Let’s take a look at a monster movie that is anything but old-fashioned.
I spend a lot of time in these reviews trumpeting the unpredictability of American horror from the 70’s and 80’s. I live for those moments that genuinely surprise you, even if they aren’t necessarily well done or consistent with the tone of the film. What I’m generally talking about, though, are single scenes or elements within the structure of a much more predictable framework. A slasher film is a slasher film, and monster movie is a monster movie, and for every group of a dozen teenagers only one or two will survive the night. The genre as a whole is predicated on its rules, and no amount of inventiveness at the margins really changes that. If you want to see an unpredictable horror film, watch The Host out of South Korea.
The plot involves a slightly dysfunctional family who is searching for the middle school-aged Hyun-Seo who has been abducted by a giant amphibious monster that emerged from the Han River. Like all great movie monsters from the East, this one is the result of man’s unchecked hubris. Instead of atomic testing, it is the dumping of formaldehyde that leads to the creation of the beast. Hyun-Seo’s deadbeat father (Gang-du), her grandfather, aunt and uncle all embark on a journey to rescue her once they discover that she’s alive, but the river monster is the least of their obstacles. Large swaths of the population have been placed under quarantine and re-located to emergency centers. Gang-du is attracting particular attention since he has come in contact with the monster, and the authorities neither believe that his daughter is alive, nor are they interested in letting him out of their sight. Meanwhile, Hyun-Seo is surviving in the sewer home of her captor, and caring for a young boy who met a similar fate.
Right away, The Host subverts expectations by fully showing us the river monster in the opening section of the movie. Ever since Jaws, directors have lived by the philosophy that what you can’t see is scarier than what you can, and withheld the full view of their creatures until deep in the third act. While the monster is certainly a deadly threat, you can undoubtedly argue that it isn’t really the big bad of the film. The South Korean government is portrayed as bureaucratic at best, soulless at worst, but it is probably telling that the truly sinister roles are portrayed by the two Americans in the film. I don’t have enough context to understand the allegory at play here, but that kind of adds to the dizzying uncertainty of what to expect. I never knew where this film was going, because it refuses to fall in line with any of the horror archetypes that I am familiar with. There is a relatively low death count, outside of the opening attack by the monster, but I never felt like anyone was safe. Even after the primary plot is set into motion (find Hyun-Seo before she starves/drowns/is eaten), the route is so circuitous that I stayed on my toes.
Being genuinely surprising is a nice trait for a film to have, but it only takes it so far. I would not say that The Host is a masterpiece, or even the best film I’ve reviewed so far this month. The acting is uniformly good, but the tone is a bit mercurial at times, so I never really felt dread set in. I am anxious to finish this review and go read about what others thought about the movie, because I feel like I missed a good bit of what it was trying to say. Overall, if you can deal with the sub-titles (or, you know, speak Korean) then I would definitely recommend giving it a watch. I’m glad that I did.
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