The biggest Korean film of the year comes to DVD! Released in July 2006, Bong Joon Ho's monster film The Host ripped through the box office like a force of nature. Breaking every record on the book, The Host became the first Korean film to sell 13 million tickets, surpassing the all-time record held by King and The Clown. It topped the box office for five consecutive weeks, writing a new page in Korean cinema history. Perhaps the only thing more impressive than its box office record is the score of awards the film has picked up. The Host won Best Film and Best Supporting Actor at the 27th Blue Dragon Awards, Best Film at the 43rd Baeksang Awards, Best Director at the 44th Daejong Awards, and Best Film and Best Director at the 5th Korean Awards, and Best Film and Best Actor at the 1st Asian Film Awards, amongst many other accolades.
Although monster films have a strong tradition in Japan and the U.S., they're typically relegated to bargain bins in Korea. When Bong Joon Ho, the critically acclaimed director of smash hit Memories of Murder, announced he was making a monster movie, the film industry was unsure of how to react. But this was the film Bong was always meant to make. Bong rounded together an illustrious cast led by Song Kang Ho (JSA), Byun Hee Bong (Crying Fist), Bae Du Na (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), and Park Hae Il (Rules of Dating). Meanwhile, a monstrous budget and state-of-the-art CG technology gave birth to the proverbial beast. The result: The Host not only conquered the box office, it garnered almost universal acclaim, winning over critics and moviegoers alike from Cannes to Korea. More than just a creature feature, The Host delves into a raw, suspenseful world of unspeakable horrors, politics, conflicts, and emotions in one family's relentless fight against the monster that rose from the Han River.
Gang Du's (Song Kang Ho) family is the epitome of dysfunctional. His brother Nam Il (Park Hae Il) is a cursing, molotov-throwing unemployed college graduate; his sister Nam Joo (Bae Du Na) is a professional archer with self-esteem issues. Gang Du spends his days running a snack stall near the Han River, and his only hope, indeed the family's hope, is on the shoulders of his daughter, Hyun Seo (Ko Ah Sung). Unbeknownst to everyone, however, a horrible monster has been growing in the polluted waters of Han River, and it snatches Hyun Seo from their life. Unable to get any help from the authorities, the family is determined to get Hyun Seo back on their own, no matter what it takes.
Kang-ho Song | Park Gang-Doo |
Hie-bong Byeon | Park Hie-bong |
Hae-il Park | Park Nam-il |
Du-na Bae | Park Nam-Joo |
Doona Bae | Park Nam-Joo |
Ah-sung Ko | Park Hyun-seo |
David Joseph Anselmo | Donald |
Martin Lord Cayce | U.S. Senator |
Martin E. Cayce | |
Cristen Cho | |
Philip Hersh | Additional Voices |
Paul Lazar | US Doctor trying to operate Gang-Du |
Brian Lee | |
Clinton Morgan | Agent Yellow |
Kurt Leitner | Additional Voices (voice: English version) |
Dal-su Oh | The Monster |
No-shik Park | |
Brian Rhee | Young Korean Doctor |
Byung-woo Lee | Composer |
Hyung-ku Kim | Cinematographer |
Scott Wilson | US Doctor in Morgue |
Sun-min Kim | Editor |
Pil-Sung Yim | Fat Guevara |