¡Qué horror! 2013

The Wrap-Up

And there we have it.

As promised, here’s a quick rundown of some non-horror titles that I saw in the past 12 months and had hoped to write about individually, but alas…

Sound of My Voice (January 2011), dir: Zat Batmanglij

Errors of the Human Body (July 2012), dir: Eron Sheean

Frankenweenie (September 2012), dir: Tim Burton

Upstream Color (January 2013), dir: Shane Carruth

Downloaded (March 2013), dir: Alex Winter

This Is The End (June 2013), dir: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg

They all get my heartiest recommendation.

Plus, a title that I actually wrote about and that would really have gotten a ¡Qué horror! slot this year, had it not been for the fact that writer/director Peter Strickland would “never call it a horror [movie] in a million years”: Berberian Sound Studio. (Review here.)

Also, as far as television goes, some other horror titles from the past 12 months that are worth a look at: Bates Motel, American Horror Story: Asylum, and In The Flesh.

Now, for some quick Halloween treats, I present to you the links to a couple of short films, Abe (by Rob McLellan) and Blinky^TM (by Oscar-nominated Ruairi Robinson, and which stars Where The Wild Things Are’s Max Records).

McLellan’s Abe has been optioned by MGM, who plan to give it the feature-length treatment, with McLellan at the helm. (McLellan’s official website here.)

Meanwhile, Robinson--whose first “name is pronounced ‘RAW-REE,’ NOT ‘Roo-ahh-reeh” according to his official website--had his feature debut, The Last Days on Mars (starring Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas, and Olivia Williams), screen at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

I’m actually waiting on his next short, Imaginary Forces (teaser here), on which he’s reportedly in post-production.

Both Abe and Blinky^TM are about cuh-ray-zee robots! (And you thought the T-800 was scary…)

Enjoy.

And Happy Halloween!

Parting Shot: 30 more seconds of awesome from RAW-REE Robinson; this plays like a silly season Gwoemul…

(Berberian Sound Studio OS courtesy of impawards.com; Abe OS courtesy of cgmeetup.net; Blinky^TM stills courtesy of ruairirobinson.com)

CLOVERFIELD
(Review)

When J.J. Abrams, Lost writer Drew Goddard, and Felicity co-creator Matt Reeves, get together with the intention of giving America its very own iconic monster ala Japan’s Godzilla, that’s just something you have to pay attention to.
And when the film itself is surrounded by a cloak of secrecy, preceded by a trailer that sparked fanboy insanity and birthed crazy-a$$ rumours that stretched from Voltron all the way to Cthulhu, and hyped by a viral marketing campaign that supplied a fascinating back story, well, Cloverfield was simply something that had to be seen.


We open in darkness. Color bars slam onto the screen. Text indicates that what we are watching is a tape recovered from an incident site of something code-named “Cloverfield,” a tape that is now property of the Department of Defense.
When the tape proper begins, it’s a quiet New York morning, following a pivotal night in the lives of Robert Hawkins (The Black Donnellys‘ Michael Stahl-David) and Elizabeth McIntyre (Odette Yustman, soon to be seen in David S. Goyer’s upcoming The Unborn), and right off the bat, Abrams and company slam us with two very potent realities.
One, there’s an immediate and overpowering sense of voyeurism, as we are acutely aware that this is a tape that has been seen and analyzed by the U.S. military and government. And two, there’s also the immersive feeling of being part of the action, of looking out through the camera’s viewfinder and being in that room, in the middle of these people’s lives.
All throughout the film’s running time, as we bear witness to a day at Coney Island—used subsequently as a potent emotional counterpoint throughout the film—then Rob’s going away party (he’s off to work for Slusho! in Japan), and the bizarre catastrophe that mars the evening’s proceedings, we never quite escape this double-headed contradiction, and this intriguing mixture of these two opposing feelings is merely one of the many things that makes Cloverfield work so fiendishly well.


The fact that Goddard’s script and Reeves’ direction exploits the first person handheld shaky cam narrative convention Cloverfield chooses so effectively, is also another reason why I was so impressed with the film.
To begin with, I wasn’t terribly enamoured of The Blair Witch Project, which used the same DIY documentary aesthetic and left me with a case of motion sickness and an overall sense of dissatisfaction at having spent so much time with a group of boring and uninteresting ciphers.
Given my less-then-stellar experience with Blair Witch, I was understandably anxious about this aspect of Cloverfield, despite my excitement at the film’s creative pedigree. So when the first 18 or so minutes managed to suck me in so completely that there was actually a part of me that got annoyed at the sudden shift in tone when the attack begins (I really wanted to chill out some more with these people), I knew that Reeves and Goddard had me.
And when the remaining hour or so shapes up to be a tightly wrought, adrenaline-pumping, emotionally-wringing cinematic experience, well, that’s just brilliant, isn’t it?


