Several months ago I wrote about The Host, a movie I enjoyed but had watched by mistake. By that I mean that someone had recommended The Host (2006) and I watched the completely unrelated The Host (2020). (You can’t copyright titles.) I waited long enough that the right Host became available on a service I use so it was, in essence, “free.” This one is a Korean monster movie, directed by Bong Joon-ho. I’d previously seen his excellent Parasite, and The Host didn’t disappoint in either the social commentary department or in the heart-felt monster tale. In the latter department it has some common ground with Godzilla Minus One. The Host begins with chemicals poured in the Han River causing a mutation that becomes a big problem. This monster kills many, but the story focuses on the Park family where a ne’er-do-well father (Gang-du) disappoints his daughter and siblings. Then the monster carries off his daughter.
The government, wishing to hide the origins of the creature (an American military facility did the chemical dumping) invent a virus story to keep people away from the river where they have trouble locating the monster. Meanwhile Gang-du learns that his daughter is still alive, being kept as a future meal in the creature’s lair. His father, sister, and brother all come together to try to find her, having to work around the corrupt government response to the crisis. In other words, there’s a lot going on here. The monster is believably rendered and its interactions with crowds of people don’t strain the imagination. I do have to wonder if the creators of Stranger Things were familiar with this film. Again, there’s some overlap there. There are some holes in the plot, or it may be that I didn’t quite get everything (quite likely regardless).
It’s easy to see why the movie won so many awards. The question that haunts me is whether this is a horror movie or not. There are definitely horror aspects, but the overall feel is a meaningful monster movie, which isn’t really a recognized genre. Monsters sometimes—often, in fact—bring out the best in people. Without giving too much away, we can say that about this movie. A family torn apart is reunited by a monster. It doesn’t end well for them, but they have learned something by the experience. And the movie is impressive from a cinematic perspective as well. So now I’ve had two Hosts and although quite different from each other, both are recommended.
