The Host[a] is a 2006 monster film[b] directed and co-written by Bong Joon-ho. It stars Song Kang-ho as vendor Park Gang-du whose daughter Hyun-seo (Go Ah-sung) is kidnapped by a creature dwelling around the Han River in Seoul. Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, and Bae Doona appear in supporting roles as Gang-du's father, brother, and sister respectively. A co-production between South Korea and Japan, the film was produced by Chungeorahm Film with Showbox and the Japanese financier Happinet presenting.
Bong had been dreaming up a monster movie since his adolescence, inspired by the Godzilla and Ultraman franchises. The catalyst for The Host was a scandal that occurred in 2000, in which an American commanded the disposal of formaldehyde down a drain leading to the Han River. Bong devised the story of a monster resulting from this incident and proposed it two years later. In 2003, he started scripting The Host with Ha Joon-won, and directed a short film set around the Han River featuring Byun. Baek Chul-hyun joined Bong and Ha for revision in December 2004. Principal photography took place in Seoul from June 2005 to January 2006. Wētā Workshop modeled the creature and The Orphanage handled the visual effects. Of the film's $11 million budget, $4.5 million was spent on the over 100 visual effect shots.
In recent years, The Host has been called one of the best monster and horror films of the 21st century thus far, and listed among the greatest science fiction films ever made. Seen as a landmark of South Korean cinema, it remains among the country's highest-grossing films. The film had a resurgence in popularity upon Bong gaining further international recognition for Parasite (2019). Some retrospective reviews have felt that The Host has grown in relevance as elements came to reflect the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plot
In 2000, an American pathologist orders his Korean assistant to dump over 100 bottles of formaldehyde down a drain leading into the Han River. Over the next few years, several sightings of a strange amphibious creature in the waterway around Seoul occur, and the inhabiting fish mysteriously die off.
In 2006, Park Gang-du, a slow-witted man, runs a small snack bar in Hangang Park with his father, Hee-bong. Gang-du's other family members include his daughter, Hyun-seo; his sister Nam-joo, a famed national medalist archer; and his brother, Nam-il, an unemployed college graduate.
A large creature emerges from the Han River and begins attacking and killing many people ashore. After trying to help an American combat the monster, Gang-du grabs his daughter and joins the fleeing crowd, but inadvertently lets go of her hand. The monster snatches Hyun-seo and dives back into the river. After a mass funeral for the victims, those in attendance are forced to be quarantined, including the Park family. Government representatives and the United States Forces Korea (USFK) proclaim that the creature hosts a deadly, unknown virus.
Gang-du receives a phone call from Hyun-seo. She explains that she is trapped in the sewers with the creature, but her phone stops working. Gang-du and his family escape the hospital and purchase supplies from gangsters to search for Hyun-seo. Two homeless boys, Se-jin and Se-joo, are attacked and swallowed by the creature. It returns to its sleeping area in the sewer and regurgitates them, but only Se-joo is alive. Hyun-seo helps Se-joo hide inside a drain pipe where the creature cannot reach them.
The Park family encounters the monster and shoot at it until they run out of ammunition. Seemingly unharmed by the bullets, the creature kills Hee-bong and runs off. After the army capture Gang-du, Nam-il and Nam-joo travel elsewhere separately. Nam-il meets an old friend nicknamed "Fat Guevara", at an office for assistance and learns the government has placed a bounty on his family. Unbeknownst to Nam-il, Fat Guevara has contacted officials to claim the bounty, but Nam-il escapes after obtaining Hyun-seo's location, near the Wonhyo Bridge. Elsewhere, Gang-du overhears an American doctor saying the virus is a hoax invented to distract the public from the creature's origin. They decide to lobotomize Gang-du to silence him.
When the creature is sleeping, Hyun-seo tries to escape from its lair using a rope she has made from old clothes. The monster awakes and swallows Hyun-seo and Se-joo. Meanwhile, Gang-du succeeds in escaping from where he is being held by taking a nurse hostage. The government and USFK announce a plan to release a toxic chemical called "Agent Yellow" around the river to kill the monster. Gang-du finds the creature and sees Hyun-seo's arm dangling from its mouth. He chases it to where the chemical will be released, meeting Nam-joo along the way. It attacks the large crowd that has assembled to protest the chemical dump. Agent Yellow is released, stunning the beast. Gang-du pulls Hyun-seo out of its mouth, discovering that she has died while clutching Se-joo, who is unconscious but alive. Enraged by her death, Gang-du attacks the creature, aided by Nam-il, Nam-joo, and a homeless man. They set it ablaze and Gang-du impales it with a pole, finally killing it. As they mourn for Hyun-seo, Gang-du revives Se-joo.