Naturally, the film’s depiction of an attack on New York, and the resultant fear and panic and shock that accompanies it, evokes the reality of 9/11, and actually shunted me back to the pivotal moment I saw the towers’ collapse on CNN (which I had stumbled upon completely by accident as I was channel-surfing).
It was an unsettling echo of that overwhelming sense of being witness to the real-time unfolding of a catastrophe that you could do nothing to stop, while simultaneously feeling a part of the tragedy by your being its witness.
And while Cloverfield presents a fictional situation, the first-person POV nonetheless slams you right in the middle of the action, making the resultant experience a very raw and visceral one. And getting us to care for Rob and his friends only manages to raise the stakes higher. (Even during his Felicity days, Reeves already displayed a sharp eye and ear for characterization.)


At this point, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the excellent cast here, who all give naturalistic performances that belie the inherent over-the-top craziness of the whole monster movie milieu: these are just people who suddenly find themselves at the heart of a devastating catastrophe.
Yes, it’s being caused by a monster running rough shod over New York, but the damage to both property and people (and the shock and trauma that serve as accompaniment) is still very evident and undeniable.
It helps, of course, that not only are these actors well-cast, they’re also not recognizable marquee faces, thus contributing to the authenticity of the experience. Most are TV faces—Stahl-David; The Class’ Lizzy Caplan; Carpoolers’ T.J. Miller; and Jessica Lucas, from Life As We Know It and Edgemont—while Mike Vogel, who plays Rob’s brother Jason, starred in Poseidon and The Deaths of Ian Stone.


And while they’re all commendable, the stand-out amidst the supporting players has to be Miller, who plays Rob’s goofball best friend Hudson “Hud” Platt. Hud’s a tag-along dopey sidekick who finds his calling as designated documentarian of Rob’s going-away party and takes it to heart, as it’s a very important job, or so Jason tells him, as he fobs off the thankless task to Hud.
It’s a testament to Miller that he performs the majority of his role off-camera—since he’s the one supposedly shooting—and still manages to leave an indelible mark on the film’s proceedings.
It’s also because of Hud’s manner that the idea of him dumping the camera—and thus shirking off his perceived responsibility as the evening’s documentarian—smoothly becomes something inconceivable, even when all the mayhem breaks out. Hud is someone who needs to have something to talk about, something to do, and the camera is quite possibly the one thing that keeps him focused and sane as the city around him ignites in creature feature insanity.
Which is a particularly good thing, as one of the other things that bugs me about this approach is why in the hell the camera guy never seems to just hurl the damned camera at whatever’s chasing him (thus effectively lightening his load and truncating the film’s running time).
Miller and Goddard’s script admirably address this concern, and Cloverfield is all the stronger for it. (The going-away testimonials which Hud eagerly records early on also serve as the smart set-up for the Blair Witch confessional moment you just know is gonna come around sooner or later…)


In fact, the only (admittedly not that major) rupture in my enjoyment of the proceedings is quite possibly when the gang runs into the military, since, a) the grunts are taking orders from a recognizable genre face (Twin Peaks’ Chris Mulkey); and b) they don’t seem to bother confiscating the camera, which military types are usually prone to do in this sort of situation, right?
Well, I guess they were just too busy mounting the big attack.
And like I said, not that major.


Now, as to whether Abrams and company were ultimately successful in their initial goal, of giving America its iconic movie monster, I’m not entirely sure. The thing is, it’s pretty freaky-a$$ looking.
Let’s face it, some dude in a green rubber reptile suit vomiting radioactivity (or even a giant ape scaling the Empire State Building) is a lot more pop culture-friendly than this bizarre, misshapen (and nameless) monstrosity.
But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, right?
In the meantime though, following in the wake of Bong Joon-ho’s Gwoemul and Frank Darabont’s The Mist, Cloverfield is clearly another towering entry in the annals of creature features, a pulse-pounding monster movie for our post-9/11, YouTube world of instant documentation, upload, and access, where creatures can exist and wreak havoc on both the silver screen and the World Wide Web.
And with any luck, in the collective pop culture consciousness as well.


