On 09 February 2000, the American military base of Yongson releases toxic chemicals in the drain to the Han River under the direct order of an arrogant coroner. Six years later, a mutant squid monster leaves the water and attacks people on the side of the river. The teenager Park Hyun-seo (Ah-sung Ko) is carried by the creature and vanishes in the river. While grieving her loss, her slow father Park Gang-du (Kang-ho Song); her grandfather and owner of a bar-kiosk nearby the river Park Hie-bong (Hie-bong Byeon); her aunt and archery medalist Park Nam-Joo (Du-na Bae); and her graduated unemployed uncle Park Nam-il (Hae-il Park) are sent by the army with all the people that had some sort of contact with the monster to quarantine in a facility. During the night, Gang-du receives a phone call from Hyun-seo telling that she is alive in a big sewage nearby the river. Gang-du tell the militaries but nobody believes on his words, saying that he is delusional due to the shock of his loss. The Park family joins forces trying to find Hyun-seo and rescue her.

"Gwoemul" recalls the movies from the 50's, or even "National Kid" series, with panic and screams and good special effects. The plot is actually a dark comedy with many jokes and irony against the external politics and lack of respect for the environment of the American government, blended with sci-fi, horror, drama, thriller, adventure and action. Unfortunately director and writer Joon-ho Bong uses "heavy hands" and unnecessarily sacrifices Park Hyun-seo in the end without any reason, considering the confused genre of the film. The film uses many clichés and one last saving the teenager would not spoil the conclusion of the story. In the end, my delight turned into disappointment and I found" Gwoemul" too dark, dramatic and tragic for a comedy, sci-fi or adventure, and too silly for a horror or thriller. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Hospedeiro" ("The Host")

This movie took me by storm, it is by far one of the more interesting, fast paced, seat-gripping movies to come out of Korea.

When I initially picked up this movie, I was sort of sceptical, a monster movie from Korea? Going to be mediocre at best. But this is where I thought wrong...

Right from the beginning, this movie was interesting, and it never lets you go once it got you. Fast pace from start till end. And it really helps that the effects are awesome.

The movie mixes humour well with the "horror" part of it, as it is a monster movie. And it works well. Even if you are not a particular fan of Asian movies, you might want to check this out for the effects alone.

I have seen this movie a couple of times already, and it doesn't get boring. It is somewhat of a gem in Asian film history - at least I think so.

I have to admit that I was sceptical of the first reviews I read regarding 'The Host'. I'm not a fan of the majority of the modern day Asian horror output due to dull, yet immensely popular, films such as The Ring, Dark Water and The Grudge. The Host, however, is a film that truly deserves the praise lauded upon it. While the premise is not all that original (mutated monsters from all different countries have been terrorising our screens for decades); the style and execution of it is; and that is what makes the film brilliant. Not only is the direction stunning, the film beautiful and the central monster well designed; the way that Joon-ho Bong goes about telling this story is what really sets the film apart. On the surface, The Host is the story of a mutated squid monster that emerges from the Han River. However, beneath that it's actually the story of the Park family, who find themselves at odds with the Government after the youngest daughter is kidnapped by the monster. They're being held in quarantine, and decide to break out to track down their missing loved one...

On the whole, I'm not a big fan of CGI; but I can't complain too much here. The monster is really well designed and doesn't look like any other screen monster that I've seen. The animation of it is excellent too, and the creature does almost feel like it's alive! As mentioned, the main meat of the film comes in the form of the story of the Park family who have lost their loved one. The characters are all well thought out and clearly defined and director Joon-ho Bong does an excellent job of ensuring that we care about them and about the central story. The monster appears several times throughout the film, though it's neither under or over used and the story of the family is at least as interesting as the monster itself. There's also a deeper point on display, although it doesn't have quite as much meat as was maybe intended. The two messages I could pick out were a warning message against pollution (the monster was created by chemicals being dumped in the river) and another about Government control. The central scene is the one that sees the monster first appear from the river and The Host never really tops that sequence; but regardless of that this is the best monster movie I've seen in years and not even the downer ending could wipe a smile off my face when it finished. Don't miss this one!