These days, horror films are in a bit of a slump. The only ones that are trying to be innovative anymore are the torture flicks like Saw, Hostel, High Tension, etc. The rest are silly things that offer fun and startling special effects, but don’t really seem to take themselves seriously enough to actually be very effective at all.
And then of course, there is the endless army of remakes.
Everywhere I look I see another John Carpenter rehash that’ll never be as interesting to me as the original. Or some fest of brutality that celebrates man’s inability to look away from the things they know they don’t want to see. Or horror-comedies that insists on calling themselves the next “Shaun of the Dead.”
But every now and then, I luck out on an impressive new horror flick that has somehow crept in under the radar. A film like “Gwoemul” or, as it’s titled on the Region 1 DVD, “The Host.”
“The Host” is a truly wonderful horror movie, about a curious monster that rises from the depths to cause havoc in Korea. The story revolves around a family’s conviction to save one of its own when everything around them insists that all hope is lost. It’s a smooth mix of environmental commentary, family angst, genuine chills and, yeah, some comedy too.
The monster is interesting and the audience is actually able to spend a good deal of quality time with it. The lead characters are likable and their relationship lends itself to build the strength of tension that drives the film. Visually, this movie is pretty impressive.
In just about every aspect, “The Host” is up there with “Alien” and “Jaws” with a hint of “Tremors” to it.
If this film suffers any weakness at all, it’s that the creature of apparently something that evolved from formaldehyde that was poured down a drain. Sounds unforgivable, I know, but it absolutely did not take away from the overall film.
If you’re already too excited to wait for “Cloverfield,” you have to see this movie.
