Gwoemul (or, The Host... but I think Gwoemul sounds better!)

"On par with Jaws!" was the only review that I needed to get me interested in The Host. It came from über-geek Harry Knowles, whose Ain't It Cool New was a much frequented site in my early days, when I was just learning to stand on my net-board.

It isn't on par with Jaws, not by a long shot. But then, I am not 5 years old anymore.

It is a fucking good film though. There is not much too it. Dropout family of misfits happen to be around when a great big monster thing goes about attacking innocent Koreans with reckless abandon. That is the best thing about the film too. It is reckless by Hollywood standards. No character is sacred. You really don't know who is going to buy it and when. In the beginning you are quite comfortable in you genre movie, sitting smuggly in your seat knowing who is safe because they are getting an extended introduction... but no, don't kid yourself. The Host doesn't give a flying fuck about genre.

In fact, it flagrantly flaunts its lack of adherence to the rules. One minute it is a moving family drama, the next a mindless comedy, then suddenly it will cough up a vomit inducing moment. The rules aren't broken, to break them would mean some acknowledgement of them, here they are completely disregarded. It works for the most part. You have to be ready to roll with the sudden turns but if you buy into the lack of logic you'll have a ball.

The CG is decent and doesn't detract from the scares. And there are a good many scares. Not all of them are loud, noisy, shocky scares either, there is a lot of eerie mood work too. (Who knew it rained so much in Seoul - maybe JP). I have discovered a new meter for the scare ratio of a film: Andrew. He starts vertical and the more scares there are the more horizontal he slides into his seat. Buy one today!

I recommend you take off your thinking hat. Lose your preconceptions and get thee to a cinema. You shouldn't have a problem finding it. They are giving it a pretty wide release. I think it is the first subtitled film I have ever seen at Hoyts.