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Gwoemul ( The Host )

20:37 / 27.08.06

Is any one interested in this Korean Horror Flick ?

I curious if and when its been released in theaters or indeed dvd.

Baz Auckland

03:21 / 28.08.06

I just saw it last week in the theater... but in Korea. Movies here seem to be out on DVD within 2-3 months, so I can see it being available pretty soon.

...and it's definitely worth seeing! One of the best monster movies I've seen in a long time...

00:45 / 30.08.06

Did you ever see one called isolation about a mutant cow gone bad in Ireland ?

it sounds delecious..

Feverfew

17:15 / 25.07.07

I've finally seen this, and wanted to bump the thread to see if anyone out there has had the chance to view since the thread began, because, frankly, it's a great film.

What took a while for me was adjusting to the difference in pacing - it's a steady walk, more or less, rather than setup-complication-setup two-complication two - resolution, and the monster is brilliantly rendered - it's also different in that the monster is shown straight away, not hidden and shown sparingly - the monster is, not to sound too wanky, a character in itself.

I also found the film itself curiously heartbreaking, in that it's more about the family matters than the 'quest' itself, and there are some moments that just impress in their understatedness...

... But I don't want to babble. Has anyone else seen this recently?

Mysterious Transfer Student

17:54 / 25.07.07

I saw this, not recently but at the time of the UK cinema release. I had no idea we had this thread, else I would have contributed because it was one of my favourite films of last year.

I most enjoyed the way it shows up other movies' attempts to have characters behave realistically in fantastic or science-fictional settings. The lead character is an idiot, stays an idiot throughout, frequently makes bad decisions and screws up royally, yet maintains our sympathy out of sheer lovable tenacity. His family are little more intelligent or well-balanced but manage to be heroic almost by accident. And the malicious, neglectful incompetence of the authorities is unpleasantly all too credible.

It's also worth seeing for the delightful Bae Doo-na, best known as the daffy anarchist girlfriend from Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, who wields a mean bow and arrow.

Ticker

18:44 / 25.07.07

I loved The Host! We saw it twice in a local art theater. We both really like how clumsy the beastie is and how great the family is even with the dysfunction. the Granddad's explainantion why his one son is the way he is was really moving as well as comic.

It had some great moments and was an overall fantastic flick.

Feverfew

20:36 / 25.07.07

I'm kinda intrigued as to your thoughts on 'clumsy'. I know it the beast doesn't move hellishly well on land, but the vivid image I have in my mind is of it fairly gracefully vaulting end-to-end under the bridge, grasping struts with it's tail, then it's front claws, swinging - I thought that was fairly gymnastic.

Anyway, I'm going to try this whole spoiler tag business;

[+] [-] Spoiler

Also, what are other people's thoughts on the timeframe of the movie? It seems to take place over the course of several days, but it seemed difficult to me to put a precise timeframe on the whole thing.

Seth

17:04 / 26.07.07

It was one of my favourite movies of last year too. It's one of the few movies I've seen that genuinely subverted its genre and left you clueless as to what might happen. The characters were excellent, the monster horrific (the vomiting bones sequence has been etched in my brain ever since) and the finale with the surviving family members as avenging superheroes was fucking awesome. And yes, the callous indifference of the authorities was the scariest and most uncomfortably *realistic* aspect.

Ticker

18:06 / 26.07.07

By clumsy I meant when it was thrashing about on the incline and stumbling -flopping on top of running people.

...and yes that was terribly intense and sad! (the spoiler moment)

I thought the acting was fantastic and the tiny glimpses of other people, the prologue moment, the fishermen, the jumper, the homeless guy, all really added to the depth of the movie.

I really loved it.

Oh and the complex tug on my usually pro monster self was impressive. It really was quite nasty and gruesome even if there was a certain karmic sense to its existence. I found I really cared a lot about the family. The entire scene of possible escape chilled me to the bone.

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