Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9020 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-03-05
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Host has managed to become Korea's most successful film to date, winning acclaim both domestically and internationally, and it's easy to see why. At first glance, it looks like any other monster movie--an amphibious creature from the depths stalks and devours an urban population--but there's actually much, much more going on beneath the surface. Not that there needs to be: although it has a fairly hefty 119-minute runtime, The Host is fast moving, with plenty of action and a truly gruesome-looking monster. Visually, it's a gorgeous movie, with stunning special effects and beautiful settings (even the rather nasty sewer scenes look perversely great). However, the real crux of The Host isn't really anything to do with the monster: at heart, this is a family drama, not a horror movie.

The story focuses on one small family and how they react to the weird goings-on all around them. When the youngest member of the family, Hyun-seo, is snatched by the titular monster, the family is devastated until a call from her mobile phone gives them fresh hope. Unfortunately, everyone who came into contact with the being has been quarantined due to a virus scare, so they have to escape the Korean authorities to go on a rescue mission. Then the American army steps in, and all hell breaks loose...

It's a very original idea, with nuanced and well-written characters, plenty of humour, and a darker undercurrent of social and political commentary, topped off with a thrilling monster-killing adventure. Brilliant, in other words. --Sarah Dobbs

Special Features
Deleted scenes

Making-of with director Bong Joon-Ho

Monster Gag Reel

Audition tapes

The Characters

Storyboards

The creature making process: 5 sequences showing the process from animatrix to completion

Creature stills gallery

Bong Joon-Ho's Direction

Saying Goodbye to The Host - production team and actors talk about finishing the film

Memories of the sewer - talking about the difficulties of shooting inside the sewer

The film departments - Set design, martial arts, props, agent yellow, bones and bodies

Puppet animatronix

Designing the creature

Kevin's Korean Life - Visual Effects Supervisor Kevin Raffertey's experience of Korea

Physical Special Effects - Interview with Assistant Director, Sound Effects

Training the actors - archery lessons, gun training etc

Creature animation - model-making and animation,

Synopsis
Selling his wares to passers by along Seoul’s Han River, life is peaceful for a small-time snack bar owner and his dim-witted son. However, the tranquillity f of their day –to-day lives is shattered when a mutant creature emerges from the depths of the Han and embarks on a blood-thirsty rampage. While many of the local citizens are scrambling to escape, the father, son and other assorted family members must seek out their newfound nemesis, in order to rescue a relative.

Customer Reviews

A modern monster movie that isn't rubbish!
Oh wow I love this movie! Have you ever wondered what could happen if you dumped a LOT of illegal chemicals in a river? You can find out by watching this movie from Korea.
The story is about a mutant monster that emerges from the Han River and starts attacking everyone nearby in one of the best 'monster in the city' moments ever! The CGI is flawless, I completely believed the 'thing' was real. It carries away a teenager and her family spends the rest of the film trying to find her, or whats left of her. The tension is astonishing and the heartfelt acting from the family involved is wonderful and charming. There's a lot of humour in this film as well as a very realistic serious side to a family searching for a lost loved one.
It's a beautifully shot movie from a very talented film company who I am going to be keeping a close eye on.
No rubber monster suits are to to be seen here!

If this Fish gets you... you've had your Chips!

From the different comments I have seen about this move, the most accurate comes from the back of the DVD case itself... "the suspense of Jaws, the humour of Tremors, and the biting satire of Dawn Of The Dead. FANTASTIC." I wouldn't go so far as to call it fantastic, but it is good.

Although HOST has its scary moments, there's a little too much quirky humour for me to think it a horror movie, instead, I think of it as an enjoyable, albeit unorthodox Creature-Feature.

Unlike the majority of films of this ilk, there is no long, tension-building plot line before the monster is finally revealed in all its hideous glory, (thereby making its revelation the main focus of attention). Rather, HOST has a number of plot lines running simultaneously, one of which happens to be about a monster causing mayhem and snatching humans in broad daylight from under the noses of others (another unusual twist).

The CGI beastie is first class, to be honest it's far superior to what I expected (it's done by the same folk who did Superman Returns, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Sin City). The intertwining stories are engaging enough to hold the film together even without the Creature, so it won't take long to settle in and forget this is a 2 hour film in Korean with English subtitles though it does get a little surreal towards the end.

If you're feeling like a fishy Creature Feature with a bit of bite and a dollop of fun, this one's worth not letting get away. The only point of caution I'd make is that the related trailer above makes the film seem more menacing than I thought it actually was.

a film review
There tends to be a rule in cinema that a monster movie will have enough depth to fill a 2 minute trailer but will 99% of the time struggle to fill a 2 hour film. Korea's fist blockbuster however nails it dead on and falls within that rare 1%! The Host has a great satirical bite winding its way through a narrative of genuine thrills. It's main target is the reaction of the authorities in the face of an emergency alongside a perfect parody of the modern family that is carefully turned on & off at appropiate moments. It squeues convention and expectation through-out which makes a product that may be predictable in Western hands seem fresh and intelligent. Opting for a less than predictable ending & making any character expendable is its true strength. A great modern classic of the genre!