Parting shot: Cloverfield hits DVD on April 22, and you can check out Afterthoughts (62) in the Archive to see your choice of U.S. retail exclusives…

Parting shot 2: Reviews of Bong’s Gwoemul and Darabont’s The Mist can be found in the Archive, along with episodic recaps/reactions to Lost.

(Cloverfield OS courtesy of bloody-disgusting.com; images courtesy of 1-18-08.com, empireonline.com, filmz.ru, and wired.com.)

reVIEW (46)
SARINUI CHUEOK
(MEMORIES OF MURDER)

Before Korean director Bong Joon-ho made a decidedly bigger splash with his creature feature Gwoemul (The Host), he had already made a significant impression on the global cinema stage with his 2003 serial killer procedural, Sarinui Chueok (Memories of Murder).

Set in 1986 and based on a real-life unsolved case, Sarinui Chueok chronicles the predations of a serial rapist and killer in the Korean countryside, and the unfolding investigation as local detective Park Doo-man (Song Kang-ho, seemingly ubiquitous in the best of Korean cinema, whom Bong would again collaborate with on Gwoemul) is made to work with city boy Inspector Seo Tae-yoon (Kim Sang-kyung), who’s just arrived from Seoul to help crack the case.
Despite a premise that sounds like a very run-of-the-mill serial killer thriller, what makes Sarinui Chueok stand out as a shining exemplar of the genre though is the manner in which Bong grounds the narrative in the time and place of its setting.

This is 1986, in the Korean boondocks, where crime scenes are routinely disrupted and compromised by unruly children, curious gawkers, the press, and runaway tractors; a pre-Internet Korea, without even the technology and equipment for a standard DNA check. It’s Grissom’s worst nightmare…
This low-tech procedural aspect, Bong’s film shares with David Fincher’s Zodiac, another brilliant serial killer thriller of recent vintage. But what makes Sarinui Chueok even more fascinating is how the narrative is truly of Korea, how the plot and script can’t simply be transplanted to, say, an American setting for an English-language remake.
This is Korea, where civil rights advocates will frankly be horrified at the manner in which suspects are treated and confessions extracted, making this the worst nightmare of any of the dozen or so Law and Order casts as well…

It’s this very particular national identity though that serves to make Sarinui Chueok Exhibit A in the case that you can always approach what seems to be a dead horse of a genre with new and vital eyes (something Fincher also managed to do with Zodiac and Showtime is doing with Dexter).
It’s also Exhibit A in the case of never making the mistake of aping the wrong conventions of a foreign film when you’re clearly not making one. (Think Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of a Geisha, which tried so hard to be an Asian art film, when it clearly wasn’t.)
In this latter case, Sarinui Chueok also shares its commendable distinction with Exhibit B, Sebastian Cordero‘s Cronicas (Chronicles). Produced by Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron, Cronicas is likewise based on a real-life serial killer case, this time, in Ecuador. Though I do admit to finding Sarinui Chueok a far more absorbing film, Cronicas is nonetheless a very non-Hollywood approach to the genre that is very grounded in its Ecuadoran setting.

What also makes Sarinui Chueok such a memorable and distinctive entry in the annals of serial killer thrillers is its sense of humour; this is going to sound strange, but Sarinui Chueok is the funniest serial killer thriller I’ve ever seen.
Again, Bong takes that very particular Korean setting and sensibility, and finds strains of amusement in the proceedings, without overstepping the boundaries of good taste. Though there are chuckles and guffaws to be found here (mainly in the manner in which the investigation is conducted and the rural circumstances that surround it), we never truly forget that this is a gruesome case, whose details and deviant minutiae were alien, not just to the provincial townsfolk who were intimate with its disturbing leavings, but to the country as a whole.

And if you’re not totally convinced, then consider that Sarinui Chueok was the most watched film in South Korea in 2003, and is currently the fourth most viewed film in South Korea of all time. It also won Korea’s Grand Bell Awards for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Leading Actor (Song).
So if you’re looking for something different on the serial killer thriller front, or discovered Bong Joon-ho through Gwoemul, you should really check out Sarinui Chueok.
It’s effective, lyrical, and yes, funny, and that’s not something you can say about most serial killer thrillers.

Parting shot: Though the narrative is elegantly compressed in this film, the real-life case also mirrors the actual Zodiac case in that this was a terribly protracted investigation which was ultimately left unsolved: ten similar murders occurred between October 1986 and April 1991, and over 3,000 suspects were interrogated over its course.