Sometime later, Gang-du inherits his father's snack bar and adopts Se-joo. While watching the river, he hears a noise and investigates but finds nothing. He and Se-joo share a meal, ignoring a news broadcast stating that the incident's aftermath was due to misinformation.
Song Kang-ho as Park Gang-du: A clumsy misfit vendor in his father's shop, who often falls asleep. His family members often berate him, and his laziness was caused by a lack of protein as a child. However, despite being the weakest in his family in terms of wit, he is physically the strongest and easily resists pain.
Byun Hee-bong as Park Hee-bong: The father of Gang-du, Nam-il, and Nam-joo, and grandfather of Hyun-Seo. He runs the shop near the Han River with Gang-du.
Park Hae-il as Park Nam-il: Gang-du's brother who is an unemployed university graduate and former political activist.
Bae Doona as Park Nam-joo: Gang-du's sister who is a national medalist archer. She attempts to use her skills on the monster.
Go Ah-sung as Park Hyun-seo: The teenage daughter of Gang-du who is embarrassed by her family, especially her father. According to her grandfather, her birth was an "accident," and her mother ran away afterward. She is kidnapped by the Goemul, prompting the family to search for her.
Lee Dong-ho as Se-joo: The younger homeless brother who follows Se-jin and later befriends Hyun-seo.
Scott Wilson, David Joseph Anselmo, Paul Lazar[de], and Clinton Morgan play Americans stationed in South Korea (Douglas, the pathologist; Sergeant Donald White; a doctor who speaks with Gang-du; and an AY Agent, respectively).[10][11] Filmmaker Yim Pil-sung, a friend of writer-director Bong Joon-ho, portrays Nam-il's senior 'Fat Guevara'.[12] Other cast members include Lee Jae-eung[ko] as Se-jin; Yoon Je-moon as a homeless man; Kim Roi-ha as 'Yellow 1' (at the funeral); Go Soo-hee as the nurse who Gang-du takes hostage; and Brian Lee as Mr. Kim (the pathologist's assistant).[10] The antagonizing Han River monster is vocalized by Oh Dal-su.[13]
The Host was a longtime passion project Bong had dreamed of since high school.[14][15][16] During his youth, he became a fan of the kaiju genre by frequently viewing entries in the Godzilla and Ultraman franchises on the American Forces Korea Network (AFKN),[15] and had a fascination with mythical creatures such as the Loch Ness Monster.[17] In a 2006 interview, he added that he was "unhappy about the lack of a monster movie tradition in [South Korea]",[c] and indicated that The Host pays homage to the kaiju genre in general.[15] Bong also claimed that he once saw a creature crawling up and falling off the Jamsil Bridge during his high school years in 1987.[18][19] He remarked that "that day I promised myself to make a film about this if I became a director, at all costs".[18]
In February 2000, around the same time as his directorial debut Barking Dogs Never Bite was released, Bong was further encouraged to make his own monster movie in response to the widely reported McFarland incident[ko].[14][20] The scandal involved an American named Albert McFarland ordering his mortician employees to dump around 470 bottles containing formaldehyde into the Han River via a drain.[d] In addition to environmental concerns, this incident caused some antagonism toward the United States.[23] The film's opening scene was directly based upon this event, with Scott Wilson playing a McFarland-esque character.[24] Bong compared how the film was made as a response to a recent geopolitical event with Godzilla (1954)'s purpose to provide a warning against nuclear weapons.[25]Guillermo del Toro's Mimic (1997) and M. Night Shyamalan's Signs (2002) were significant influences on the film,[15][17] and Bong indicated that Jaws (1975),[17]Alien (1979), and The Thing (1982) may have also inspired him while making the film.[26]
Bong proposed the film in 2002,[14] and began developing the film while still making his second feature film Memories of Murder (released in 2003).[19] Many of Bong's friends and colleagues initially discouraged him from making a monster movie because they considered the genre to be generally "childish and juvenile".[17] After Memories of Murder became a commercial success however, Bong won the trust of financiers and its production was authorized.[17] In 2003, Bong directed the short film Sink and Rise, which is now considered to be a prequel to the film.[25][27] Scripting started with Bong and Ha Joon-won that same year; Baek Chul-hyun joined the pair for revision in December 2004.[14] Ha recalled that they initially consulted materials at the National Library of Korea during scripting:
