These are my thoughts and comments on "The Host"

Quoted Text The biggest Korean film of the year comes to DVD! Released in July 2006, Bong Jun Ho's monster film The Host ripped through the box office like a force of nature. Breaking every record on the book, The Host became the first Korean film to sell 13 million tickets, surpassing the all-time record held by King and The Clown. It topped the box office for five consecutive weeks, writing a new page in Korean cinema history. Although monster films have a strong tradition in Japan and the U.S., they're typically relegated to bargain bins in Korea.

In my eyes, this film is now one of the top 10 films I have ever seen and I have seen a lot of films. Most of my foreign film favorites were recommended by other members whom knew about my love for martial arts flicks and were like "You should watch this" and I usually do.

Jordan sent me the link to a trailer for this Korean film called The Host. Normally I hate, hate, hate horror monster flicks but the trailer was unique.

Keep in mind I purchased the region 3 Hong Kong version which will be better and more uncut than the American Magnolia Pictures version which is slated for release soon. Do yourself a favor and avoid the Magnolia Pictures version if they change it in any way.

This film has a touching story of a normal family bonding over an incident. A conspiracy theory involving the Americans, and plenty of good CGI. The really good kind.

The only thing I did not like was the main characters crying. It was annoying and took me out of the movie. Sure, he thinks his daughter is dead and I understand the weeping but they do way to much for my liking.

Still everything else is highly entertaining and this film is better than Oldboy which I also enjoyed along with Lady Vengeance.

Twists and turns and all sorts of nonsense ensues before we get the big payoffs.

Overall I loved this film.

I saw the trailer for this film and the CGI in it looked great. I might actually see it once it's released (or take your idea and buy the Hong Kong version). Are there subtitles or is it dubbed?

Sean

Subtitles but they leave them on the screen long enough (Unlike in From Bejing With Love) that you can read what they're saying.

Hopefully the American release will be the uncut movie I have seen but they usually cut out and hurt films in the re release.

I also saw that they plan to remake it already in America... How do you improve on this and Oldboy by doing remakes? I'm quite disappointed in that news.

Quoted from Old Time Wesley this film is better than Oldboy

You're kidding, right? I have to say I don't believe you. Granted film is subjective but Oldboy was just godly. Frankly, I'm shocked anyone would say such a thing.

Nevertheless, if a film gets this kind of reaction out of someone, then it must be good. I read about this in one of last year's issues of Fangoria and thought it sounded interesting but something that I'd probably let slip through my fingers. However, I'll this about the film being a smash hit in Korea and being "better than Oldboy" has skyrocketted my interest in it.

With that said, thanks for the review, Wesley. I'll definitely be on the lookout for this flick now.

Quoted from Old Time Wesley A conspiracy theory involving the Americans

I'm usually not one for spoilers but the trailer led me to believe this thing was created by emptying "dirty formaldehyde" into the sewer system. Am I to understand there's more to the story than just that? Just curious.

The guy who tells the Korean is supposed to be American which is what I gathered. Later on it is more apparent though that the Americans are all over as the bad good guys kind of.

It's hard to explain without spoiling it because it does have a pay off.

I loved Oldboy, so I was shocked this was better for me too. Korea has a few gems.

The main actor (The dumb one) is also in Foul King which is like a Nacho Libre type from Korea long before Nacho came out. I just found that out myself and I've had it for awhile.

This was great! Not better than Oldboy but definitely a fun and different kind of monster movie. First off, the creature looks great. I've never seen anything like it in a movie. I could actually buy it as something that could exist if some chemical warfare agent leaked into the river system. Obviously, you won't be seeing one of these running around any time soon but it's the first monster I've seen in a film for some time that actually behaves like a real animal. It didn't really seem like it was out for blood all the time and they never actually showed it eat (even though it's quite clear where these people are going). I also liked the way it moved and the CGI was actually pretty good and didn't look like a cartoon.

