Monster Mayhem
Once again, horror seems to be stepping up to the spotlight. This time in the form of a Korean monster flick that has proven popular in its native country. The Host remains steeped in the 1950s-ish type monster lore that has an appealing B-budget. It reminds you of staying up late nights watching old, spliced B&W flicks they used to show on T.J. and the Ant back in the day.
Coming to the United States on DVD for July 24, this film generates plenty interesting, if impressive, special effects to help carry the film. Some reviewers rank it on par with the inimitable classic such as Jaws, the shark of destruction that used to haunt the ocean waters, scaring away would-be swimmers.
The feeling comes back slightly in this film.
Though it isn’t in the same league as the 1975 Steven Spielberg film, lacking a few punches in the horror quotient, the Host is still pretty good stuff distributed by Magnolia pictures. It feels like a drive-in flick. And it’s weird as a two-head goat.
You wouldn’t know which one is scarier: the actual monster that runs amok or the dysfunctional family that goes after the creature.
My bets are on the family. They’re a scary lot.
But the oriental culture always has an interesting perception on things. They have a good sense of humor, often bizarre, which plays well in this film. They see something funny in a lot of things all around them and use humor as a weapon to deal with problems in life. Without humor, you might as well be living in a coffin.
The oldest son Park Gang-du in the family is a lazy, no-good for nothing. He runs a snack bar and eats much of it too. His sister is a famous archer Nam-joo and his drunken brother Nam-il: they don’t even speak to their brother at all unless it is to yell at him or tell him how useless he is.
Nice family, eh?
But if one of them is wounded or hurt in any wait, you might have to watch out. When it takes Gang-du’s only daughter Hyun-seo. The family make vengeance seem like an easy thing.
The creature in the film takes the youngest and pulls them into the lowest depths of the waters. And finally brings them to the sewers where the hostages remain as food fodder. So they eventually get fed to the beastly hunger of the attacking creature. Which started out probably from a mix of chemicals dumped into the sewers.
The whole dumping dangerous wastes into the water strikes an endearing image to another monster flick from the late 1970s called Alligator, which sees the four-legged reptile growing into ridiculous sizes.
The Host sees the same process going on.
The creature is an interesting design. It leaps and swings, bouncing from different walls, a slap-happy mix of strange movements. In some ways, the creature hangs from the protrusions similiar to Ridley Scott’s Alien, leering, patient, waiting for its next victim to grab. The thing acts on primal instinct. It’s a savage thing. It’s kind of a mutant thing, half squid, half iguana, god knows what else.
But the focus of the story is really on the interaction of the family and how well they work together or separately. They have to overcome their differences before finding the common enemy they have: the monster that rakes the youngest into the bottoms of city. The subterranean feeling of claustrophobia is often there. Children hiding themselves in pipelines to hide from the creature. The narrow and long tunnels run through with an enclosed atmosphere.
This South Korean film recently garnered four different awards for various aspects of its creation. Mostly importantly, it won the best film award at the inaugural Asian films awards in Hong Kong. Another is best actor given to Song Kang-ho. There’s definitely talent in the making of the movie. There’s plenty of homage and nostalgia in regards to the many great monster movies that has come before. In some ways, the Host pays its dearest respects to the once beloved genre that has long died out before.
Did you think it’s safe to go back in the waters again? The danciest little beast preys on the victims for his noon hour lunch break and makes mince-meat out of them. It’s a warm reception to the horror’s monster movie efforts and might actually jumpstart the forgotten genre again.
Nothing wrong with going to the nearest theatre to have a few good scares.
That’s the best part, getting scared. Isn’t it?
Coming to the United States on DVD for July 24, this film generates plenty interesting, if impressive, special effects to help carry the film. Some reviewers rank it on par with the inimitable classic such as Jaws, the shark of destruction that used to haunt the ocean waters, scaring away would-be swimmers.
The feeling comes back slightly in this film.
Though it isn’t in the same league as the 1975 Steven Spielberg film, lacking a few punches in the horror quotient, the Host is still pretty good stuff distributed by Magnolia pictures. It feels like a drive-in flick. And it’s weird as a two-head goat.
You wouldn’t know which one is scarier: the actual monster that runs amok or the dysfunctional family that goes after the creature.
My bets are on the family. They’re a scary lot.
But the oriental culture always has an interesting perception on things. They have a good sense of humor, often bizarre, which plays well in this film. They see something funny in a lot of things all around them and use humor as a weapon to deal with problems in life. Without humor, you might as well be living in a coffin.
The oldest son Park Gang-du in the family is a lazy, no-good for nothing. He runs a snack bar and eats much of it too. His sister is a famous archer Nam-joo and his drunken brother Nam-il: they don’t even speak to their brother at all unless it is to yell at him or tell him how useless he is.
Nice family, eh?
But if one of them is wounded or hurt in any wait, you might have to watch out. When it takes Gang-du’s only daughter Hyun-seo. The family make vengeance seem like an easy thing.
The creature in the film takes the youngest and pulls them into the lowest depths of the waters. And finally brings them to the sewers where the hostages remain as food fodder. So they eventually get fed to the beastly hunger of the attacking creature. Which started out probably from a mix of chemicals dumped into the sewers.
The whole dumping dangerous wastes into the water strikes an endearing image to another monster flick from the late 1970s called Alligator, which sees the four-legged reptile growing into ridiculous sizes.
The Host sees the same process going on.
The creature is an interesting design. It leaps and swings, bouncing from different walls, a slap-happy mix of strange movements. In some ways, the creature hangs from the protrusions similiar to Ridley Scott’s Alien, leering, patient, waiting for its next victim to grab. The thing acts on primal instinct. It’s a savage thing. It’s kind of a mutant thing, half squid, half iguana, god knows what else.
But the focus of the story is really on the interaction of the family and how well they work together or separately. They have to overcome their differences before finding the common enemy they have: the monster that rakes the youngest into the bottoms of city. The subterranean feeling of claustrophobia is often there. Children hiding themselves in pipelines to hide from the creature. The narrow and long tunnels run through with an enclosed atmosphere.
This South Korean film recently garnered four different awards for various aspects of its creation. Mostly importantly, it won the best film award at the inaugural Asian films awards in Hong Kong. Another is best actor given to Song Kang-ho. There’s definitely talent in the making of the movie. There’s plenty of homage and nostalgia in regards to the many great monster movies that has come before. In some ways, the Host pays its dearest respects to the once beloved genre that has long died out before.
Did you think it’s safe to go back in the waters again? The danciest little beast preys on the victims for his noon hour lunch break and makes mince-meat out of them. It’s a warm reception to the horror’s monster movie efforts and might actually jumpstart the forgotten genre again.
Nothing wrong with going to the nearest theatre to have a few good scares.
That’s the best part, getting scared. Isn’t it?
posted by K.M. Paters at 4:02 PM
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