History Film / TheHost2006

* BigBad: The creature/Gwoemul, an EldritchAbomination mutated by liquid formaldehyde poured down the drain from a chemical lab leading to the Han River near Seoul by an American military pathologist's Korean assistant.

* BizarreAlienLocomotion: The creature ''backflips'' its way along the undersides of bridges on multiple occasions, alternately gripping with its feet and its prehensile tail.

* EldritchAbomination: The creature is this: it is a monstrous fish-like creature created out of dumped formaldehyde (even though it's not alien in origin).

* EyeScream: [[spoiler: The creature's death, which involves being shot directly in the eye with a flaming arrow]]. Nam-Joo also pulls off an UnflinchingWalk in this scene.
** [[spoiler: In a deleted scene, Gang-du tears out another of its eyes.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: Nam-joo considers that they abandon Gang-du and go after the monster themselves. While it is callous of them to abandon their brother, who can't help being the way he is, he does soon [[spoiler: accidentally get their father killed by the monster.]]

** When a hazmat worker finds money near the bridge, he turns around and suddenly comes face-to-face with the beast, who swings into view to kill him and his co-workers.
** Hyun-seo and See-joo hide in a hole as they hear the monster enters its lair. When things go quiet, Hyun-seo takes a peek to see if the coast is clear... only to be greeted by the monster's enormous roaring face.

* AmericaSavesTheDay: Subverted and deconstructed. The authorities deliberately prevent any Koreans from doing anything against the creature- the South Korean forces are called off in their hunt for it- so they can have all the glory. In the final battle, the American army arrives with Agent Yellow, a toxic chemical that causes severe illness to almost anyone coming in contact with it, but it doesn't manage to kill the creature, and the ones who save the day are a working class Korean DysfunctionalFamily.
* AnimalNemesis: Averted, due to Korean ValuesDissonance. "If a beast kills a man, then that beast should be torn limb from limb."

* BadassBystander: Donald White, the American soldier who emerges from the crowd and tries to fight off the monster during its first rampage. A later new story reveals that he eventually dies of his wounds in hospital. This, however, means he initially ''survived'', despite the last we saw of him being the monster pinning him by the arm, with him ''[[DefiantToTheEnd stabbing it.]]''

* BizarreAlienLocomotion: The creature ''backfilps'' its way along the undersides of bridges on multiple occasions, alternately gripping with its feet and its prehensile tail.
* BlatantLies: The officer the Parks try to tell about Hyun-sao’s distress call refuses to even try and trace it, explaining that it would be too much work. [[spoiler: Nam-il’s friend working at a telecom company is able to trace it in less than five minutes.]]

* BrickJoke: Gang-du throws a beer can at the monster to feed it when he first sees it. Later in the movie it's the last thing it regurgitates.
* BringMyBrownPants: Se-Joo wets himself when Hyun-Seo is grabbed by the monster while trying to escape.

* ByNoIMeanYes: Gang-du trying to explain to the police officer that Hyun-seo is still alive: "She's deceased, but she's not dead". The officer remarks that he's talking in circles.

* CassandraTruth: Hyun-seo is alive, damn it.

* ChekhovsGag: When first encountering the creature, Gang-du throws a soda can at it to lure it out. It eats it and the whole crowd joins in and starts throwing food. An hour or so later[[note]] in real time[[/note]], the creature is seen regurgitating ''dozens'' of human bodies and skeletons it's been eating. The last item to fall out is Gang-du's soda can.

* DisneyDeath: Nam-joo. While searching for Hyun-seo, the monster charges straight at her, rams into her and sends her flying hard into a wall. However, she survives.

* DopeSlap: Hee-bong does this to Gang-du and Nam-il when they all realize that Nam-joo isn't in the escape van with them.

* DumbBlond: Gang-du has bleached blond hair with black roots, to show that he's not very bright. [[spoiler: He eventually gets rid of the blond highlights as he becomes a more responsible parent.]]

** Gang-du tries to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge after [[spoiler: recovering Hyun-seo's dead body]], but he trips and falls. Fortunately his siblings have his back.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: The Park family rolling around the floor wailing for Hyun-seo in an over-the-top fashion is already pretty funny, but while this is going on, a woman is being reprimanded for not parking her car correctly.

* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: When the monster first attacks, we see a girl playing with a bobby pin listening to orchestral music with headphones completely oblivious to the mayhem around her. When someone runs by her, she turns around and gets taken away by the monster.

* MightyWhitey: An American soldier bravely steps up to help people escape the monster and tries to fight it off, getting mauled in the process. This was probably included to soften the anti-American message, although even when he saves Gang-du he doesn't seem to push him out of the way on purpose.

* NonMaliciousMonster: The creature is basically just an animal that wants to find shelter and eat. Unfortunately for everyone involved however, its shelter happens to be within a populated city along the Han River and it eats people, a lot of people.

* OhCrap: Early on, a crowd of people, including Gang-du, are chatting at the riverside about the monster. Amidst the chatting crowd, Gang-du suddenly gets a WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises look at something offscreen. Shortly thereafter, we the audience see it too - the [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever Fifty Foot Whatever]] galloping ''right at them.'' Cue the screaming and the running (not that it does anybody any good). He does it again when he realizes that Hyun-seo is entirely alone out in the open, and the monster is galloping right at ''her.''
** Later Gang-du realizes he's in trouble in the middle of admitting that he got some of the monster's blood sprayed on his face.
* OneBulletLeft: Subverted. [[spoiler:Hee-bong takes the gun from Gang-du thinking that it has one bullet left. When Hee-bong goes to fire at the monster, all he hears is an empty click. It then cuts to Gang-du counting on his fingers and realizing the mistake he's made as Hee-bong is killed.]]

** Also when the creature starts regurgitating all the bodies it's been eating. You wonder how it could hold all that in there.

** Gang-du, [[spoiler: although sadly his daughter is dead by then.]]

* ParentalAbandonment: Hyun-seo's mother left after she was born, and she spends most of the movie trying to reunite with her father. Gang-du himself is a victim of this: his mother has been gone since his childhood, and his father (though now very sorry) didn't take very good care of him.

** When Hee-bong shoots the monster, it falls over onto its back and stops moving; he and his sons go to get a closer look, but Nam-il shoots at it again to MakeSureHesDead, at which point the monster immediately gets up and attempts to flee.
** Hyun-seo plays dead among the bodies in the monster's lair whenever it comes back to avoid being killed. [[spoiler: Eventually the monster realizes she's just faking and pretends to be asleep when she attempts to escape to lure her out where it can get her]].

* SoundtrackDissonance: A lot of scenes that should be dramatic are completely ruined by unfitting orchestral music.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WEl1XyZuXU The chase scene]], for example.
** The scene where the monster is on fire screeching and trying to run towards water.

* SurroundedByIdiots / SeeYouInHell: Pretty much Mr. Yoon's last words before he jumps off the bridge.

* TookALevelInBadass: Gang-du starts attacking the monster with a sign when it first charges out of the water, and he goes into ActionDad territory whenever he gets a chance to try and save his daughter. [[spoiler: It is implied that the brain surgery he is forced into partway through the movie accidentally fixes whatever was wrong with him, making him much more capable.]]

-->'''Nam-il''':''(shoving Gang-du)'' ''YOU GRABBED ANOTHER LITTLE GIRL'S HAND?'' ''(He kicks his brother)'' ''YOU CALL YOURSELF A FATHER? A F***ING FATHER?!''
-->'''Gang-du''':''(bawling)'' ''I THOUGHT IT WAS HYUN-SEO'S HAND!!''

''The Host'' (or ''Gwoemul,''[[note]] Korean for “monster”[[/note]] as it's known in its home country) is a 2006 South Korean film co-written and directed by Creator/BongJoonHo. [SignatureStyle As is the case]] with Bong's other works, the film [[GenreMashup combines aspects of multiple genres]] with consistent BlackComedy elements, and can thusly be described best as a political {{satire}} crossed with a family {{dramedy}} in the dressings of a {{kaiju}} movie.

''The Host'' (or ''Gwoemul,''[[note]] Korean for “monster”[[/note]] as it's known in its home country) is a 2006 South Korean film co-written and directed by Creator/BongJoonHo.

After an American military pathologist stationed in Korea orders his associate to dump over a hundred bottles of formaldehyde down the drain, sightings of a strange amphibious creature in the Han River emerge years later, with fish in the river mysteriously dying off.