I also liked the virus plotline. Not really new for the genre but usually, it's treated as a subplot. Here, you got a full scope of what was going on while people weren't getting snatched. The tests the biohazard people ran were pretty disturbing.

I also liked the family. I thought the chemistry worked very well. It's rare that you get this much character development in a film like this. The protagonist was also very different. He was an underdog and, often, difficult to predict. He was very sympathetic though. Easy to root for.

All in all, a solid flick. A lot of fun and very well composed as far as story elements are concerned. A lot of monster movies nowadays get credit for reinventing the genre or having twists that have never been seen before. As usual, hype ruins such movies, which are often not at all what they're made out to be. The Host was different. It was definitely a noteworthy film, even outside of its genre.

I'm happy to say that the American DVD release is not trimmed to death so I'm glad Alliance Atlantis didn't butcher the film as was the case with the American versions of Tony Jaa's movies.

Changing the subtitles so that people won't know the female villain was a transsexual... what are we ten?

The dubbed version of The Host had whiney actor voices for some dumb reason but still stick to the dialogue well.

Sorry for digging up this old thread but having watched Cloverfield (and liked it) and heard that 'The Host' was equally good, if not better, I decided to check it out. Was I disappointed - oh, was I ever. This movie is terrible.

The reason why this movie so utterly fails is because it doesn't have a clue about what it wants to be. For some reason it can't seem to make up its mind about what genre it's gunning. It tries a little bit of both, a pinch of horror here, a tad of humor there, sprinkle a little drama on top of it and serve it with a side order of thriller. And because of this, the movie feels disjointed and thereby fails in every genre.

The acting? Hmmm, maybe it's because I'm not Korean (or Asian for that matter) but it seems so overly theatrical that it comes off almost like a parody, even when it isn't meant to be.

Another thing I didn't like was the pacing. It starts off fast and furious but then it slows down (and completly comes to a halt in those toe-cringing family scene). The big hero ending was simply barf'able - it was strecthed out way past the point of entertaining.

Okay, it did have a couple of good action scenes and pretty solid CGI (except for the ending), but so did Star Wars Episode One and that still sucked ass all over the place.

Do yourselves a favor and do what I should have done - stay away from this movie.

Hey , I'm not the only one stunned by how this bizarre movie has gotten rave reviews. Wow. Yeah i felt it's an horrible mess. I'd really like to have some of what some folks are smokin when they watch this one.

Even a steady stream of Marlboro's and diet Orange soda didn't help.

so i just saw this film and really enjoyed it. however a lot of you keep talking about "the big payoff" at the end. did i miss something? because if so, i didnt get it.

SPOILERS

my biggest complaint with the film is the whole virus conspiracy thing- it wasnt explained at all. in fact, it felt more like filler. i know it was all made up, but you could tell that from the start. once again, am i missing something? was there a reason they made up the virus?

thanks for your help, because this is driving me crazy.

Don't have much to add except I seen this film a couple of times on DVD when I was working in a rental shop. I'd heard a lot of hype before seeing it and enjoyed it for the most part, a fun two hours. The initial scenes when the creature first appears and bursts out of the river to wreak mayhem are superb.

However, I do feel it suffers from a common problem with Korean cinema in that it runs on for about 15 minutes more then it needs to. The final sequence seemed very protracted with lots of quiet-pauses-to-reflect between the characters despite Armageddon going on all around them. Battle Royale II had similar moments but done it to such philosophical mumbo jumbo extremities that it became utterly ridiculous.

However, the director boasts one of the coolest names on the planet so it'll always have that going for it.

If you dig him, check out "Mother" and "Memories of Murder".

I have owned this on DVD since it came out and have seen it numerous times and I still really enjoy it, especially the twist in the end regarding the fate of the missing girl. I won't say it is in case you haven't seen it but those who have will know what I am talking about..

However I would have to agree with Colkurtz8 on two points.  First, the scene in which the Monster rampages through the park is amazing and easily matches anything hollywood would have done.  Secondly it did seem to run for a little bit longer than it should have probably because of long emotional and dramatic pauses