The Host (film)

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The Host

Theatrical release poster

Hangul 괴물
Hanja 怪物
RR Goemul
MR Koemul
Directed by Bong Joon-ho
Produced by Choi Yong-Bae
Baek Chul-hyun
Written by
Bong Joon-ho
Song Kang-ho
Byeon Hee-bong
Starring Park Hae-il
Bae Doona
Ko Ah-seong
Music by Lee Byung-woo
Cinematography Kim Hyung-ku
Editing by Kim Sun-min
Showbox (South Korea)
Distributed by
Magnolia Pictures
July 27, 2006 (South Korea)
Release date(s) October 10, 2006 (UK)
March 9, 2007
Running time 119 minutes
Country South Korea
Korean
Language
English
Budget $11 million
Gross revenue $89,106,383

The Host (괴물, Gwoemul - "Monster") is a 2006 South Korean monster film, which also
contains elements of comedy and drama. The film was directed by Bong Joon-ho, who
co-wrote the screenplay, along with Baek Chul-hyun.

Starring in the film as members of an unremarkable family thrust into the middle of
extraordinary events were Song Kang-ho, Byeon Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona and
Ko Ah-seong. A combination of blockbuster plot and political commentary, the film also
deals with the implications of America's military presence in Korea.

Following the success of the director's work, Memories of Murder, The Host was heavily
anticipated. It was released on a record number of screens in its home country on July 27,
2006. By the end of its run on November 8, the film was seen 13 million times, making it
the highest grossing South Korean film of all time. The film was released on a limited
basis in the United States on March 9, 2007, and on DVD, Blu-ray, and HD-DVD
formats on July 24, 2007. It won several awards including Best Film at the Asian Film
Awards and at the Blue Dragon Film Awards.

Contents
[hide]
 1 Plot
 2 Cast
 3 Production
o 3.1 Background
o 3.2 Filming
o 3.3 Special effects
 4 Political background
 5 Reception
 o 5.1 Top ten lists
o 5.2 Awards and nominations
 6 Home media
 7 Video game
 8 Sequel
 9 Remake
 10 References

 11 External links

[edit] Plot
The film opens with an American doctor (Paul Lazar) ordering his Korean assistant
(Brian Lee) to dump hundreds of bottles of formaldehyde down a sink which drains into
the Han River. A few years later, two men are standing and fishing in the Han River
when one discovers a mutant amphibian (which is never shown). Four years later, a man
commits suicide by jumping off a bridge into Han River, but not before noticing that
there's "something dark, underwater."

In the present day, Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) runs a riverside snack-bar with his
father, Hee-bong (Byeon Hee-bong). Hyun-seo (Ko Ah-seong) is Gang-du's daughter.
Gang-du's sister, Nam-joo (Bae Doona), is an archer, and his brother Nam-il (Park Hae-
il) is an alcoholic former activist who has not done much since graduating. Gang-du is
delivering a meal to some patrons, and sees a crowd. He joins them near the Wonhyo
Bridge. A few moments later, the creature begins to attack and devour people. As Gang-
du runs away, he sees Hyun-seo emerge from the snack bar and grabs her hand without
stopping. He then stumbles and unwittingly grabs a different girl. A short distance away,
he looks back and sees the creature pull Hyun-seo into the river. Gang-du then sees the
monster dragging her on the opposite bank before disappearing into the water.

As the family mourns the young girl in a shelter set up for victims of the attack,
government representatives in yellow bio-hazard suits arrive and demand to know who
has had direct contact with the creature. Gang-du admits that he has, and the family is
forced to the hospital, where Gang-du is quarantined. The Korean government announces
that the creature is not only a direct danger, but also the host of a deadly, unknown virus.
Gang-du receives a phone call from Hyun-seo, who is not dead, but trapped in a sewer.
She is cut off as her cellphone battery runs out. Gang-du tries to explain to others, but his
explanation sounds insane to the people at the hospital. Hee-bong believes his son, and
uses up his life savings so that they can escape from the hospital and rescue Hyun-seo.
They are then able to obtain a truck, two non-yellow hazmat suits, weapons, and a map of
the sewer system around the Han River. The family search the sewers to no avail and
return to their snack stand at the banks of the Han river to rest for the night. They wake to
find the creature watching them. Hee-bong fires on the creature, causing it to attack them
and overturn the snack stand. As the creature tries to get at them inside, Hee-bong fires a
shot that causes the creature to flee. Hee-bong, Gang-du & Nam-il give chase, firing
wildly. Hee-bong is eventually killed by the creature, and Gang-du is captured by
soldiers; Nam-il and Nam-joo escape but are separated.

