The Host

[Kiiml]

There's a korean monster movie on the way that I've seen trailers and read articles about. Apparently its been well recieved at every film festival it's visited. The director said he took most of his inspiration from Signs, because he liked the focus on the family.

The way I understand it, it begins a lot like War of the Worlds because of the suddenness of the monster's appearence. it's a normal day, and without ANY warning, a giant mutated creature emerges from the polluted river and begins eating people. The story follows a father trying to rescue his daughter who was taken away and trapped in the beast's lair. As the trailer says, while the military seems unwilling to help, the family takes matters into their own hands.

From what I saw in Fangoria (the first fangoria issue I've read for about ten years.) the movie is powerful, but has a very sudden, curveball, unconventional, downbeat ending. Apparently the director said some people like the way the ending is done, but others hate it.

The magazine had no spoilers, so I couldn't divulge the ending even if I wanted to, but I'm still interested in seeing the film. To my knowledge, it will be the first south korean movie I've ever seen.  Being a bit of a sucker for cool, well-designed monsters, the creature itself looks to be pretty good. From what I've seen it's a fish/frog/salamander creature with complex, crab-like/alien mouthparts, that open up like a largemouth bass. If there's one thing this movie's got going for it, it's got a new-looking monster.

see the trailer online if you get the chance

[mrbasehart]

It's a pretty great movie, actually.  I saw it a while ago, and the beginning is just fantastic.  The movie manages to shift gears comfortably (and suddenly) between tragedy and comedy too, like most good Korean films.