Parting shot 2: Reviews of Bong’s Gwoemul and Fincher’s Zodiac can be found lurking in the Archive, where episodic recaps/reactions to Dexter also reside.

(Sarinui Chueok OS courtesy of soju22.net; images courtesy of seoulselection.com; Memories of Murder DVD cover art courtesy of amazon.co.uk and amazon.com.)

D-WAR (DRAGON WARS)
(Review)

For a Korean production that’s clearly aiming for wide international distribution, Shim Hyung-Rae’s D-War (Dragon Wars) is certainly an ambitious undertaking; it’s even got the multiple character OS marketing thing going, as well as the short, snappy title for quick and easy recall.
Sadly, the film itself doesn’t deliver on nearly all of the other, more significant levels that it should.

The biggest, most shamed-faced culprit has to be Shim’s script: to call it “scattershot” would be charitable.
The narrative jumps from scene to scene with neither rhyme nor reason, and there are a host of inexplicable developments and decisions that make D-War a simply terrible viewing experience.
And the front-heavy exposition—which takes up the first 20 minutes or so of the film, in an awkward and annoying flashback within a flashback—serves to stop the narrative cold even before it’s had a chance to rev its engine.
There’s talk of good serpents and bad serpents and a 20-year old maiden who is destined to lay down her life so that good will emerge triumphant. There’re also brave warriors and magickal amulets and reincarnation and wisps of the production design spirit of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, rudely summoned and shanghaied for this muddled production.
It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a film like this, whose narrative operates in a complete emotionless vacuum, where all the pretty pixels in the world (more on that later) cannot save a story that so utterly fails to engage the audience, it may just as well be a non-experience.

Even the presence of Robert Forster (Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, Van Sant’s Psycho remake, and briefly, in Lynch’s Mulholland Drive) as Jack, the reincarnation of the elder warrior who fights on the side of good, does nothing to move things into the plus column: Forster’s not really given much to do beyond narrating that 20 minute block at the head of the film, and not very well, I might add. He also morphs in and out of the proceedings on a bizarrely irregular basis.
The other major players, Jason Behr and Flightplan’s Amanda Brooks, don’t exactly light up the screen either.
Behr, who can’t seem to escape the gravity of genre material after making a name for himself on TV’s Roswell (he’s also been in The Grudge remake and Skinwalkers, as well as the upcoming The Tattooist), doesn’t even seem to attempt to infuse his character of Ethan Kendrick with a glimmer of a personality. There’s nothing there to indicate Ethan is even a living, breathing person, much less the reincarnation of the young, valorous warrior who must ultimately sacrifice his love for the sake of the world.
Brooks fares no better with her Sarah, destined to carry within her the force that will be consumed, by either good or evil, thus determining the fate of the entire human race. There’s no struggle here, no raging against the dying of the light, just a young woman going blandly through the motions: Oh, look, a giant serpent. Run.
Meanwhile, other potentially capable actors like Twin Peaks’ Chris Mulkey and Elizabeth Pena (Jacob’s Ladder and Transamerica), are given nothing significant to do during the limited screen time they actually get.

If there is anything remotely resembling a redeeming factor where D-War is concerned, it’s quite possibly in the CGI.
Granted, this is nowhere near the level of a Transformers, and there are a healthy number of shots where the pixels are still showing. Still, for the most part, the effects are passably convincing, and the final climactic showdown between the good and evil serpents is commendable, and is marred only by the fact that it seems to be taking place not on Earth, but in an environment ripped off from Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. One minute, we’re headed towards Mexico, the next, we’re in Mordor.

This may have the pretty pixels, but at heart, D-War is still a D-grade, low-budget monster movie, complete with head-scratching script and dodgy performances.
Sad, since in the wake of Bong Joon-ho‘s Gwoemul (The Host), I was really hoping Korea would give me another monster movie worth stomping up and down and roaring about. In the end though, all I can muster is an exasperated eye roll and a paltry “Pfffft.”

Parting shot: Interestingly enough, Heroes’ James Kyson Lee (soon to be seen in the upcoming English-language remake of Shutter) is part of D-War’s loop group.
Though he is best known for playing Japanese sarariman/sidekick Ando Masahashi on Heroes, Lee is actually Korean, his real name Lee Jae-Hyeok.

Parting shot 2: Reviews of Gwoemul and Skinwalkers can be found in the Archive.

