The Host

12/13/2021

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 ge

6/18/2024

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.

7/8/2026

Summary: 8/10: inventive, genre-defying filmmaking that uses monster movie conventions to deliver sharp political critique and genuine emotional resonance. A U.S. Army coroner orders an underling to dump many toxic chemicals into the Han River. Six years later, a monster crawls out and starts destroying people. If this were an ancient folktale, or even a Bong Joon-ho film (which, of course, it is), the monster would be a metaphor for the anger of the water spirit, nature's violent response to human desecration. The best part of this movie is the impressive creature design and animation. The creature looks like no film monster before it: amphibious, awkward, surprisingly fast, with a prehensile tail and a mouth that opens in ways that violate every expectation. It's totally creative,

10/9/2026

Absolutely love this Bong Joon-ho movie. The family of misfits coming together to save their youngest while the country around them devolves into chaos is so fun. It's silly when it wants to be, tense when it needs to be, and emotional when you're not expecting it.