Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona, and Go Ah-sung star in the 2006 South Korean monster film The Host, directed by Bong Joon-ho and starring Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona, and Go Ah-sung. The story revolves around a monster who kidnaps a man’s daughter and attempts to save her. A local story about a malformed fish with an S-shaped spine caught in the Han River inspired the director, according to him.
The Host was eagerly anticipated after the success of the director’s last film, Memories of Murder. On July 27, 2006, it was released on a record number of screens in its nation.
By the time it closed on November 8, it had sold 13 million tickets, making it the highest-grossing South Korean film of all time. On March 9, 2007, the film was released on a limited basis in the United States, and on July 24, 2007, it was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and HD DVD formats. It was nominated for several accolades, including Best Film at the Asian Film Awards and Best Film at the Blue Dragon Film Awards.
Rather than filming on a set, some of the scenes were shot in the real sewers near the Han River. The medical officer vaccinated the stars and crew against tetanus. The crew had to contend with the effects of changing weather and ambient temperature while filming.
This included the sewage water freezing in low weather, requiring it to be broken up and melted; and the water evaporating and the silt turning to dust, which flew around in the breeze and into the faces of the workforce during hot and windy seasons.
The director had to work within budgetary constraints, particularly when it came to special effects. Chin Wei-Chen created the creature, while Weta Workshop in New Zealand handled the modeling and John Cox’s creature Workshop handled the animatronics. The Orphanage created the CGI for the film, as well as some of the visual effects for The Day After Tomorrow.
A Korean mortician working for the US military in Seoul recounted being told to throw a huge amount of formaldehyde down the drain in 2000, which inspired the film in part. This sparked some animosity toward the United States, in addition to its environmental worries.
On August 17, 2006, the film was released in Australia as a theatrical release. It premiered in Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Hong Kong in the first half of September 2006. On November 10, 2006, it was released theatrically in the United Kingdom.
The film became South Korea’s all-time box office leader in early September, selling over 12.3 million tickets in just over a month in a country of 48.5 million people. The show received 13,019,740 views by the end of its run on November 8.
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