On 09 February 2000, the American military base of Yongson releases toxic chemicals in the drain to the Han River under the direct order of an arrogant coroner. Six years later, a mutant squid monster leaves the water and attacks people on the side of the river. The teenager Park Hyun-seo is carried by the creature and vanishes in the river. While grieving her loss, her slow father Park Gang-du; her grandfather and owner of a bar-kiosk nearby the river Park Hie-bong; her aunt and archery medalist Park Nam-Joo; and her graduated unemployed uncle Park Nam-il are sent by the army with all the people that had some sort of contact with the monster to quarantine in a facility. During the night, Gang-du receives a phone call from Hyun-seo telling that she is alive in a big sewage nearby the river. Gang-du tell the militaries but nobody believes on his words, saying that he is delusional due to the shock of his loss. The Park family joins forces trying to find Hyun-seo and rescue her.
Genre(s): Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Runtime: 119 minutes
Rating: 7.1/10 (22,677 votes)
Release Date: 21 May 2006
Country: South Korea
Languages: Korean, English
Company: Chungeorahm Film
Sound: Dolby Digital EX
MPAA: Rated R for creature violence and language.
Director(s): Joon-ho Bong
Producer(s):
Yong-bae Choi – producer
Junyoung Jang – co-producer
Neung-yeon Joh – producer
Lewis Kim – co-producer
Woo-Taek Kim – executive producer
Jeong Tae-Sung – executive producer
Writer(s):
Chul-hyun Baek – writer
Joon-ho Bong – writer
Won-jun Ha – writer (as Jun-won Ha)
Cast:
Kang-ho Song – Park Gang-Du
Hie-bong Byeon – Park Hie-bong
Hae-il Park – Park Nam-il
Du-na Bae – Park Nam-Joo
Ah-sung Ko – Park Hyun-seo
David Joseph Anselmo – Donald
Martin Lord Cayce – U.S. Senator
Cristen Cho –
Philip Hersh – Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Paul Lazar – US Doctor trying to operate Gang-Du
Music: Byung-woo Lee
Tagline: It is Lurking Behind You
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After reading mountains of glowing reviews for this film, I thought Iwas in for something truly unique. It falls short in just about everyway possible. The monster was interesting, but not particularly scary.The plot was full of holes and outright contradictions. The dialog wasbizarre and slapstick at moments that required suspense andseriousness. There may be a great deal of cultural difference that islost on an American, but it was simply ridiculous. The movie was neversuspenseful and impossible to take seriously. I felt like I had beenduped. The director must have been laughing at the people who satthrough this garbage. Nothing about it was well put together, and itcertainly deserves none of the accolades it has received.
I don't know that I have ever claimed a movie as the worst I have everseen, but this movie may win that spot in my memory. I love the horrorgenre, both the good and the bad, but this movie was not scary orironically funny. If you want scary watch the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.If you want funny, watch Dead Alive or Army of Darkness. There arebetter options out there, and I recommend using those. I think I wouldrather sit through Gigli or The Adventures of Pluto Nash on repeat athousand times.
We were discussing good sea monster movies on the boards one day, andall I could really think of was "The Host." Sure, the original"Godzilla" is a masterpiece (Japanese version, please) and "TheCreature from the Black Lagoon" still holds up for those of us who likeswimming alone, and "Deep Rising" is a hoot, but there's not a lot outthere with a super cool monster AND story. Enter the Korean gem "TheHost." There are problems, sure, but "The Host" manages to be scary,funny, sweet, pro-family, anti-US, anti-Korean, pro-environmental, andanti-sea monster (although trying to give them the benefit of thedoubt). It's not a traditional sea monster movie, and I'm sure a lot ofpeople won't know what the hell to think, but it's well worth a look.
From the praise on the DVD jacket we expected a truly scary movie.While there were some scary moments, there were more slapstick moments.
The actors playing the grandfather and the little girl were the mostbelievable in their parts. Everyone else was either predictable or acardboard cutout.
The monster has some good special effects and is far above the oldrubber monster movies, but the rest of the movie isn't. They did avoidhaving a completely predictable ending in some ways.
There are a few "agh!" moments that will make you jump, and somegross-out scenes that in a different movie (say, Alien) would have hadpower, but in this movie they're a waste.
Parents, be aware there's a lot of strong language. Other than that,and a few people being chomped, there's no reason for an R rating.
Don't rent this expecting to be scared out of your pants.
Toxic drain dump in Seoul creates huge aquatic river monster thatwrecks havoc on the city. A teen girl is snatched away and her familyjoins forces to track the beast down… and dodge fishy governmentofficials along the way.
Bringing its cat (well, monster) out of the bag so early on as here andin full flesh, is always risky and works only intermittently in thismodern re-hash of – and homage to – old time giant monster flicks.Fairly well made and colorfully entertaining with quite an impressivemonster, but wavers in tone too often in its human dramatic approach tobecome really successful. And it should have used its darksewer-possibilities more to be convincingly scary. As often comes withthe territory, a bit of environmental/government cover-up criticism isalso in place.
5 out of 10 from Ozjeppe