The Host

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 ...

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....

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. ...