Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Korean Monster Movie Kicks Butt

I watched The Host last night, a Korean monster movie (original title "Gwoemul") that was released to packed houses a couple of years ago - in Korea. The most popular movie there, ever, by some accounts. In the USA it was released only on DVD, as far as I can tell.

According to trivia on IMdb its opening events are based on a true story, complete with governmental high-handedness and incompetence. The premise is fairly commonplace for a monster movie: chemicals dumped into the Han river produce a tentacled monster that eats people. Our heroes must try and kill it to rescue a brave little girl. It's even got a St George vs the Dragon scene in it.

The English language release that I saw was well dubbed, which was a bit of a relief. The monster was, of course, entirely CGI (no rubber suits or animatronics), with some real-world tricks (a la Who Framed Roger Rabbit) to lend realism to the scenes. The actors knew how to do their jobs, as well as ham it up when the frequently campy scenes required it.

All in all an enjoyable experience. Put it in your Netflix queue.

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