In the hospital, Gang-du overhears that there is no virus: the government is merely
perpetuating a charade to save face. The American scientist who lets out the secret claims
that Gang-du is infected in the brain. A team of doctors perform a frontal lobotomy on
Gang-du. Afterwards, a nurse mocks the seemingly brain-damaged and unresponsive
Gang-du. He suddenly takes her hostage with a syringe full of his "infected" blood, his
"slow-wittedness" apparently cured by the lobotomy, and escapes. He drives to Wonhyo
Bridge in an ambulance. Hyun-seo has been trapped in a deep sewer pit since she was
spit out by the creature. The creature periodically drops off victims into the pit, to store
for later. Hyun-seo finds all the others dead or dying except for a young street urchin
named Se-joo. Nam-il goes to a college friend for help, and traces Hyun-seo's phone call.
He is betrayed for reward money, but cleverly escapes. Before losing consciousness
under a bridge, he sends a text message with Hyun-seo's location to Nam-joo. Nam-Joo
goes to the bridge, but comes across the creature. She is near enough that she has a shot,
but just as she has the creature in her sights, she hesitates. The creature runs past her and
she is knocked unconscious. Hyun-seo tries to climb out of the sewer by a rope fashioned
from her and other victims' clothes, but the creature snatches her and places her back on
her feet. The camera cuts to black as the creature pounces on her and Se-joo.

Gang-du discovers the feeding pit only in time to see the creature dashing away with a
child's arm dangling from its mouth. He chases it on land as it dives into the river. Nam-il
wakes to see a homeless man who has been tending to him, and with the man's help and
liquor, he makes several Molotov cocktails and together they take a taxi to the Wonhyo
Bridge. Nam-joo also awakes. She sees the creature and Gang-du run past her and
follows them. The three siblings are led to the riverbank, where the creature attacks
demonstrators protesting the government's use of Agent Yellow - a chemical weapon
highly harmful to humans - against the creature (and the non-existent virus). Police press
back the demonstrators, trying to hold them back. The crowd finally disperses as the
creature comes near to the shoreline. All three siblings meet up briefly on top of the
bridge, but Gang-Du leaps from the bridge to chase the creature.

Agent Yellow is released and incapacitates the creature temporarily. Pushing through the
poisonous fumes, Gang-du pulls out the two seemingly lifeless children from the
creature's mouth. Hyun-Seo had grabbed the other child and had avoided being fully
swallowed by grabbing onto a large tooth but the three siblings discover she has
suffocated. The creature revives and tries to return to the river. Enraged, Gang-du grabs a
street sign and begins to battle the creature. Nam-il also begins to throw his Molotov
cocktails at it. The creature, apparently terrified of fire, continues to flee. The homeless
man whom Nam-il met appears and douses the creature with gasoline, but Nam-il
accidentally drops his last bottle as he attempts to throw it. Nam-joo picks up one of the
lit fragments with her arrow and shoots it into the creature's eye, causing it to burst into
flames, screaming in agony. The creature makes a last attempt to flee towards the
protection of the river, but Gang-du finally kills it by shoving the street sign through its
mouth, piercing its brain. As Nam-joo and Nam-il mourn over their dead niece, Gang-du
manages to revive Se-joo. In the epilogue, we see Gang-du and Se-joo living as a family
in the rebuilt and cozy-looking snack bar, sometime in the winter. One night Gang-du
believed he saw something move outside. He gets his rifle but then sets it down,
believing it was his imagination. A televised US Senate press release - claiming that the
Korean "disease crisis" was caused by "misinformation" - is drowned out by their
conversation. The child asks him to turn it off, as he finds it boring, and they eat their
dinner.