Afterwards, the government and the United States military quickly arrive and announce that the creature has been subjected to an unknown virus, and soon quarantines the population that made contact with the creature, including Gang-du and his family whom tried to fend off the creature during its rampage.

* EpicFail: Gang-du tries to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge after [[spoiler: recovering Hyun-seo's dead body]], but he trips and falls. Fortunately his siblings have his back.

* GoryDiscretionShot: [[spoiler:When the monster goes to eat Hyun-seo and Se-joo]], it cuts to black while Hyun-seo's scream echoes.

* {{Homage}}: The idea of a [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant monster]] carrying an even-more-dangerous disease was originally used in ''Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms''.
** The movie generally plays on ALL the good and bad {{kaiju}} movies ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' spawned, and even seems to have similar political commentary to ''Film/{{Gojira}}''.

** To be fair, while its legs are wonky, the creature itself is not particularly large; its body size is in the mid-to-large theropod dinosaur range. While its actual biology is another point all together, its size isn't particularly absurd.

* DaylightHorror: Purposefully invoked in the initial attack scene.

It's now the year 2006; a man by the name of Park Gang-du owns a local snack kiosk with his father, Hee-bong, with the rest of their family living together. While working, the previously-thought-to-be-myth creature suddenly makes landfall and starts attacking locals, attempting to feed on anything that gets in its path before disappearing back into the river's depths, but not before eating some of its victims and taking Gang-du's daughter, Hyun-seo, with it.

* ChekhovsGag: When first encountering the creature, Gang-du throws a soda can at it to lure it out. It eats it and the whole crowd joins in and starts throwing food. An hour or so[note]] in real time[[/note]], the creature is seen regurgitating ''dozens'' of human bodies and skeletons it's been eating. The last item to fall out is Gang-du's soda can.

''The Host'' (or ''Gwoemul,''[[note]] Korean for “monster”[[/note]] as it's known in its home country) is a 2006 South Korean film co-written and directed by Creator/BongJoonHo. [[SignatureStyle As is the case]] with Bong's other works, the film [[GenreMashup combines aspects of multiple genres]] with consistent BlackComedy elements, and can thusly be described best as a political satire crossed with a family {{dramedy}} in the dressings of a {{kaiju}} movie.

!!!'''This page is for the 2006 South Korean film. [[SimilarlyNamedWorks You may be looking for]] the 2013 film adaptation of the Creator/StephenieMeyer [[Literature/TheHost2008 book]] of [[SimilarlyNamedWorks the same name]], or the 2020 horror film ''Film/{{Host}}''.'''

* EldritchAbomination: The creature is this: it is a monstrous fish-like creature created out of dumped formaldehyde.

* BigBad: The creature (Gwoemul), an EldritchAbomination mutated by liquid formaldehyde poured down the drain from a chemical lab leading to the Han River near Seoul by an American military pathologist's Korean assistant.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: The American doctor operating on Gang-du sems empathetic, but as Gang-du begins to protest and explain that no one ever listens him, the doctor caresses his patient's face, but instead of drying the man's tears and telling him that the situation is in safe hands, he proceeds to tell his interpreter that the virus has spread, even though he knows that [[spoiler: there's no virus]].

!!!'''This page is for the 2006 South Korean film. [[SimilarlyNamedWorks You may be looking for]] the 2013 film adaptation of the Creator/StephenieMeyer [[Literature/TheHost2008 book]] of [[NamesTheSame the same name]], or the 2020 horror film ''Film/{{Host}}''.'''

* AmbiguousDisorder: Gang-du has no medical history of a mental disorder, but his father hypothesises that something in his brain must have gone wrong for him to be slow-witted and a heavy sleeper. He seems clueless about proper social conduct, like when he gives his daughter beer and eats his customers' food. This is likely part of his neurological condition possibly developed from his childhood protein deficiency. He was a very early reader as a child, and in a deleted scene Hee-bong recalls Gang-du reading from a calendar when he was never taught the Korean alphabet. He also has a specific interest, but that interest is in his daughter and being a good father to her, even though he's hapless at it.[[spoiler: It is implied that the brain surgery he receives at least partially fixes whatever was wrong.]]

