Post by thecount on Jun 2, 2008 16:33:49 GMT -5
Although it was once a staple of the horror genre, the giant monster film has been lacking during the last several decades, being replaced by slasher and zombie films. Thankfully though there are a few people out there willing to make a good old fashioned movie about a giant monster terrorizing a city as shown in the 2006 South Korean effort “The Host”. “The Host” is about a giant mutated fish like monster that immerges from the Han River after the US government dumps several chemicals in there in an attempt to cover up their tracks. The monster begins killing and eating whomever it comes across, but there is one additional problem. The monster also spreads a deadly virus to all those that come into contact with it.
“The Host” is great B-movie fun. Director Joon-ho Bong keeps everything strumming along at a nice pace and it’s fairly well acted and written. In addition the monster looks very cool. Yeah this movie was made in 2006, so expect the monster to be in CGI, but this CGI looks much better than most. It looks as if the filmmakers actually care about how the monster looks. Thankfully however, this film is missing several of my least favorite aspects of modern filmmaking, namely quick edits and shaky cam which helps create a far more suspenseful and fun film. When it all comes down to it what makes “The Host” special is that it accomplishes exactly what it set out to do. Joon-ho Bong set out to make a fun B-movie, a “Godzilla” for the 21st century and he did just that.
“The Host” is great B-movie fun. Director Joon-ho Bong keeps everything strumming along at a nice pace and it’s fairly well acted and written. In addition the monster looks very cool. Yeah this movie was made in 2006, so expect the monster to be in CGI, but this CGI looks much better than most. It looks as if the filmmakers actually care about how the monster looks. Thankfully however, this film is missing several of my least favorite aspects of modern filmmaking, namely quick edits and shaky cam which helps create a far more suspenseful and fun film. When it all comes down to it what makes “The Host” special is that it accomplishes exactly what it set out to do. Joon-ho Bong set out to make a fun B-movie, a “Godzilla” for the 21st century and he did just that.