I read a lot of science dissertations. I studied the details by looking at the photographs. I studied the reproductive stage of leeches. How those things mate and how they reproduce and even about how they might mutate. At the very beginning stages, after going through that process, we were getting close to the idea of the creature.[14]
At the 2004 Busan International Film Festival, Bong revealed that the script was still being revised, the film's English title would be The Host, and presented publicity stills of the monster.[28]The Host became a co-production between South Korea and Japan; Chungeorahm Film served as the production studio and the film's South Korean distributor Showbox presented alongside Happinet,[1] a Japanese company that invested $4.8 million into its production.[29] The film ultimately had a budget of ₩11 billion[18][30] (roughly $11 million),[31][32][33] making it vastly costly by local industry standards.[1][34] According to Variety, it became one of the most expensive independent films ever produced in South Korea.[35]
Creature design
Initiate Chin Wei Chen was responsible for creature's final design.[26] Development of the creature began in December 2003; more than 2,000 drawings were reportedly submitted until the final design was decided upon;[36] Jang Hee-Cheol made the initial sketches.[18] The monster was designed with some specific characteristics in mind. According to the director himself, the inspiration came from a local article about a deformed fish with an S-shaped spine caught in the Han River.[37] Therefore, the director's wishes were for it to look like an actual mutated fish-like creature, rather than having a more fantastical design. In the opening scenes, two fishermen presumably encounter the creature whilst it is still small enough to fit in one of their cups; suggestive of its humble, more realistic origins. The monster also exhibits frontal limbs similar to amphibians' legs. This element of its design seems to have been more a choice of functionality on the designers' part as the monster needed to be able to run and perform certain acrobatic movements during the film.[26]
In June 2005, it was confirmed that Song, Byun, Park Hae-il, and Bae would star in the film, all of whom except Bae had worked with Bong on his previous film Memories of Murder.[38] Song's contract guaranteed he would be paid ₩500 million for the role of Gang-du, and he partly dyed his hair yellow in preparation to play the character.[39] Yim had no experience in acting and was faced with an awkward set up by Bong for his role: "[Bong] once asked me if I 'took an interest in acting'. Sometime later, I went to his office, and an unexpected audition had been arranged, and I had to suddenly perform in front of actor Park Hae-il."[12] Bong and an American casting director chose Hollywood veterans Wilson and Lazar to portray Americans stationed in South Korea. The two actors quickly agreed to appear in the film to the crew's surprise. Bong's preference for Lazar was based on the performance he gave in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).[40]
Filming
Principal photography began on June 29, 2005[41] and wrapped on January 8, 2006.[42] Some of the filming took place in the real sewers near the Han River, rather than on a set. The stars and crew were inoculated against tetanus by the medical officer. During filming, the crew had to deal with the effects of changes in weather and ambient temperature. This included the sewage water freezing in cold temperatures so that it had to be broken up and melted; and during hot and windy periods, the water evaporated and the silt turned to dust, which blew around in the breeze and into the faces of the crew.[43]
American visual effects supervisor Kevin Rafferty worked closely with Bong during filming and the pair got along well. He noticed the Korean staff and crew seemed more passionate than those in Hollywood and was suprized by how they were also editing the film at the same time as photography.[18] Wilson traveled to South Korea in August 2005, and Lazar followed shortly after, completing his scenes in September 2005.[40] Morgan and Anselmo experienced visa issues, breaching Article 20 of South Korea's Immigration Control Act by not obtaining government authorization for working in the country and were deported under coercion.[11]
Visual effects
The Host was Bong's first film to feature visual effects,[17] and he had to work around the budget-imposed restrictions, especially when it came to the special effects.[26] Bong initially approached Industrial Light & Magic to handle the film's visual effects, but they wanted to receive ₩100 million per shot, which would have brought the 120 visual effect shots of the monster alone to a cost of ₩12 billion.[19] The computer-generated imagery (CGI) for the film was ultimately done by the American visual effects studio The Orphanage, which also did some of the visual effects for The Day After Tomorrow (2004).[44] Bong stated that, of the film's US$11 million budget, $4.5 million was spent on the over 100 visual effect shots.[45]