(D-War OS’s courtesy of younggu-art.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (16)

The nominees for this year’s Scream Awards have been announced, and some of the nominations I’m jazzed about are:

28 Weeks Later
The Ultimate Scream;
Best Horror Movie;
Best Sequel;
“Jump-From-Your-Seat” Scene of the Year (Zombie Attacks Glass Window)

All-Star Superman
Best Comic Book

Battlestar Galactica
The Ultimate Scream;
Best TV Show;
Sci-Fi Siren (Katee Sackhoff)

Children of Men
Best Science Fiction Movie;
Sci-Fi Siren (Clare-Hope Ashitey);
Sci-Fi Star (Clive Owen);
Best Director (Alfonso Cuaron);
Best Scream-Play (Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby)

The Descent
The Ultimate Scream;
Best Horror Movie;
Breakout Performance (Shauna MacDonald);
Best Director (Neil Marshall);
Best Scream-Play (Neil Marshall)

El Laberinto Del Fauno
The Ultimate Scream;
Best Fantasy Movie;
Most Vile Villain (Sergi Lopez as Captain Vidal);
Most Memorable Mutilation (Mouth Sliced Open and Sewn Back Together);
Best Director (Guillermo Del Toro);
Best Scream-Play (Guillermo Del Toro);
Best Foreign Movie (Spain)

The Fountain
Best Science Fiction Movie;
Sci-Fi Siren (Rachel Weisz);
Sci-Fi Star (Hugh Jackman)

Grindhouse (Death Proof)
Scream Queen (Rosario Dawson);
Best Cameo (Quentin Tarantino);
Breakout Performance (Zoe Bell);
Most Vile Villain (Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike);
Most Memorable Mutilation (Dismembered in Car Crash);
Best Director (Quentin Tarantino);
Best Scream-Play (Quentin Tarantino)

Gwoemul
Best Horror Movie;
Best Foreign Movie (South Korea)

Heroes
The Ultimate Scream;
Best TV Show;
Best Superhero (Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura; Milo Ventimiglia as Peter Petrelli);
Sexiest Superhero (Ali Larter as Niki/Jessica; Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennet);
Breakout Performance (Hayden Panettiere);
Most Vile Villain (Zachary Quinto as Sylar/Gabriel Gray)

Lost
Best TV Show;
Fantasy Fox (Evangeline Lilly);
Fantasy Hero (Matthew Fox)

Masters of Horror
Best TV Show

The Prestige
Best Science Fiction Movie;
Sci-Fi Siren (Scarlett Johansson);
Sci-Fi Star (Christian Bale);
Best Cameo (David Bowie)

The following films (all reviewed here: see Archive) were also nominated in a number of categories: 300; Transformers; 1408; Spider-Man 3; Sunshine; Vacancy; Disturbia; Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer; Black Christmas; and Ghost Rider.
The following films, which I have yet to see, were also nominated: Grindhouse (still haven’t seen Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror); Hostel: Part II; and Stardust.

Congratulations, one and all, and best of luck.
You can vote for your favorites here until October 19. Spike TV’s Scream Awards airs Tuesday, October 23.

Parting shot: Last year’s winners included Brandon Routh (Best Superhero: Superman in Superman Returns); Battlestar Galactica (Best TV Show); Haute Tension (Best Foreign Movie); Evangeline Lilly (Fantasy Fox); and Hostel (The Eye Removal scene won for Most Memorable Mutilation and The Holy Sh%T! Award).

(Images from last year’s Scream Awards courtesy of comicbookresources.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (4)

4.1 Brandon Routh won the Best Male Newcomer in the Empire Readers Awards 2007. Hurrah! Superman Returns and Bryan Singer were also shortlisted in the Best Film and Best Director categories, which were won by Casino Royale and Christopher Nolan (for The Prestige), respectively. Additionally, Superman Returns also wound up on the Best Sci-fi/Fantasy shortlist, which El Laberinto Del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth) won, and in Scene Of The Year, for the awesome Space Shuttle rescue. (To Mark Stetson, Visual Effects Supervisor; Joyce Cox, Visual Effects Producer; Sony Pictures Imageworks and Pixel Liberation Front, thanx for the brilliant work on that sequence.)
Additionally, Best Horror was won by Hostel (Hostel: Part II releases June 8!), and Best Thriller, by The Departed.