[edit] Cast
 Song Kang-ho as Park Gang-du
 Byeon Hee-bong as Park Hee-bong
 Park Hae-il as Park Nam-il
 Bae Doona as Park Nam-joo
 Ko Ah-seong as Park Hyun-seo
 Oh Dal-soo as Voice of the monster
 Lee Jae-eung as Se-jin
 Lee Dong-ho as Se-ju
 Yoon Je-moon as The homeless man
 Lim Phil-sung as Nam-il's senior, the office worker
 Kim Rwi-ha as Yellow 1 (in the funeral)
 Park Roh-sik as The inquiry officer
 Ko Soo-hui as The hostage nurse
 David Joseph Anselmo as Donald
 Scott Wilson as American military doctor
 Paul Lazar as American doctor
 Brian Lee as Young Korean doctor

[edit] Production
[edit] Background

The film was the third feature-length film directed by Bong Joon-ho. Following the
positive reaction to the director's debut, Barking Dogs Never Bite, coupled with the
critical acclaim and box-office success of his previous work, Memories of Murder, the
film was given a generous production budget of around 10 billion won[1] (just over $10
million US), huge by local industry standards.[2]

[edit] Filming

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 including 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.[3]

[edit] Special effects

The director had to work around the budget-imposed restrictions, especially when it came
to special effects. The creature was designed by Chin Wei-chen, the modeling was done
by New Zealand-based Weta Workshop and the animatronics were by John Cox's
creature Workshop.[4] The CGI for the film was done by The Orphanage, which also did
some of the visual effects in The Day After Tomorrow.[5]

The monster was designed with some specific parameters 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.[6] Therefore, the director's wishes were for it to
look like an actual mutated fish-like creature, rather than have a more fantastical design.
In the opening scenes of the film, 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.[4] For a genre film monster, the creature's size is rather small, only about
the size of a truck. Also unlike in many other monster-themed films, the creature is fully
visible from early on in the film, sometimes for large stretches of time and even in broad
daylight, which earned the film some critical praise.[7]

[edit] Political background

The film was in part inspired by an incident in 2000 in which a Korean mortician
working for the U.S. military in Seoul dumped a large amount of formaldehyde down the
drain. In addition to its environmental concerns, this has added some antagonism against
the United States.[8] The American military situated in South Korea is portrayed as
uncaring about the effects their activities have on the locals. The chemical agent used by
the American military to combat the monster in the end, named "Agent Yellow" in a
thinly-veiled reference to Agent Orange, was also used to satirical effect.[4] The director,
Bong Joon-ho, commented on the issue: "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."[9]

Because of its themes that can be seen as critical of the United States, the film was lauded
by North Korean authorities,[10] a rarity for a South Korean blockbuster film.

The film features a satiric portrayal of the South Korean government which is portrayed
as bureaucratic, inept, and essentially uncaring. Korean youth protesters are featured
satirically in the film, with a mixed portrayal, partially heroic, and partially self-righteous
and oblivious. According to Bong Joon-ho, the Park Nam-il character is a deliberate
anachronism, a reference to South Korea's troubled political history, which involved
violent protest. "When you look in terms of this character, it's sort of like the feeling of
time going backwards. [...] You could say that he is the image of the college protester
back ten years ago; it doesn't exist in the present day."[11]

[edit] Reception
The Host premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2006 and was released
nationally in South Korea on July 27, 2006. Having been heavily hyped 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 $17.2 million
box office revenue easily beat the previous records set by Typhoon.[12][13] The film reached
six million viewers on August 6, 2006.[14] In early September the film became South
Korea's all time box office leader, selling more than 12.3 million tickets in just over a
month in a country of 48.5 million. By the end of its run on November 8, the viewing
figures came in at 13,019,740.[2]

The film was released theatrically in Australia on August 17, 2006. During the first half
of September 2006, it premiered in Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Hong Kong.
It received a theatrical release in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2006. This was
its first official release outside of film festivals, and outside Asia and Australia. Its
American release was March 9, 2007. It was or is planned to be released in several other
countries; among them are France, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, and Spain.

