The Host

'œThe Host is not your ordinary monster movie,' said Nicholas Rapold in The New York Sun. South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho has broken all the usual rules of horror filmmaking, creating a glorious, truly frightening movie that busts through genre barriers and audience expectations. Bong doesn't make you wait to see the enormous, slimy tadpole with teeth—the scariest movie monster since Alien shows up in the first 20 minutes. Emerging from the River Han, it immediately begins chomping on human flesh. Outright terror is mixed with (but never diluted by) moments of hilarity and poignancy, said David Edelstein in New York. Our heroes are dysfunctional family members whose talents are few and whose unity is feeble, like a Korean version of the family from Little Miss Sunshine. But even at its silliest, this movie goes beyond most American monster flicks. The Host surpasses Tremors, Eight Legged Freaks, and even Jurassic Park because 'œit's a portrait of a country's deepest anxieties, which just happen to be distilled into a mandibled, squid-like reptile.' The main characters must evade Korean bureaucracy and American military bumbling before they can begin to fight the monster. But satire isn't the main thrust of The Host, said Glenn Kenny in Premiere. It's just one of many diversions the filmmakers pack in 'œwhile never losing sight of its prime directive, which is to thrill and terrify.'

Rating: R

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