[HorrorScience] The Host (2006)

Today it's time to talk about South Korean cinema, which at some point became particular enough to bring this film to a cinema near my neighborhood.

The film in question is The Host (also known as The Guest), a title that unfortunately is too generic, so if you look for it you may have to resort to the year of its release or its Korean name adapted to our alphabet: Gwoemul. Otherwise you will find other films of the same name.

The Host (Gwoemul) could be classified as a moviegiant monsters, but, it is so special, that possibly it will be liked more by those who are not too fond of that type of movies. Come on, I think it's one of those films that is worth seeing, even if you have prejudices about the subject matter, because it is not what it seems.

The story tells us how, due to negligence (or lack of interest), thousands of liters of chemicals are thrown down the drain to end up in the Han River. From here, the film takes a leap to introduce us to the Park family, starting with the protagonist, a sleepy and irresponsible guy named Gang-du, who works with his father Choy-Tac at a food stand. Gang-du has a daughter, Hyun-Seo, an intelligent and determined girl (she must have grown up with her mother) and two brothers: Nam-il, an unemployed university student who feels a certain contempt and discontent against the system and Nam-joo, a professional bow shooter, who is not excessively fast at anything she does.

While Gang-du is serving some tourists, he sees how everyone is looking at something strange hanging from a nearby bridge. The object turns out to be some kind of animal who dives into the water causing the delight of all the spectators, who will not hesitate to throw things at him because... Why are human beings that idiotic? This causes the animal to get out of the water and start running around, causing enormous damage, not only because of its size, but also because of its clumsiness, since it does not seem to be particularly skilled when it comes to running without ending up falling to the ground. The monster's attack causes dozens of victims, one of them being Gang-du's daughter, who is caught in a mistake by her inefficient father.

The event immediately attracted the attention of the Korean and American media (especially since there was an American soldier among the victims of the monster) who quickly isolated the civilians who were at the scene, since apparently the remains of the soldier have shown that the monster carries a virus that infects those who have come into contact with it. The Park family, totally devastated after the loss of little Hyun-Seo, is taken to the hospital, but after discovering that the girl is alive thanks to a phone call she makes from her cell phone, they try to escape at all costs to save her from the monster, which is holding her somewhere in the sewers.

After having explained the situation and not having obtained help, the family decides to use illegal help to continue with their search, which will become more complicated due to the security measures in the area where the monster appeared.

The escape of the Park family is announced on television, saying that they are affected by the virus that the monster spreads, so our protagonists can't count on almost anyone and have to fend for themselves for the rescue mission. As if this were not enough, the United States has decided that Korea is incapable of ending the threat and decides to take measures to solve the matter quickly.

I would love to detail more things about the movie, but I think I've already said too much. Maybe up to this point it seems like a normal movie, but if you keep reading you will see that it offers much more.

when I saw The Host, almost a decade ago, I left the theater thinking it was the best recent monster movie I had seen, a title that films like cloverfield, Peter Jackson's King Kong either Godzilla (2014). The best of The Host, the thing is In addition to being good as a giant monster movie, it is good as a movie in general, I mean, the protagonists are people and not guys with one-liners who make jokes at each other in the middle of an action scene so we can say “wow, what tough guys, I want to be like that.” The Park family is wildly dysfunctional, but stays together as much as possible. In other words, she is very human.

One of the reviews I read about this movie said “the best giant monster movie since Jaws – Shark"And although I think that statement was only for commercial purposes, I have to say that I have seen something that reminds me of Spielberg's feature film. When I have seen the Park family live their particular odyssey, I have worried about all of them every time the monster made an appearance, something that has reminded me a lot of the feeling I have every time I see the final part of Shark, when Hooper, Brody and Quint are on the high seas trying to hunt the animal. Maybe it sounds a bit harsh, but as a general rule I don't care at all about the protagonists in these types of films, in fact I usually like to see them die at the hands of the monster on duty.

The film also does not hide a critical message towards society (media manipulation, misinformation, mistreatment of citizens) towards the United States and its self-proclaimed title of “Police of the world” towards “posturing” (watch out for the “free Gang-du park” t-shirts) and greed (all those who take advantage of misfortune to a greater or lesser extent).

Human stupidity is also reflected, not only because of how inadequate the protagonist is, but because There are scenes that if they happened in the real world, I'm afraid they would have the same result.. For example, the scene in which everyone throws stones at the monster thinking it is a harmless little animal or when a guy coughs and everyone thinks he is infected by the virus and looks at him as if he is guilty of something. Perhaps that is why this film also includes many humorous scenes (even if it is sometimes unintentional).

The monster is the least important thing in the film and even so, it is the glue that holds it together and I have to say that although today it can be seen as something false, its design seems excellent to me for something that has been created by mistake.

Curiosities about the film:

• This film was the highest-grossing film in history in South Korea. More than a quarter of the population went to see it at the cinema. It was the highest-grossing film in Asia, doubling the results of Hollywood films.
• The special effects were done by The Orphanage, who also worked on Pirates of the Caribbean, hellboy, Iron Man and Superman Returns.
• El mensaje crítico contra Estados Unidos de esta película le hizo ganarse algunos enemigos en territorio americano (pese a que también se anunció un remake estadounidense), al mismo tiempo que fue cubierto de alabanzas en Corea del Norte.
• Tras el éxito de esta película se anunciaron un remake americano, un videojuego y una secuela. A día de hoy ninguna de las tres cosas existe.Creando al monstruo