The animators looked at real-life creatures and films when rendering the monster.[46] According to Rafferty, the team drew inspiration from the creatures in several Hollywood films, including Predator (1987), Jurassic Park (1993), Dragonheart (1996), and Blade II (2002).[18][46] They also burt a bass and trout at the studio to use as a reference for the scene where the monster goes up in flames.[46] Corey Rosen, who oversaw the creation and animation of the creature's model, noted that Johnny Eck's motions in Freaks (1932) were also used as references for the creature's movement since Eck had a torsoless body and carried his weight on his arms like the creature.[32]
Release
The Host premiered incomplete[18] at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2006, as part of the Directors' Fortnight. In South Korea, it was released on July 27, 2006.[47] Having been heavily promoted and featuring one of the most popular leading actors in the country, Song Kang-ho, the film was released on a record number of screens and made the South Korean record books with its box office performance during its opening weekend. The 2.63 million admissions and US$17.2 million box office revenue easily beat the previous records set by Typhoon.[48][49] The film reached six million viewers on August 6, 2006.[50] By the end of its nine-week run in South Korea, the film had grossed more than $90 million and the viewing figures came in at 13,019,740.[34]
According to Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), The Host became Bong's first film to receive a widespread international distribution.[51] In Japan, the film was highly anticipated but became a box office bomb upon its September 2, 2006 release, placing seventh in its opening weekend.[52] South Korean analyst Kim Bong-seok noted: "The recent Godzilla film was a box office failure, and the tastes of young audiences are changing. In addition, the audience base of Korean movies that have gained popularity due to the Korean Wave so far is different from the audience base of monster movies, which seems to have had a negative effect."[52] It received a wide release in France on November 22, 2006,[53] and in the United States on March 9, 2007.[32][54]
Sources state that the film set a new record for the highest-grossing South Korean film,[55][56][57] but box office figures for it are inconsistent. The Hollywood Reporter reported that it grossed around $90 million worldwide.[55] According to the box-office tracking websites Box Office Mojo and the Numbers, The Host earned $2.2 million in the United States and Canada and $87.2 million to $90.4 million in other territories, giving the film a worldwide total of $89.4 million to $92.6 million.[58][59] According to Chungeorahm Film's March 2007 theatrical profit estimate, the film had earned $97 million.[60] In 2025, Collider claimed that the film had a worldwide gross of $89−93 million.[57]
Reception
Critical response
On almost every level, there's never quite been a monster movie like The Host. Subverting its own genre while still delivering shocks and marbled with straight-faced character humor that constantly throws the viewer off balance, [this] much-hyped big-budgeter [...] is a bold gamble that looks headed to instant cult status.
The Host garnered widespread critical praise.[e]On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 156 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10.The website's consensus reads: "As populace pleasing as it is intellectually satisfying, The Host combines scares, laughs, and satire into a riveting, monster movie."[65]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 85 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[66] Moreover, several publications listed it among the top films of 2006 or 2007.[f] In IndieWire's 2007 critics poll, it placed 17th on their Best Film list based on 19 mentions; Bong also tied at 16th for Best Director.[71]