* YouCanPanicNow: The movie is a satirical deconstruction of this. Giant tadpole running around Seoul, eating people? It must be carrying A HIDEOUS NEW DISEASE! Let us completely focus on this possibility, and ignore the fact that it's eating people!

* AdultFear: Gang-du experiencing his daughter kidnapped by the monster.
** During the monster's first attack, a mother realizes her son may be one of the people trapped in a trailer the monster is in. She then urges Gang-du and the American soldier to help save him and the other people trapped inside.
** Hee-bong flips out spectacularly when Gang-du, his firstborn son, jumps into the river to go after the monster, and later tries to protect Gang-du when he is pulled away from him by men in decontamination suits and zipped up in a bag.
** Imagine how Hee-bong felt being unable to protect Gang-du when, as a child, he came home beaten black and blue trying to gather food for himself and his siblings.

* PapaWolf: Gang-du, [[spoiler: although sadly his daughter is dead by then.]]
** Hee-bong, in turn, is very protective towards his children. Gang-du in particular.

** To be fair, while its legs are wonky, the creature itself is not particularly large, it's body size is in the mid-to-large theropod dinosaur range. While its actual biology is another point all together, it's size isn't particularly absurd.
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: At least, we ''think'' it's a tadpole. It could be a lungfish or something.

* BizarreAlienLocomotion: The creature ''backfilps'' its way along the undersides of bridges, alternately gripping with its feet and its prehensile tail.

* BringMyBrownPants: Happens to Se-joo at one point in the movie.

* ChekhovsGag: When first encountering the creature, Gang-du throws a soda can at it to lure it out. It eats it and the whole crowd joins in and starts throwing food. A little later, the creature is regurgitating ''dozens'' of human bodies and skeletons it's been eating. The last item to fall out is Gang-du's soda can.

* ChildishOlderSibling: Gang-du is the oldest of the Park siblings and the most immature.

* DrivenToSuicide: Around the beginning, a businessman is jumping off a bridge, and catches a glimpse of the creature just before he jumps.

* IdiotHero: Gang-du. He becomes a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass on occasion though.

* OneBulletLeft: Subverted. [[spoiler:Hee-bong takes the gun from Gang-du thinking that it has one bullet left. When Hee-bong goes to fire at the monster, all he hears is an empty click. It then cuts to Gang-du counting on his fingers and realizing the mistake he's made as Hee-bong gets killed.]]

* PlotArmor: The monster has Gang-du dead to rights early in the rampage, but it simply ''runs over him'' on the way to other victims. He then repeatedly gets in the monster's way, or simply [[BullyingADragon whacks it with something.]] He survives entirely unscathed.

* ToxicWasteCanDoAnything: The movie uses this twice. First, a specific chemical, formaldehyde (known to being a ''carcinogen''), creates a rhino sized fish/running monster that can move incredibly fast and shrugs off bullets. Secondly, the US government tries to kill it with ANOTHER toxic chemical, Agent Yellow (which is probably a reference to Agent Orange [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange]]). [[spoiler: It WORKS...a little. It doesn't mutate the creature into a stronger form and it clearly doesn't like it, but it doesn't kill it or render it much less dangerous, forcing the main characters to KillItWithFire and add some [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaling on top of that.]]]]

* AmericaSavesTheDay: Subverted and deconstructed. The authorities deliberately prevent any Koreans from doing anything against the creature- the South Korean forces are called off in their hunt for it- so they can have all the glory. In the final battle, the American army arrives with Agent Yellow, a toxic chemical that causes severe illness to almost anyone coming in contact with it, but it doesn't harm the creature, and the ones who save the day are a working class Korean DysfunctionalFamily.

''The Host'' (or ''Gwoemul,'' as it's known in its home country) is a 2006 South Korean film co-written and directed by Creator/BongJoonHo. [[SignatureStyle As is the case]] with Bong's other works, the film [[GenreMashup combines aspects of multiple genres]] with consistent BlackComedy elements, and can thusly be described best as a political satire crossed with a family {{dramedy}} in the dressings of a {{kaiju}} movie.

!!!'''This page is for the 2006 South Korean film. [[SimilarlyNamedWorks You may be looking for]] the 2013 film adaptation of the Creator/StephenieMeyer [[Literature/TheHost book]] of [[NamesTheSame the same name]], or the 2020 horror film ''Film/{{Host}}''.'''