I firmly believe that China, Japan and South Korea make the best horror and thriller films; if you want to talk to me about The Eye, The Ring or Grudge, I will tell you their eastern originals are much better!

I first discovered The Host many years ago during a Film4 eastern film week, perhaps somewhere around October, and fell in love with this unique creature film; a wholesome, dark yet funny story of family and family bonds.

The film begins in the year 2000, an American pathologist tells his Korean assistant to pour 200 bottles of formaldehyde down the drain; the assistant explains that the drains run to the Han River and could be dangerous, but his boss is firm: all bottles. Down the drain.

Over the next 6 years, there are sightings of an unusual creature in the river; a man ready to leap off a bridge sees a dark shadow below him and jumps to his death. This leads us to 2006 and a small snack shack by the Han River; a small boy attempts to steal while Gang-du sleeps on the job, but is pulled away by his older brother. Gang-du’s father, Hee-bong, wakes him and gets him started on grilling squid.

Hyun-seo returns home from school, to Gang-du’s delight, but she complains that it was embarrassing for her uncle, Nam-il, to turn up to parent’s day and that he was likely drunk; Gang-du apologises and shows her that he’s saving up for a new phone for her in his change pot. They turn the TV on and wait for the archery competition to begin, where Nam-joo is competing, and Gang-du gives his daughter a beer; Hee-bong pulls his son aside as a customer complained their squid only had 9 legs and scolds him for stealing one, Hee-bong hands him a tray of food to take to the customers as an apology.

At the riverside, the crowd is wondering what is hanging off the bridge. It slowly drops into the water and Gang-du throws a beer for it, everyone begins throwing things for it to eat but it sinks deeper into the river; the excitement seems to be over, however, the creature emerges further down shore and begins its rampage on land.

Gang-du and an American man try their best to kill the monster and save as many people as possible; the creature gets the best of the American and Gang-du retreats and grabs his daughter. They both trip and fall, Gang-du grabs an arm again and continues running but it’s not Hyun-seo, he’s accidentally left her behind to be grabbed and taken into the water by the monster – seemingly killed.

There’s mass mourning at a community centre where citizens were evacuated to. Nam-joo arrives with a bronze medal, having lost her nerve at the competition, and brother Nam-il isn’t far behind; he berrates and beats his brother for grabbing another girl’s hand and calls him a bad father, the family hysterically mourn together while the media take photos.

A government official arrives in a hazmat suit and asks if anyone had come into contact with the creature or with anyone who may have; Gang-du admits that he didn’t actually touch it, but got blood on his face from striking it. A team take excessive measures to stuff him into a hazmat bag for transport, although he’s allowed to be out of it once in a main hospital area with his family. It has come to the government’s attention that the creature might have a virus, as the American – Sargent Donald White – has come out in strange boil like lumps across his body.

Gang-du is taken away and told not to eat or drink for tests, but during the night he steals his bed neighbour’s rations – that look suspiciously like the smaller version of the creature – and receives a phone call from Hyun-seo; the creature has dumped her in the sewers somewhere, but her battery dies before she can give any details.

Gang-du tries to explain that, although listed as dead, his daughter is alive and begs an officer to find her; the officer doesn’t believe him, stating Gang-du had such a vivid dream that he thinks it’s real; Nam-il and Nam-joo are becoming angry with the officer while Hee-bong tries to calm everyone down. With the officer out of earshot, he hatches a plan to find Hyun-seo themselves.

The family try to blend in with the other patients to leave the hospital, but Gang-du’s unusual blonde hair makes him easy to spot; they escape to the lower car park to a waiting van, but Nam-joo isn’t very quick on her feet and they’re almost caught. Hee-bong buys weapons, hazmat suits and a van from the people who helped them escape, but the men add on more fees and gives him a total of $11.400 (roughly 10 million Won); poor Hee-bong has to hand over all his bank cards to cover the huge amount. The family make it through the checkpoints, but Hee-bong bribes an American employee with Gang-du’s change tub in a panic and drives away.

The two boys from the start of the film are back. They break into the snack shack to steal food and the younger brother, Se-joo, wants to take money but his brother explains that’s not how ‘Seori’ (stealing that harms no one) works and to leave the money or it would be theft; Se-joo doesn’t understand the difference but trusts his brother. As they leave with the food, they’re captured by the creature; Se-joo is the only one to survive when he’s dumped in the same hole as Hyun-seo, who protects him further from the creature.

