The Host - Movie Review: A Confusing and amazing Horror Comedy

Synopsis: An unidentified monster appears from the Han River in Seoul, kills hundreds and also carries off Hyun-seo. When her family learns that she is being held captive, they resolve to save her.

My Review: I have seen the host when i was a little kid. There used to be a channel i watched as a kid where they show dubbed movies (In Malayalam) every Sunday night. I didn't know what was going on but i really liked the movie as a kid. Now after watching some YouTube videos on the latest Oscar Winning Movie Parasite, the You-tuber mentions the previous movies of the directer Bong Joon-ho and i saw The Host in the list. I really didn't know that it was directed by him. So i decided to re-watch my old favorite Monster movie..

The Host is a Monster/ Horror/ Comedy movie. The reason i use the word 'Confusing' in the title is because the horror and comedy elements are very intertwined in the movie that you don't know whether to cry or laugh by the end of the movie. One moment we are mourning the lose of a child and the next moment, the scene turns into comedy. By the end of the movie, whenever there is a comedy scene, i was expecting to turn dark pretty quick. That is one of the amazing thing of the movie. The movie always keeps the viewers on edge of their seats whether its a horror scene or a comedy because anything could happen to any character in the movie at any time.

Positives: The direction and cinematography is amazing. The movie has very likable characters and the humor scenes were amazing. All the actors did an amazing job portraying their characters very well. The CGI where wasn't phenomenal, it was really great considering the movie came out in 2006. The plot was very simple and didn't really had any long explanations from a scientist scene in the movie. Some scientists dumped a ton of chemicals in the river which formed a giant monster and it eats people. I liked the simple and straight forward plot of the movie. The movie also give enough depth, character and personality to all the main characters in the movie which i really appreciated.

Negatives: there wasn't and major negative factors i felt in the movie except the CGI of the movie, but considering the time of release and budget of the movie, it was pretty amazing.

The Host is one of the best Monster movie in my opinion. I definitely recommend it.

My Rating: 4/5