The Host

The talk of the 2006 Cannes International Film Festival and the latest film from critically acclaimed visionary director Bong Joon-ho, THE HOST has already garnered a substantial amount of international buzz— last summer it became the highest grossing Korean film of all time (over $90 million). Utilizing state-of-the-art special effects, courtesy of a creative partnership between Weta Workshop (King Kong, The Lord of the Rings) and The Orphanage (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Sin City), THE HOST is both a creature-feature thrill ride and a poignant human drama.

“Terrific...a seriously scary freakout.” (Manohla Dargis, New York Times)
Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) works at a food-stand on the banks of the Han River. Dozing on the job, he is awakened by his daughter, Hyun-seo (KO A-sung), who is angry with him for missing a teacher-parent meeting at school. As Gang-du walks out to the riverbank with a delivery, he notices that a large crowd of people have gathered, taking pictures and talking about something hanging from the Han River Bridge. The otherwise idyllic landscape turns suddenly to bedlam, when a terrifying creature climbs up onto the riverbank and begins to crush and eat people. Gang-du and his daughter run for their lives, but suddenly the monster grabs Hyun-seo and disappears back into the river. The government announces that the monstrous thing apparently is the Host of an unidentified virus. Having feared the worst, Gang-du receives a phone call from his daughter who is frightened, but very much alive. Gang-du soon makes plans to infiltrate the forbidden zone near the Han River to rescue his daughter from the clutches of the horrifying Host…

“THE HOST is the most original, exhilaratingly scary-funny monster movie in many a season. Hands down the year’s best genre entertainment and then some.” - Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly