficionados, this is a must-see.
© TLA Entertainment Group
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