The Host received screenings on several film festivals. In addition to its opening in
Cannes, among the most prominent were the Toronto, Tokyo and New York film
festivals. The film swept Korea's Blue Dragon Awards : The Host received five awards,
Ko Ah-seong took Best New Actress and Byeon Hee-bong was awarded as Best
Supporting Actor.[15]

The French film magazine Cahiers du cinéma ranked the film as third place in its list of
best films of the year 2006.[16] The Japanese film magazine Kinema Junpo selected it as
one of the top 10 best foreign films of the year 2006. (Flags of Our Fathers won the best
foreign film of the year 2006.)[17]

With a limited American release starting March 11, 2007, The Host garnered very
positive reviews, with a 92% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[18] In addition it was
ranked one of the top films of 2007 on Metacritic with a score of 85.[19] Manohla Dargis
of The New York Times wrote "The Host is a loopy, feverishly imaginative genre hybrid
about the demons that haunt us from without and within."[20]

Ranked #81 in Empire magazines "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.[21]

[edit] Top ten lists

The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.[22]
  2nd - Ella Taylor, LA Weekly (tied with Manufactured Landscapes)
 2nd - V.A. Musetto, New York Post
 4th - Dana Stevens, Slate
 5th - Marc Mohan, The Oregonian
 5th - Mike Russell, The Oregonian
 7th - Desson Thomson, The Washington Post
 9th - Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe

[edit] Awards and nominations

The Host won 18 awards and received a further 10 nominations.

Won
 1st Asian Film Awards
o Best Film
o Best Actor, Song Kang-ho
o Best Cinematographer, Kim Hyung-goo
o Best Visual Effects: The Orphanage

 Asia Pacific Film Festival

o Best Editing, Seon Min Kim
o Best Sound, Tae-young Choi
o Best Supporting Actor, Hie-bong Byeon

 PaekSang Arts Awards

o Best Film
o Best New Actress, Ah-sung Ko

 Blue Dragon Awards

o Best Film
o Best New Actress Ah-sung ko
o Best Supporting Actor, Hie-bong Byeon
o Best Visual Effects:The Orphanage

 Fantasporto (International Fantasy Film Award)

o Best Director, Joon-ho Bong

 Grand Bell Award, South Korea

o Best Director Joon-ho Bong
o Best Editing Seon Min Kim

 Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival

o Best Special Effects, The Orphanage
o Orient Express Award, Joon-ho Bong

Nominations
  1st Asian Film Awards
o Best Editor, Kim Sun-min

 Saturn Awards
o Best International Film
o Best Performance by a Young Actor, Ah-Sung Ko

 Empire Movie Award, UK

o Best Horror

 Grand Bell Awards, South Korea

o Best Actor Kang-ho Song
o Best Citematography Hyung-ku Kim
o Best Supporting Actor Hie-bong Byeon
o Best Supporting Actress Ah-Sung Ko
o Best Film

 Hong Kong Film Awards

o Best Asian Film Korea

 Chlotrudis Awards
o Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast

[edit] Home media

The Region 2 UK release of the film was released on March 5, 2007, while the Region 1
U.S. DVD was released on July 24, 2007 in both single disc and a two disc collector's
edition in DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-ray formats.[23]

[edit] Video game

Twitch Film announced on November 3, 2009 that a video game is planned,[24] it will be
released as a multi-platform first-person shooter.[25]

[edit] Sequel
This section is outdated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or
newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information.
(November 2010)

On June 19, 2007, it was announced that a sequel was in progress for a 2011 release,[when?]
with a different director.[26] The budget for The Host 2 has been set at close to $12
million, and will be based on a script by webcomic artist Kang Full.[27]
[edit] Remake
In November 2008, it was announced that Universal Studios would be remaking The
Host with Gore Verbinski producing, Mark Poirier writing the script, and first-time
director Fredrik Bond directing the film. The film is set for a 2011 release.[28]