Overview of The Host
‘The Host’ is an exciting monster film directed by Bong Joon-ho. Released in 2006, the movie was a hit with an amazing cast including Song Kang-ho, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona and Go Ah-sung. The movie is about the disasters caused to the ecosystem and the lives in and around the ecosystem due to carelessness. The adamant decision of a pathologist forces his assistant to drain out a large number of formaldehyde bottles into the Han River. As a consequence, a river monster emerges out of the river and preys on humans.
Profile
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Movie: ‘The Host’
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Genre:Â Drama, Monster film
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Director: Bong Joon-ho
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Writers: Bong Joon-ho, Baek Chul-hyun, Ha Won-jun
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Producer: Choi Yong-bae
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Starring: Song Kang-ho, Oh Dal-su, Go Ah-sung, Byun Hee-bong, Bae Doona, Park Hae-il
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Cinematography: Kim Hyung-koo
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Production Companies: Chungeorahm Film, Happinet Pictures
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Distributed by: Showbox Entertainment (South Korea), Nippon Herald Films (Japan)
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Release Date: 27 July, 2006 (South Korea), 2 September 2006 (Japan)
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Running Time: 119 minutes
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Language: Korean
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Country: South Korea
Cast
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Song Kang-ho as Park Gang-du
- Park Hae-il as Park Nam-il
- Go Ah-sung as Park Hyun-seo
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Oh Dal-su as Gwoemul’s voice
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Byun Hee-bong as Park Hee-bong
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Bae Doona as Park Nam-joo
- Lee Dong-ho as Se-joo
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Lee Jae-eung as Se-jin
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Yoon Je-moon the man making weapons for the battle against the monster
Synopsis
Han River produces a fish monster when formaldehyde solution mixes up with the river water. An assistant of an American military pathologist empties a huge number of formaldehyde bottles into a drain which is connected to the Han River. The toxic chemical contents contained in the formaldehyde solution cause changes in the river’s ecosystem.
One day, people notice a strange creature hanging upside down on the bridge across the Han River and to their surprise it jumps into the river. Out of curiosity, people start to throw their junk food items into the river to catch its attention. No one notices the creature coming out of the water and when they realise the creature already starts to chase people.
Park Gang-du and a foreign man try to defend the creature but it only makes the monster more angry. The Gang-du sees his daughter Hyun-seo in the rushing crowd. He grabs a random girl’s hand and runs away from the reach of the creature thinking that it is his daughter’s hand. He notices his mistake when he ran too away from his daughter. By that time the monster wraps its tail around Hyun-seo and dives into the Han River.
Park Gang-du and his family grieve in the mourning hall thinking that Hyun-seo is dead. The government declares quarantine over those who were in close contact with the creature or with the people that the monster attached to prevent the spread of infection. American military lands for the mission and isolate Gang-du and his family with the other victims.
Unexpectedly, Gang-du receives a phone call from Hyun-seo giving them hope to see her again. Learning that Hyun-seo is trapped somewhere in the sewers by the monster fish, Gang-du and his family decide to rescue her. They escape from the hospital and prepare themselves by collecting weapons from gangsters for the rescue mission.
In the meantime, the monster continues to predate humans and it starts storing some of the dead bodies in its residing place in the sewers. It captures the brothers, Se-jin and Se-joo who steals food from Hee-bong’s snack bar.
Hyun-seo lay among the dead bodies pretending dead. The monster vomits the brothers to the floor near Hyun-seo. She finds out Se-joo is alive and helps him to survive. Together they hide in a drainage pipe which is not reachable for the monster when it is out for its hunt.
The park family starts their mission to rescue Hyun-seo by hunting the monster using guns. Though they were able to shoot the creature’s body they were not able to blow a fatal shot. In that mission, the Parks lost their father because he runs out of bullets in the gun which Gang-du passed. Gang-du feels guilty for passing the gun without enough bullets causing his father to die a miserable death.
The Army captures Gang-du while Nam-il and Nam-joo escape from getting captured. Gang-du learns that he will be soon lobotomized to prevent the spreading of the news that the monster does not carry any virus and it is only a cooked-up story to terrorise the crowd.