South Korean journalists believed the film accomplished a demonstration of Bong's expertise,[72] and generally lauded its blend of comedy and horror.[16] Meanwhile, the American press mostly praised the film's recreational appeal, originality, and political satire.[54]Manohla Dargis considered it the greatest film shown at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.[47][62] She wrote in The New York Times: "The Host is a loopy, feverishly imaginative genre hybrid about the demons that haunt us from without and within."[73] The Tokyo Shimbun spoke positively of how the film has a "different taste" from American horror movies. The Asahi Shimbun lauded the "eventful" script, "light tone", special effects, themes, suspense, and humor.[52]Dana Stevens described it as a "flawless monster movie".[56] Some reviewers were, however, more critical; Kim Soyoung dismissed the latter half of the film as "nihilistic" and Lee Hyun-kyung felt the "allegory was one-dimensional and the banter was often over the top".[72]
Moon Seok of Cine21 cited the performances of Song, Byun, Park, Bae, and Go as the film's central strength because they provide emotional intensity to the film.[72] According to the Korean Film Council, Bong's collaboration with Song and Bae was "praised for its entertainment value in combination with social and political commentary".[30]Adrian Martin highlighted Bae's performance, believing that "[Bong's] collaboration with Bae adds a dimension that no American blockbuster can even approach".[74] Wilson's performance was singled out by Jim Emerson of RogerEbert.com, noting that he was "clearly having fun".[75]
Western reviewers often compared The Host to Godzilla and many other monster movies from the 20th century.[g]Empire described it "as if Ken Loach remade Godzilla".[6] Martin said the experience of watching the film was akin to seeing Jaws upon its initial 1975 release, but described Bong as a "much more interesting and intricate director than Spielberg will ever be".[74] Sven-Eric Wehmeyer found the film presents an unrealistic monster within a realistic setting in the same vein as Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (2006).[77] Adam Nayman pointed out similarities to Wendigo (2001), with characters feeding the monster and provoking it to eat them unbeknown, and, like most reviews (according to him), highlighted how Bong acquaints the monster.[78] The scene where it first comes ashore was "awe-inspiring, exotic, [and] even a touch humorous" for Peter Bradshaw, but he felt it was undaunting in comparison to Ridley Scott's Alien (1979).[79] Heo Moon-young also compared the film to Bong's previous work on Memories of Murder, remarking that both films incorporate genre-blending and political critique, but noted that The Host has a greater emphasis on these.[72]
The performance of Go Ah-sung (pictured in 2022) earned several nominations
The Host was nominated in various categories at Asian award ceremonies, particularly for Bong's direction, Kim Hyung-koo's cinematography, and Song's performance.[80] At the 1st Asian Film Awards ceremony held in March 2007, the film dominated the competition and won four out of its five nominations. It became the first to win the Best Film, Best Actor (Song), Best Cinematographer (Kim Hyung-koo), and Best Visual Effects (The Orphanage) categories.[81] In South Korea, The Host won six Blue Dragon Film Awards; five Korean Film Awards; three Director's Cut Awards; and two Grand Bell Awards.[80] Go was nominated for the Baeksang Arts Award for Best New Actress as well as the Grand Bell Award and Korean Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.[82] She also won the Blue Dragon Film Award for Best New Actress and Director's Cut Award for Best Actress (the latter jointly with Bae).[80]
Some Japanese and South Korean viewers perceived that The Host strongly resembled the 2002 animethriller filmWXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3.[85][86] The Yukan Fuji[ja] disclosed that these comparisons resulted in a "plagiarism suspicion uproar".[85] Similarities noted by Internet users included the anti-Americanism theme, sewer setting, climax, and monster design.[85][86] However, many experts also questioned these claims.[87] Happinet issued a statement maintaining that "if there was plagiarism, we would not have invested in or helped to distribute it in the first place".[88] A representative of Chungeorahm Film said: "I am confident that if Japanese viewers directly watch the anime that has been suggested as the source material, they will never instantly conclude that it is similar to The Host. We also think that the plagiarism allegations are just a random incident."[88] According to Kadokawa Herald, Bong had never heard of the Patlabor franchise, which WXIII is an installment of.[85]
Post-release
Unproduced subsequent films
The Host 2
A shot from the 2012 test footage for The Host 2. This footage encouraged the public to believe that the sequel had begun production. By 2019, however, the film had been canceled without disclosure.
