Alex’s Foreign Foray #19 – The Host (2006) Review – (South Korea)

Hey everyone, welcome back to Alex’s Foreign Foray. Today’s segment will focus on the 2006 South Korean monster movie The Host.

If you’re new to the series, you can find out what it’s all about here.

The Host is a monster horror/action drama with a slice of satire. I enjoyed large portions of this film, but after looking at other opinions on the movie, I seemed to enjoy it somewhat less than others. Oh well, it’s still a very well made film and is worth the watch!

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Bong Joon-ho’s monster flick focuses on the Park family, who has to try and save their youngest member, Hyun-seo, from the clutches of a scary and evil monster who has risen from the depths of Seoul’s Han River.

 

Before anything else, The Host is about the people. We’re introduced to the Park family immediately. Then we get quick glimpses into how each of them behaves before the monster attacks. This sets up a few arcs quite nicely, mainly Gang-doo’s, although I don’t think all of those arcs were paid off to their fullest potential. Some of the family members act somewhat irrationally and, as a whole, there’s plenty of near-overacting at times which makes those irrational decisions even more painful.

The film shines in three characters specifically: Hyun-seo, Gang-doo, and the grandfather (whose name escapes me). These three characters serve as our leads, and whenever they get a moment to shine (the grandfather’s speech and everything between Hyun-seo and the little boy in the sewer especially), the film is fantastic.

Of course, you can’t talk about a monster movie without talking about the monster. If you’ve listened to me on the Films from the Basement Podcast episode on 2017’s The Ritual, you’ll know that I am a huge fan of monster design. The works of directors like Jackson and del Toro (whose film The Devil’s Backbone we looked at a few months ago) always astound me in their creature design, taking grotesque and frightening imagery and using it to tap into the viewer’s deepest fears and emotions.

The monster in The Host has a very cool design. The CGI certainly hasn’t aged well at all, but the fish-like monster is fun to watch. In particular, the opening attack as it rips through crowds of people is exciting. It’s almost Godzilla-esque, as well, with the monster being born on the part of human negligence and destructive tendencies, which also helps provide some interesting social and political commentary.

A lot of monster movies (and horror in general) use the government as the real villain… The sort of “humans are the real monster” narrative. While The Host certainly taps into that as well, the South Korean film interestingly pulls American negligence and arrogance into it also, providing plenty of commentaries on how the U.S. forcefully pushes its way into countries on the basis of “helping out.”

There are a few places I don’t think The Host work that others seem to love. The humour throughout tries to lift the film to a general satire. However, its spread out so much that it feels out of place. It’s not dark enough to be a dark satire on the human condition and our self-destructive personalities. It doesn’t do a whole lot different to satirize some other monster movies. These are just personal gripes, but the anecdote that this film is a hilarious-and-biting-satire just feels tonally inconsistent. The only satire that works is the aforementioned anti-American stuff.

Perhaps it has to do with the music, too. Whimsical and fantastic scores underline serious and potentially intense scenes. For instance, like when one of the character’s desperate attempt to kill the monster by making an unrealistically long Molotov throw. It, unfortunately, snaps away any tension the scene built up moments prior.

 

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The Host Overall – 7 out of 10

The Host boasts fantastic lead characters and a great monster design, but also some glaring flaws. It does harken back to old monster movies like Godzilla, though; a foreboding tale of humanity’s negligence towards the planet we inhabit. Unfortunately, one full of hints of satire that never quite hit their mark.

The Host can be seen streaming on Shudder as well as on Blu-ray.

NEXT TIME: In the thrilling conclusion to this season of Alex’s Foreign Foray, we board a plane from South Korea to New Zealand to take a look at the 2016 Taika Waititi comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

The Journey So Far