Gang-du escapes from the authority’s plan and resumes his mission to rescue his daughter. The government plans to kill the monster by dumbing Agent Yellow into the river. Agent Yellow is a toxic chemical, therefore a protest outbreaks against contaminating the river further. In the meantime, Gang-du reaches the residing place of the monster and climbs down the cloth rop made by his daughter. However, before he arrives the monster swallows Hyun-seo and Se-joo.
Gang-du, Nam-il and Nam-joo drive the monster to the spot where the Agent Yellow is supposed to dump. The toxin in the Agent Yellow numbs the creature. Gang-du drags his daughter from the creature’s mouth by pulling her hand out. Hyun-seo dies inside the monster’s mouth but still has her hands wrapped around Se-joo. Gang-du, Nam-il and Nam-joo mourn over her death.
In the rage to seek vengeance Nam-il starts throwing Molotov cocktail on the monster. The river monster is scared of fire and it searches for water. A homeless man who is a part of the fight against the monster pours a flammable liquid into the creature’s mouth.
The final bottle in Nam-il’s slips to the ground when he tries to throw it into the monster’s mouth. Nam-joo flames her arrow from the bottle burning on the ground and strikes the arrow into the monster’s mouth. The monster runs forward aiming the Han River ahead with a flaming head. Watching the creature trying to escape in front of his eyes, Gang-du pulls out a pole from a signal post and impales it into its mouth.
Finally, the movie ends by showing Gang-du inheriting his father’s shop and adopting Se-joo.
Awards
- Asia Pacific Film Festival 2006
Best Supporting Actor – Byun Hee-bong (2006)
Best Editing – Kim Sun-min (2006)
Best Sound – Choi Tae-young (2006) - Chunsa Film Art Awards 2006
Best Lighting – Lee Kang-san (2006)
Technical Award – Jang Hwi-cheol (2006) - Blue Dragon Film Awards 2006
Best Film
Best Supporting Actor – Byun Hee-bong (2006)
Best New Actress – Go Ah-sung (2006)
Best Lighting – Lee Kang-san, Jung Young-min (2006)
Audience Choice Award for Most Popular Film
Technical Award – The Orphanage, EON (CG) (2006) - Korean Film Awards 2006
Best Film
Best Director – Bong Joon-ho (2006)
Best Cinematography – Kim Hyung-koo (2006)
Best Visual Effects – The Orphanage, EON (2006)
Best Sound – Choi Tae-young (2006) - Director’s Cut Awards 2006
Best Performers Award – Ensemble cast (Byun Hee-bong, Song Kang-ho, Bae Doona, Go Ah-sung, Park Hae-il) (2006) - Asian Film Awards 2007
Best Film
Best Actor – Song Kang-ho (2007)
Best Cinematography – Kim Hyung-koo (2007)
Best Visual Effects – The Orphanage, EON (2007) - Baeksang Arts Awards 2007
Best Film - Grand Bell Awards 2007
Best Director – Bong Joon-ho (2007)
Best Editing – Kim Sun-min (2007) - Busan Film Critics Awards 2007
Jury Prize (2007)
Interesting Facts about The Host
- There is a movie named ‘The Host’ in English.
- Considering the previous hits of the director, the film ‘The Host’ was given a decent budget with great expectations.
- The dedicated crew members and the actors agreed to shoot many scenes of the film ‘The Host’ in sewers after getting vaccinated against tetanus.
- The team which created the monster in the movie ‘The Host’ include Chin Wei-chen (design), Weta Workshop (modeling), and John Cox’s creature Workshop (animatronics).
- Director Bong Joon-ho got the idea about the monster fish in the movie ‘The Host’ from an article about a deformed fish spotted in the Han River.
FAQs
- Who is the director of the movie ‘The Host’?
Bong Joon-ho is the director of the movie ‘The Host’.
- When was the movie ‘The Host’ released?
‘The Host’ was released in 2006.
- What is the Instagram Id of Song Kang-ho?
@song.kang.ho
