I'm willing to say that of all the Korean monster movies I've ever seen, this is the best. Having said that, I've never seen another Korean monster movie, but this one I'm sure is better than any others out there hiding away. When your last film is a spactaular critical success like Memories of Murder, what are you to do? Well, for Bong Joon-ho, the answer to following up his brilliant police procedural was obviously to make the biggest blockbuster in South Korean history with this monster movie. However, the monster is only part of the story, merely the impetus which drives these characters to desperate measures in desperate times. This is no ordinary monster movie, Bong wastes no tie in delivering the goods, and within 15 minutes, the titular Host is ramapaging along the banks of the mighty Han River. In fact, this is really the most screen time the beast gets, sure it appears sporadically throughout the film to remind the viewer that it is there, but the film is really about the Park family. Park Hee-bong owns a snack stand along the Han river and employs his shiftless son Gang-du, also living with them are Hee-bong's near-champion daughter Nam-joo, his unemployed college educated son Nam-il, and Gang-du's daughter Hyun-seo. The real hysteria begins when Hyun-seo is abducted and apparently eaten by the monster. This is when this family of underachievers begins to prive its mettle, especially Gang-du. When the government descends upon the banks of the Han river everything spins into chaos and a great deal of the film is dedicated to the Park family trying to navigate the beauracracy and get out of the holding camps and out to look for Hyun-seo, who, it turns out, may still be alive. The films has at least four or five moments that will make you leap from your seat, and the special effects are outstanding, at least until the last reel, where the creature falls apart a bit under duress. This film plays like a comedy/tragedy of errors as both the South Korean and American governments fail the Park family at every turn. Does the Park family ultimately triumph? This is not Hollywood, so that is not a forgone conclusion, but in any case, we the audience remain captivated by the ordinary family pushed to extraordinary action in The Host. The DVD features a second disc packed with extras, many many short featurettes on various aspects of production, a very good effort for a very worthwhile film.