2010 - February 20 (Monster Movie Extravaganza) THE HOST (2006)

THE HOST (2006) (Gwoemul - original Korean title)
Director: Joon-ho Bong

From IMDB:
A monster emerges from Seoul's Han River and focuses its attention on attacking people.

This was one of the biggest surprises for me as a monster movie. I didn't expect much, but man was I wrong. But exactly what do you think it is? Is it just a monster movie? Is it a dark comedy? Is it a social satire? What do you think?

Watched this again last night and still believe it to be one of the best monster films of the 2000's. This time, though, I paid more attention to how it was filmed, and I'm even more impressed. Joon-ho Bong uses a lot of stationary shots of his characters without dialog. And he can convey more grief and emotion in a 15 second shot of a character's face, than an entire scene of dialog. If anything, he tends to linger too long in some spots, but that's the minority. Most of the time it's very effective.

Also, about halfway through, there is a scene where the family is taking a break from the hunt for the missing girl and are around a table eating. She suddenly steps out from behind her father and no one acknowledges her presence other than to offer her some food. It's obviously a dream sequece, but whose, hers or the family's? It's a beautifully done scene.

I really like this movie.

There is a weird blend of slapstick humour and real drama/horror in this movie, and i think its a very fun way to portray it.
I don't really see the Hollywood remake doing this tho, as its very much an Asian way of storytelling used alot in Anime.
And it actually reminds me abit of the way Tremors is made ^^

And they show the whole creature several times, it loses the tension but gears up the action, witch suits this move better i think.