The Host midnight madness

Cast:
Kang-ho Song, Hie-bong Byeon, Hae-il Park, Du-na Bae, Ah-sung Ko

The film revolves around Park Hee-bong a man in his late 60s. Park runs a small snack bar on the banks of the Seoul's Han River and lives with his two sons, one daughter and one granddaughter. The Parks seem to lead a quite ordinary and peaceful life, or maybe a tad bit poorer than the average Seoulite. Hee-bong's elder son Gang-du is an immature and incompetent man in his 40s, whose wife left home long ago. Nam-il is the youngest son, an unemployed grumbler, and daughter Nam-joo is an archery medalist and member of the national team. One day, an unidentified mutant suddenly appears from the depths of the Han River and spreads panic and death, and Gang-du's daughter Hyun-seo is carried off by the monster and disappears. All the family members are in a great agony as they have lost someone dearest to them. But as they find out she is still alive…

Collaborating with three different visual-effects specialists - Weta Workshop (the Lord of the Rings series), John Cox's Creature Workshop (Babe) and The Orphanage (Hellboy) - Bong has crafted an outstanding beastie, but the star of the show isn't the monster so much as the dysfunctional family pitted against this biological mutation. The Host is both frightening and tragic, yet cut with comic absurdity.