The Host is a 2006 monster film directed and co-written by Bong Joon Ho. It stars Song Kang-ho as food stand vendor Park Gang-du whose daughter Hyun-seo (Go Ah-sung) is kidnapped by a creature dwelling around the Han River in Seoul. Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, and Bae Doona appear in supporting roles as Gang-du's father, brother, and sister, respectively, who help Gang-du escape quarantine against an alleged virus derived from the monster and search for his daughter. Considered a co-production between South Korea and Japan, the film was produced by independent studio Chungeorahm Film and presented by its South Korean distributor Showbox and the Japanese investor Happinet.
Bong had dreamed of making a monster movie since his adolescence, inspired by the Godzilla and Ultraman franchises. The catalyst for The Host was the McFarland incident that occurred in February 2000, when an American civilian working on a military base in South Korea ordered the disposal of formaldehyde down a drain leading to the Han River. Bong devised the story of a monster resulting from this incident and proposed it two years later. In 2003, he started scripting The Host with Ha Joon-won; Baek Chul-hyun joined the pair to revise the script in December 2004. Principal photography lasted from June 2005 to January 2006, mostly taking place in Seoul along the Han River. New Zealand-based special effects company Wētā Workshop modeled the creature and the American studio The Orphanage handled the visual effects. Of the film's budget, was spent on the over 100 visual effect shots.
An unfinished cut of The Host debuted at the 59th Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2006, as part of the Directors' Fortnight. The finished film was released in South Korea on July 27, Japan on September 2, and in the United States on March 9, 2007. It became the highest-grossing South Korean film of all time, earning worldwide. Many critics praised The Host as among the best films of 2006 or 2007. The film received several accolades, including the inaugural Asian Film Award for Best Film. A sequel and an American remake were later announced, but neither materialized.
In recent years, The Host has been called one of the best monster and horror films of the 21st century thus far, and it has been listed among the greatest science fiction films ever made. It is regarded as a landmark of Korean cinema and remains among South Korea's highest-grossing films. Some retrospective reviews felt that The Host has grown in relevance as COVID-19 restrictions reflected elements of the film.
Plot
In 2000, an American pathologist orders his Korean assistant to dump hundreds of bottles containing formaldehyde down a drain which leads to the Han River. Over the next few years, several sightings of a strange amphibious creature in the waterway around Seoul occur.
In 2006, Park Gang-du, a slow-witted man, runs a small snack bar in Hangang Park with his father, Hee-bong. Gang-du's other family members include his daughter, Hyun-seo; his sister Nam-joo, an Olympic archer; and his brother, Nam-il, an unemployed college graduate. Around that time, a large creature emerges from the Han River and storms through the park, attacking and killing people. Gang-du, after trying to help an American combat the monster, grabs his daughter and joins the fleeing crowd, but inadvertently lets go of her hand. The monster snatches Hyun-seo and dives back into the river. After a mass funeral for the victims, those in attendance are forced to be quarantined, including the Park family. Korean government representatives and the United States Forces Korea (USFK) proclaim that the creature hosts an unknown deadly virus.
In the hospital, Gang-du receives a phone call from Hyun-seo. She says that she is trapped in the sewers with the creature, but then her phone runs out of battery. Gang-du and his family escape quarantine at the hospital and purchase supplies from gangsters to search for Hyun-seo. Meanwhile, two homeless boys, Se-jin and Se-joo, are attacked and swallowed by the creature. It returns to its lair in the sewer and regurgitates them, but only Se-joo survives. Hyun-seo helps Se-joo hide inside a nearby drain pipe where the creature cannot reach them.
The Park family encounters the monster and shoots at it until they run out of ammunition. Seemingly unharmed by the bullets, the creature kills Hee-bong and runs off. The army arrives at the scene and captures Gang-du, while Nam-il and Nam-joo escape and split up. Nam-il meets an old friend, nicknamed "Fat Guevara", hoping he could track Hyun-seo's phone call, and learns the government has placed a bounty on his family. Unbeknownst to Nam-il, Fat Guevara has contacted officials to claim the bounty, but Nam-il escapes after obtaining Hyun-seo's location, near the Wonhyo Bridge. Elsewhere, Gang-du overhears an American doctor saying the virus is a hoax invented to distract the public from the creature's origin. They decide to lobotomize Gang-du to silence him.
When the creature is sleeping, Hyun-seo tries to escape from its lair using a rope she has made from the victims' clothes, but the monster wakes up and swallows Hyun-seo and Se-joo. Meanwhile, Gang-du manages to escape by taking a nurse hostage and threatening to expose her to the virus. The government and the USFK announce a plan to release a toxic chemical called "Agent Yellow" around the river to kill the monster, concealing U.S. responsibility to maintain favor with the South Korean public. Gang-du finds the creature in its lair and sees Hyun-seo's arm dangling from its mouth. He chases it to the place that would be targeted by the chemical, where he meets Nam-joo. It attacks the crowd that assembled to protest the chemical dump. Agent Yellow is released, stunning the beast. Gang-du pulls Hyun-seo out of its mouth, discovering that she has died while clutching Se-joo, who is unconscious but alive. Enraged by her death, Gang-du attacks the creature, aided by Nam-il, Nam-joo, and a homeless man. They set it ablaze, and Gang-du impales it with a pole, finally killing it. As they mourn for Hyun-seo, Gang-du revives Se-joo.
