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The Host review
:. Director: Joon-ho Bong
:. Starring: Song Kang-Ho, Bae Doona
:. Running Time: 1:59
:. Year: 2006
:. Country: Korea
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By the time The Host hits a screen near you, you may have already heard and read everywhere how great this new entry from South Korean director Joon-ho Bong (Memories of Murder) is. In cinephile circles, it always makes you look smart to show your admiration for some Asian horror flicks, a snob phenomenon which most of the time turns a somewhat average work into an overrated sensation. And that's exactly what has happened with The Host, which has been preceded by buzz, from the shores of Cannes to the hills of Hollywood.
The Host centers on a dysfunctional family at odds with some mutant fish monster that terrorizes their neighborhood and has abducted one of their family members, a little girl. After first grieving the loss of the girl they believe to be dead, they realize she's alive and embark on a mission to save her.
Flirting between various themes and genres, from comedy and political satire to psychological drama to horror movies, The Host could fairly be described as Little Miss Sunshine meets Alien. The family here is as disjointed as possible, from a poor retarded father raising his daughter in a trailer to his sister who's a champion at archery. As for the creature, it looks pretty real for a bunch of CGI effects.
But the issue here is that laughs are scarce and thrills are nowhere to be found, which makes this alliance of comedy and horror a failed combination. Despite a few amusing moments, most jokes are overdone and fall flat, while the monster never manages to be scary or even menacing.
Of course, some might mention that there is a political dimension to this film, the creature officiating as a metaphor for the American geopolitical influence in general and capitalism in particular, but guess what Godzilla symbolized a several decades ago?
The Host is the kind of film that can find some kind of cult status among horror geeks fed on Army of Darkness repeats, but otherwise this average and boring piece of exotic entertainment shouldn't fool you.
Fred Thom
 Movie Reviews: Korean Films
Movie Reviews: from 1998 to 2011
Reviews since 2012
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