A Korean delicacy

THE HOST

Truth be told, I only picked this up this beauty in Xtra-Vision cause the cover art caught my eye. It turned out to be a lot more enjoyable than I expected. The movie is partly tongue-in-cheek, but because of the language barrier (and maybe my own ineptitude), I’ve always found it especially difficult to tell when Asian people are trying to be funny or sarcastic. Still, I found myself laughing at the most unexpected of moments :D

Where “The Host” succeeds (and practically every other movie I’ve seen lately has failed) is that they establish characters that I end up actually giving a damn about. When some of the central characters find themselves in jeopardy, I was overcome with a genuine sense of fear or tension. At times, I was literally holding my breath!

What I loved about the film was how it lulled you into a false sense of security at the start, which only makes the carnage that followed feel all the more shocking and brutal. The special effects looked quite ropey in parts, but I really must applaud the filmmakers for being so brave and bold with their use of outdoor effects shots. Having said that, the creature looked far more convincing during the interior scenes!

“The Host” is a surprisingly decent film and worth a look if you’re a fan of big giant monster movies! A word of warning though, I found the set up of the family in the movie to be terribly confusing. It took me a good half hour before I understood who was related to who, and in what way :P