Sometime later, Gang-du has inherited his father's snack bar and adopted Se-joo. While watching the river, he hears a noise and investigates fearing there is another monster, but finds nothing. He and Se-joo share a meal, ignoring a news broadcast stating that the incident's aftermath was due to misinformation.
Cast
Song Kang-ho as Park Gang-du, a clumsy misfit employee in his father's snack bar, who often falls asleep. His family members often berate him, and his laziness was caused by a lack of protein as a child. However, despite being the weakest in his family mentally, he is physically the strongest and easily resists pain. Byun Hee-bong as Park Hee-bong, the manager of the snack bar near the Han River with Gang-du. He is the father of Gang-du, Nam-il, and Nam-joo, and grandfather of Hyun-Seo Park Hae-il as Park Nam-il, Gang-du's brother who is an alcoholic and former political activist. Bae Doona as Park Nam-joo, Gang-du's sister who is an Olympic archer. Go Ah-sung as Park Hyun-seo, Gang-du's teenage daughter who is embarrassed by her family, especially her father. According to her grandfather, her birth was an "accident", and her mother ran away afterward. She is kidnapped by the creature, prompting the family to search for her.
Lee Dong-ho portrays Se-joo, the younger homeless brother who follows Se-jin and later befriends Hyun-seo. Scott Wilson, David Joseph Anselmo, Paul Lazar, and Clinton Morgan play Americans stationed in South Korea (Douglas, the pathologist; Sergeant Donald White; a doctor who speaks with Gang-du; and the Agent Yellow operator, respectively). Filmmaker Yim Pil-sung, a friend of writer-director Bong Joon Ho, portrays Nam-il's senior from university 'Fat Guevara'. Other cast members include as Se-jin; Yoon Je-moon as a homeless man; Kim Roi-ha as 'Yellow 1' (at the funeral); Go Soo-hee as the nurse who Gang-du takes hostage; and Brian Lee as Mr. Kim (the pathologist's assistant). The sounds of the Han River monster were provided by Oh Dal-su.
Production Conception
The Host was a longtime passion project that Bong had dreamed of since high school. During his youth, he was a fan of the kaiju genre, frequently viewing entries in the Godzilla and Ultraman franchises on the American Forces Korea Network (AFKN). In a 2006 interview, he added that he was "unhappy about the lack of a monster movie tradition in [South Korea]". Having also developed a fascination with mythical creatures, he imagined a Nessie-like monster rising from the Han River and disrupting Seoul residents' daily routines. Moreover, Bong claimed that he once saw a creature crawling up and falling off the Jamsil Bridge during his high school years in 1987. He said, "that day I promised myself to make a film about this if I became a director, at all costs".
In 2000, Bong felt further encouraged to make his own monster movie in response to the widely reported McFarland incident that occurred in February of that year, around the same time as his directorial debut, Barking Dogs Never Bite, was released. The scandal involved an American civilian, Albert McFarland, ordering his employees at a military base mortuary to dump around 470 bottles containing formaldehyde into a drain that fed into the Han River. In addition to environmental concerns, this incident caused some antagonism toward the United States. The film's opening scene was directly based upon this event, with Scott Wilson playing a McFarland-esque character.
Bong took inspiration from the Japanese films Godzilla and Seven Samurai (both 1954) for setting the film's tone and rainy climax, respectively. Furthermore, Guillermo del Toro's Mimic (1997) and M. Night Shyamalan's Signs (2002) were significant influences on the film. Bong indicated that Jaws (1975), Alien (1979), and The Thing (1982) may have also inspired him while making it.
Development Bong proposed the film in 2002, and began developing it while making his second feature film Memories of Murder (released in 2003). Many of Bong's friends and colleagues initially discouraged him from making a monster movie because they perceived that people generally considered the genre to be "childish and juvenile". However after Memories of Murder became a commercial success, Bong won the trust of financiers and the movie's production was authorized. In 2003, Bong directed the short film Sink and Rise, which featured Byun playing a food stand vendor near the Han River; it is now considered to be a prequel to The Host. Bong and Ha Joon-won started scripting The Host that same year; Baek Chul-hyun joined the pair for revision in December 2004. Ha recalled that they initially consulted materials at the National Library of Korea during scripting:
During the writing process, the crew spent two years scouting locations around the Han River. At the 2004 Busan International Film Festival, Bong announced that the script was still in revision, revealed that the film's English title would be The Host, and presented publicity stills of the monster. The Host became a co-production between South Korea and Japan; Chungeorahm Film served as the production studio and the film's South Korean distributor Showbox is credited as a presenter alongside Happinet, a Japanese company that had invested into the production. The film ultimately had a budget of (roughly in 2006), making it very costly by Korean industry standards. According to Variety, it became one of the most expensive independent films ever produced in South Korea.
Creature design