The movie opens up with two scientists in a mortuary in a 8th U.S. Army camp located in Seoul, South Korea in February 9, 2000. We can tell that one of the scientists is American while the other is South Korean. They're in a very dimly lit and compact room and the color scheme of this room is filled with neutral dark blues.
The American scientist tells the South Korean scientist to dump the Formaldehyde bottles, a toxic chemical, because they're dusty and not useful anymore. The Korean scientist protests explaining if dumped to the sink can end up the Han River. The American scientist tells him it's safe because the Han River is so board and to obey his order.
In this scene we can see that the Korean scientist is pouring the toxic chemicals in the drain was he's wearing a gas mask as there is a lot of fume coming out from the bottle and the drain from the sink.
This scene shows the dangerously amount of chemical bottles the scientist is pouring into the sink and will slowly end up in the Han River.
This scene shows the previous scene 2 years later and shows two fisher men in the river. We can see the city at the distance and see how large the river really is. We can see that the scene is very neutral was there's a lot of gray and is drizzling. One of the fishermen tells the other that he found a very mutated fish.
4 years later of the previous scene, we see a suicidal man looking down in the water stating that he saw something big moving in the water. When he jumps we see the gray rainy background again with the distant city with the wide river below.
Here we see the the title sequence, written in Hangul, Korean alphabet. We can see that the English subtitle is in Arial Arabic Bold.
This scene shows most of the main characters of the movie, the Park family consisting of:the daughter Park Hyun-Seo, the grandfather Park Hee-Bong and the dead beat single dad, Park Kang-Doo. As these 3 characters live with eachother running a cheap small food stand.
This scene shows the mutated monster terrorizing the people at the Han River and about to kidnap Hyun-Seo which then the monster takes her into the water and never to be seen again. This scene is seen more suspenseful as this is all happening in broad day light compared to the dark scenery in the previous scenes.
The Park family is shown mourning as the aunt, Nam-Joo and uncle, Nam-Il is first shown for the disappearance/possible death of Hyun-Seo in a very dramatic and comedic way that the press takes pictures of them.
The U.S. Government shows that there is a virus going around and that is very visible and contagious and that it's their main priority and claim it was caused by the Chinese.
Shows how the Park family woke up to a call from Hyun-Seo while in treatment from the virus in the government hospital. Hyun-Seo is alive.
Hyun-Seo is shown alive. Hiding in the sewers we're other dead bodies were the monster had left her for later.
The Park family escapes the hospital and is on the run to find Hyun-Seo. This scene shows Kang-Doo looking for his daughter in the dark sewer as the light slowly fades away.
The monster appears as the Park family fight it off, because of short ammo supply Hee-Bong dies from the monster and government officials take Kang-Doo away and the rest of the family has split.
Shows how the people in Korea fear the virus as the government tells them too. As all are wearing masks and staying away from people who have symptoms. Government states that the U.S. has invented a cure and that people taking about the monster is a side effect from the virus.
Shows Hyun-Seo and a surviving homeless child Se-joo trying to escape the monster in the sewers. We can see from this scene the tension and how dangerous the monster is in this life or death situation.
This scene shows the protests of the Korean people as they believed that Kang-Doo is right and that the virus is fake and is the U.S. and South Korea governments' fault this monster was made. The protesters are being sprayed by Agent Yellow, the cure of the "virus".
One of the most iconic scenes, Kang-Doo has found his daughter dead because of the governments failing to rescue Hyun-Seo after many alerts that she was alive. The monster is being sprayed by Agent Yellow which did nothing but hurt the people around and is only killed by the Park family working together to end this monster, as he carries this dead daughter out of the scene.
This scene shows Kang-Doo carrying the surviving child, Se-joo in the opposite direction as he carried Hyun-Seo showing that he will begin their new life together.
This is the last scene showing a more mature Kang-Doo taking care of Se-joo and living in the small food stand the grandfather left behind in a more calm environment as it is slowly snowing showing his new opportunity to be better dad to Se-joo that he couldn't give to Hyun-Seo and her mother.
The Host is a 2006 South Korean film that is a monster movie that is a mix of horror, thriller, and comedy. When toxic chemicals caused by the 8th U.S. military camp are poured into the Han River causes mutation in the fish in the water which in passing years makes a mutated fish-lizard that feeds on humans near the river causes havoc to the people and the korean and american government. The main focus of this movie is the dysfunctional Park family. When the creature kidnaps their daughter, Hyun-seo. It’s up to her single father, Kang-Doo and grandfather, Hee-Bong, aunt, Nam-Joo and uncle, Nam-Il to save and bring back Hyun-seo.
While this movie is a monster movie, it tends to talk about many different topics other than monster-wrecking-everything. The movie references the political debate on America and South Korea as it is shown sublity in the movie that the South Korean government tried to cover up the mutation problem as a viral outbreak. This movie was also a reference to a similar real life situation that happened in Korea by the U.S. government in 2000 called the "McFarland Incident" where a U.S. military employee discharged around 470 bottles of formaldehyde into the Han river. It also covers family dynamics as the main cast isn’t the stereotypical hero.
5-Words: Rain, Sewage, Smoke, Toxic, Suspense
The Host is about a mutated fish who kidnaps a dysfunctional family's daughter as they try to all come together as a family to save her themselves as the U.S. and the South Korean government has failed them.