Shortly after the film's release in 2006, producer Choi Yong-bae hired his friend Kang Full to write The Host 2 (Korean:괴물2;RR:Goemul Dul;lit.Monster 2).[90] The sequel's development was publicized in June 2007, with a scheduled release date of 2009.[30][91][92] Sources presumed that another filmmaker would direct the sequel since Bong openly refused to.[91][92] Chungeorahm Film proclaimed in January 2008 that Kang had completed the first draft of the screenplay, and that it would now be a prequel to The Host featuring several monsters.[93] The following month, Variety reported that principal photography on the film was set to begin later that year on a budget of around $12 million.[94] In June, plans were announced for a localization of The Host 2 for Chinese audiences, featuring a predominantly Chinese cast.[95] Kang later abandoned the project, leading to its cancellation.[89][90]
The film re-entered development in 2009 as a sequel. A new group of writers was brought onto the project and a company in Singapore agreed to invest $5 million into it.[89][90][96] In November 2009, Twitch Film revealed that the screenplay was being reworked while a video game adaptation was being planned as a multi-platform first-person shooter simultaneously.[97][98] According to The Hollywood Reporter in October 2010, a demo reel would debut at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2010 and the film had a projected release date of summer 2012.[55] Their report also stated that it was now set to become a 3D film with a $17.6 million budget. The script was "currently under last-minute revision".[55] By this time, Park Myung-cheon had agreed to direct the film.[55][89] Test footage starring Kwak Do-won was released circa 2012.[89] This footage and a recent report on the director encouraged the public to believe that filming had begun.[89]
In November 2014, OBS reported that casting for The Host 2 had recently commenced. Principal photography was expected to begin in 2015 under Park's direction as a Chinese-Korean co-production, with an intended 2016 release date.[99] In 2019, South Korean film magazine Cine21 declared that, despite rumors from 2016 indicating that principal photography had occurred, The Host 2 had been canceled without disclosure.[89]
The film was released on DVD in the United States on July 24, 2007, in both single-disc and a two-disc collector's edition in DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats.[105] A 3D remaster of the film, titled The Host 3D,[106] premiered at the 2011 Busan International Film Festival, as a prelude for The Host 2, which was still in development at the time.[15]The Host 3D was produced on a budget of ₩1.5 billion,[107] and handled by Studio Raon.[106] According to the company's CEO Kim Moon-ki they wanted to "stay faithful to director Bong's intentions and not let the effects distract the viewer" when creating it.[106] Bong, who reportedly is afraid of technological innovations such as 3D films, was shown the 3D remaster early and said he was impressed by it.[106]The Host 3D was expected to receive a wide release in South Korea in 2012.[108]
Thematic analysis
In the film, the United States Forces Korea is portrayed as uncaring about the effects their activities have on the locals. Bong said the alleged virus discovered by the U.S. base was intended to be "[his] satirical take on the absence of WMD in Iraq".[16] The chemical agent used by the American military to combat the monster, named "Agent Yellow" in a thinly-veiled reference to Agent Orange, was used to satirical effect.[26] South Koreans views debated whether the film was anti-American following its release, which Bong reportedly intended to happen.[109] Bong responded to the Anti-American assertions on Korean Broadcasting System (KBS)'s radio service, saying: "It's a stretch to simplify The Host as an anti-American film, but there is certainly a metaphor and political commentary about the U.S."[109][110] He later said he did not intead to represent the Anti-American sentiment in Korea and expressed discomfort with the Los Angeles Times claiming in a report that this was his intent.[111] According to ScreenAnarchy, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il lauded The Host for its reputed Anti-Americanism and referred to the United States Forces Korea as the actual "monster of the Han River".[112] North Korea issued a statement praising the film for incorporating such themes: "The Host reflected South Korea's reality and people's psychology there. In the South, environmental crimes by the U.S. troops are very serious and is a life or death matter directly related to people".[113] American politicians Henry Hyde, Tom Lantos, and Gary Ackerman reportedly considered the film and its popularity a threat to the South Korea-United States alliance because of its Anti-Americanism.[114]The Washington Post and Song Kwang-ho both agreed that the film was "by no means anti-American".[54][115]
A central theme of The Host concerns criticizing the South Korean government,[111] who are satirically portrayed as bureaucratic, inept, and essentially uncaring in the film. Korean youth protesters are featured satirically in the film in a mixed way, partially heroic and partially self-righteous and oblivious. According to Bong, the Park Nam-il character is a deliberate anachronism, a reference to South Korea's troubled political history which involved violent protest.[116] The administrations of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye later blacklisted Bong for making Memories of Murder and The Host, alleging he promoted anti-American, anti-government, and leftist views.[117]