The family return to their shack to eat after searching all evening; they envision Hyun-seo with them and give her food. A while later, Gang-du falls asleep; Hee-bong explains to his children that Gang-du was once considered smart, however, his bad parenting led Gang-du to commit ‘Seori’ and was beaten every time farmers caught him. Hee-bong thinks that’s why Gang-du is slow minded and can just fall asleep anywhere, he implores his son and daughter not to be so harsh with him – Hyun-seo was an accidental pregnancy, but Gang-du does his best since her mother left them.

Gang-du wakes suddenly and sees the creature on the banking in the rain, seemingly drinking the falling drops; Hee-bong nudges the window open and shoots it, that enrages the creature and it tips the shack over. The men of the family continue their pursuit until they run out of ammo and the military have caught up with them; Gang-du says he has one round left, so his father takes the gun to distract the creature while they escape – only Gang-du miscounted. The gun is empty.

The creature slams Hee-bong onto the riverside path, killing him; while Gang-du goes back to say goodbye, Nam-il grabs his sister to escape the military – who capture Gang-du.

Nam-il, having separated from his sister, meets with a friend who says he can find a rough area where Hyun-seo called from; the friend, however, wants the bounty placed on Nam-il’s head. After obtaining the location, Nam-il gives everyone the slip and manages to text the location to Nam-joo before passing out under a bridge.

Nam-joo has slept in a gap in beams of the bridge and finds a place to charge her phone; the TV in the background explains that Korea has permission to release a chemical called ‘Agent Yellow’ to kill the creature after Sargent White died. Nam-joo’s phone receives the message from her brother and she heads to the location; she phones Gang-du as she arrives, but the creature attacks her and she falls down a gap, unconscious. Gang-du is being tested on while taking the call and panics when it’s cut off; the doctors inject him with an anesthetic to knock him out but it doesn’t seem to work – they start taking tissue samples regardless until an American doctor arrives with a translator; they speak briefly to Gang-du and decide the virus has spread to his brain. The doctor confides in the translator that there is no virus and they’re using it as an excuse to distract from the creature’s origins; unfortunately, Gang-du understood that part and is lobotomized for it.

Back in the sewer, Hyun-seo is making a rope to escape and distracts Se-joo’s fear by saying he can eat whatever he wants from the family snack shack; he lists the things he wants to eat and asks her what she wants first, she says a beer and throws her rope up to the grate above, it lands too high for her to jump and the creature returns. Hyun-seo and Se-joo hide and watch the creature regurgitate all the bones from its meal and fall asleep; Hyun-seo thinks it’s the perfect time to escape, and uses the creature as a springboard while it sleeps. It seems like she’s succeeded, but the creature was feigning sleep to lure them out and devours them.

Gang-du takes a nurse hostage and escapes further testing. Nam-il wakes up and meets a homeless man who isn’t bothered by the quarantine and agrees to help; they gather bottles and supplies to make molotovs in the back of a taxi. A crowd gathers in protest to Agent Yellow at the bridge near Hyun-seo’s location. Nam-joo regains consciousness and bumps into Gang-du as he heads into the sewer; he finds the creature and sees his daughter’s arm hanging out of its mouth, it heads back to the river where to protest is happening and he gives chase.

When the creature reaches the riverside, the gas is released despite the crowd still gathered; it subdues the creature long enough for Gang-du to catch up and pull Hyun-seo free along with Se-joo. Hyun-seo has died and an enraged Gang-du attacks the creature again as it wakes; Nam-il arrives with the molotov cocktails and the homeless man pours gasoline on the creature from above. Nam-il drops his last molotov, but Nam-joo pierces a piece of flaming cloth with an arrow and sets the creature alight; it tries to escape into the water, but Gang-du impales it with a pole.

Nam-il and Nam-joo mourn the death of Hyun-seo while Gang-du revives Se-joo.

Some time later, in the winter, Gang-du has adopted Se-joo and watches over the Han River from the only snack shack and the riverside.

5/5: full marks for the perfect film!!

It’s filled with tension, loss and wholesomeness with a touch of classic Korean dark humor. Gang-du is a lovable oaf with a supportive family, even if Nam-il smacks him around a little; those little moments of humour – such as the over dramatic mourning – doesn’t break any of the drama of the film. It’s well written and fun; the creature looks amazing and well made that it isn’t jarringly obvious it’s CGI.