The Host

It's becoming more clear every year. While the American movie market takes a dive, Foreign cinema is on a roll. The latest flick to rock South Korea is a Korean-Japanese co-production that wraps horror, comedy and political satire into one cool monster movie that both defies logic and amuses to the max. An American official orders his Korean assistant to dump down the drain a bunch of old formaldehyde bottles, thus poisoning the Han River and creating a squid-like icky beast with (of course) razor-sharp teeth that eventually terrorizes and snacks on the tourist-filled river bank. The Host pays homage to the slew of cold-war films where mutant insects on atomic steroids wreak havoc on humans, but here we also get some poignancy as a dysfunctional family pulls together to save their schoolgirl daughter and defeat the beast. The film makes social and political jabs wherever it can and we Americans deserve it. If you can laugh at yourself, you'll love The Host.