Bong has said that the film's English title, The Host, can be analyzed as describing several of its themes. He continued: "A host is the opposite of the word of parasite. But if you were to expand on that here in the film, the central focal point of the film is the protagonists family. This loser family. Whatever is tormenting this family, that is making life hard for them or oppressing them, you could say that whoever, whatevers not helping them on the whole ... its a host of all those things. It could be the creature itself, it could be the system that doesnt help this family, Korean society, America, a wide spectrum of meaning for the host."[118]
Scholar James Lloyd Turner interpreted the Han River monster as feminine, writing that "Its small size, clumsiness, and physical otherness are all inversions of monster movie conventions and function to code The Host's monster as feminine."[119] The creature is not given a name in its film, unlike masculine cinematic monsters like King Kong and Godzilla, which Turner believed was avoided because "a family name is passed on from a father to his offspring and so names are associated with masculinity".[119] He also suggested that it is the only mother character present in the film as "a symptom of the changing values of South Korea" and the United States is represented as its father and South Korea as its mother.[120]
Legacy
Cultural influence
The Host remains one of South Korea's highest-grossing films ever,[121] and is considered a landmark of Korean cinema.[122] It launched a minor resurgence in the monster genre in South Korea, with the subsequent movies including D-War (2007), Chaw (2009), and Sector 7 (2011).[15]Sector 7's director, Kim Ji-hoon admitted that his film was made with the intent to capitalize on The Host's success.[123] The film was also one of Bong's first films to earn major worldwide attention and helped expand his cult following.[124] He later returned to the monster genre with Okja (2017).[15]Kong: Skull Island (2017) director Jordan Vogt-Roberts cited The Host, especially its early introduction of the monster, as an inspiration.[125] The film later had a major resurgence in popularity upon Bong gaining further international success with Parasite (2019).[126] After Bong won several awards for Parasite at the 92nd Academy Awards, filmmakers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods revealed on Twitter that "The Host has been a huge influence on many of [their] scripts, including A Quiet Place."[127]
In 2014, a sculpture of the film's monster was placed in Hangang Park as a tourist attraction. It was later removed in 2024.[128]
Later reception
Since its release, several publications have named The Host as one of the greatest science fiction films ever made,[h] and among the best monster and horror films of the 21st century thus far.[i] Some have also called it the century's defining monster film.[138][139] The film placed number 81 on Empire's list of "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema";[140] was jointly ranked fifth on Rotten Tomatoes and Collider's ranking of Bong's filmography,[141][142] and appeared on Entertainment Weekly's lists of the 25 best monster movies and Korean horror films of all time,[143][144] as well as on the Rotten Tomatoes' list of the greatest horror movies.[8]
In 2009, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino listed The Host among his Top 20 Favorite Films released since his directorial debut in 1992.[145] Upon meeting Bong in 2013, Tarantino described how he was "blown away" by the film.[146] He felt that Bong succeeded in "recreating the [monster] genre" through portraying a "weird, f[uck]ed up family".[146] French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma later ranked it the 4th best film of the 2000s.[147] In 2014, South Korean audiences voted The Host the 9th greatest Korean film of all time and Bong's second best (after Memories of Murder).[148]
In 2020s retrospectives, some reviewers have noted how elements of The Host later came to reflect the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7][51][149]The Guardian and The Quill compared scenes involving a supposed virus outbreak, which featured lockdowns, widespread mask usage, reports that symptoms resemble the flu, anxiety, and misinformation.[7][149] In 2024, Deadline Hollywood included the film's monster on their list of the "Top 50 Movie Monsters Of All Time".[150] Likewise, A. A. Dowd of The Washigton Post ranked the creature as the scariest cinematic monster of the 21st century. He wrote that "the Gwoemul [sic] is a marvel of singular creature design that suggests a fish crossed with a frog crossed with one of the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park."[151]
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Notes
↑ Also titled Monster (Korean:괴물;RR:Goemul) in South Korea and Goemul: The Han River Monster (Japanese: グエムル 漢江の怪物, Hepburn: Guemuru: Kankō no Kaibutsu) in Japan.[3]
1 2 '괴물' 출연 외국인 2명 강제추방[2 Foreigners Appearing in Monster Forcibly Deported]. The Dong-A Ilbo (in Korean). October 5, 2006. Archived from the original on December 3, 2024. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
↑ 오달수, '괴물'에서 괴물 목소리로 등장[Oh Dal-su appears as the monster's voice in Monster]. KBS News (in Korean). June 26, 2006. Archived from the original on December 1, 2024. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "監督との対話から見える『グエムル -漢江の怪物-』の輪郭"[The outline of Goemul: The Han River Monster revealed through conversation with the director]. thecinema.jp. Archived from the original on April 17, 2024. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
↑ "映画『グエムル－漢江の怪物－』…反米感情で利益得れば同盟懸念"[The Host movie... profiting from anti-American sentiment raises concerns about alliance]. JoongAng Ilbo (in Japanese). September 29, 2006. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
↑ Song, Kwang-ho (October 5, 2024). "봉준호 '괴물'이 독립영화?…"사회적 맥락은 영화 이해의 첩경""[Bong Joon-ho's The Host is an independent film?… "Social context is the shortcut to understanding the film"]. Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
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