The Host is a horror film that follows one family’s quest to save a little girl from a monster that has taken her. The monster hails from the Han River, thanks to an ignorant scientist who dumps several chemicals down the drain because the bottles are too dusty.

The little girl is taken by the monster. Her often incompetent and usually sleeping father, her grandfather, her uncle and her aunt who happens to be an Olympic archer, join together to save her.

The monster is CGI. Much of the dialogue is subtitled. But the characters are endearing; very likable and often amusing. There are some great scares and plenty of tension. There’s even a little subtext, though not really that subtle. The monster is reported as having contaminated anyone who it has come in contact with (and not killed, of course) with a deadly virus. Military action is to be taken. But protests are mounted and it is possible there is actually no virus, much like there were never any weapons of mass destruction. The creation of the monster by the dumping of toxic chemicals might be a nod at pollution and the environment. But it might just be a neat way to create a monster.

I really enjoyed The Host. I like the strong female characters, even the little girl. No whimpering bimbettes or helpless damsels in distress here.

The monster has a neat way of flipping on the bridge of the river it hides in to get around.

But the best thing about The Host is style of the film itself. There were many shots that built up the scares. Often, a scary moment would be taking place, and before you knew how it would end, we cut to another scene. For example, the monster attacks. It’s advancing on a potential victim. It’s about to strike, and then…we’re in another location. What happened? You don’t know! Some might find this annoying. I thought it was a brilliant way to add to the suspense.

The only issue I have with The Host is the sentiment of the film that any animal who kills a human should be killed. Maybe so, but then any human who kills a human should be killed, too. I don’t see humans as superior to animals; in fact, most of the time I think of us as inferior. I believe humans and animals should be treated equally. So I didn’t agree with this tone of the film.

However, the ‘animal’ in the film is a monster, and I will subscribe to the tradition of the horror genre to kill the monster. But I have to ask, who is the real monster? The scientist who dumped the chemicals? The creature itself? The military?

Even if you’re not into the subtext like I am, The Host is a fun film. It delivers scares and suspense without a lot of gore in place of a story. Very well done.

Grade: A-
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