Also shortlisted in the following categories were:

Best Male Newcomer
Rian Johnson (for directing Brick)
Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine)
Dominic Cooper (The History Boys and Starter For Ten)

Best Female Newcomer
Rebecca Hall (The Prestige and Starter For Ten)
Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Ellen Page (Hard Candy)
Vera Farmiga (The Departed)

Best Film
El Laberinto Del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth)
The Departed

Best Director
Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
Guillermo Del Toro (El Laberinto Del Fauno)

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)
Christian Bale (The Prestige)

Best Actress
Helen Mirren (The Queen)
Kate Winslet (Little Children)

Best Sci-fi/Fantasy
Children of Men

Best British Film
The Queen

Best Horror
Gwoemul (The Host)
Slither

Scene Of The Year
The foot chase (Brick)
Frank and Mr. French interrogate Costigan (The Departed)
Attack on the car (Children of Men)

Congratulations one and all.
Check out the list to see if your favorite films made the cut.

(Superman image courtesy of brandonrouth.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (2)

2.1 Congratulations to Bong Joon-ho and all involved in the making of Gwoemul (The Host: review in Archive: March 2007), for bagging 4 Asian Film Awards, namely Best Film, Best Actor (Song Kang-ho), Best Cinematographer (Kim Hyung-goo), and Best Visual Effects (to San Fo-based effects house, The Orphanage).

2.2 Likewise, congratulations to Guillermo Del Toro and all involved in the making of El Laberinto Del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth: review in Archive: March 2007), for winning in 9 of the dozen categories it was nominated in at this year’s Ariel Awards (Mexico’s equivalent of the Oscars).
The wins were for: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Maribel Verdu), Best Cinematography (Guillermo Navarro), Best Art Direction (Eugenio Caballero, Pilar Revuelta, and Ramon Moya), Best Original Score (Javier Navarrete), Best Make Up (David Marti, Jose Quetglas, and Arjen Tuiten), Best Costume Design (Lala Huete and Rocio Redondo), and Best Special Effects (Reyes Abades, Angel Alonso, David Marti, and Montse Ribe).
Interestingly enough, the other major contender this year at the Ariels was 2004’s Cronicas (so I’m not sure how it was nominated in the same year as Laberinto), which has Del Toro and good friend Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) as producers.
Cronicas is a searing look at which is the greater evil: a cruel serial killer, exploitative and sensationalist journalism, or a public with an insatiable hunger for both. It was up for 6 awards and I’ve yet to confirm which categories it won in. (I’ll mention them in a future installment of Afterthoughts.)

GWOEMUL (THE HOST)
(Review)

Having already made their presence known on the global cinema map with films like Ji-woon Kim‘s Janghwa, Hongryeon (A Tale of Two Sisters) and Chan-wook Park‘s Oldboy, Korea now gives us Joon-ho Bong‘s Gwoemul (The Host), a rollicking creature feature that puts to shame a whole gaggle of Hollywood’s most recent offerings in the genre.
Following the most unlikely of celluloid heroes, the dysfunctional Park family (made up of patriarch Hie-bong, his offspring, deadbeat Gang-du, unemployed graduate Nam-il, competitive archer Nam-joo, and Gang-du’s daughter Hyun-seo), Gwoemul kicks off with a brief prologue six years in the past, as a perfunctory (possible) explanation for the creature’s existence, before kicking into high gear with the initial attack, which sets up the central event that serves as the engine the film’s narrative runs on.
Having the Parks as the film’s main protagonists effectively puts the lie to the Hollywood adage that creature features need heroes who are either scientists or soldiers to work. (During the initial attack, we in fact are introduced to US soldier Donald—played by David Joseph Anselmo—who can’t help but pitch in and piss off the rampaging monster; you just know where that’s gonna end up…)
And of course, for a great creature feature, you need a great creature, and Gwoemul has definitely got that. Done in CG by San Francisco-based The Orphanage*, Gwoemul’s beastie is convincing, particularly in the initial attack, in which the camera doesn’t really stand still, making the monster all the more real since it seems to be just another element in motion that just happened to be picked up by the lens, as opposed to some wide-angle Panavision shot displaying glorious SFX which blare, “Look at me! Look at me! I’m a CGI construct that cost an obscene amount of dollars to put on the screen! Look at meeee!”
There’s a certain stripped-down efficiency to Gwoemul that helps it tremendously, and even allows for some quiet little character moments amidst all the running about. And this, being a Korean movie, naturally displays moments of comedy (and with the Park family centerstage, there’s a fair amount of those to be had), though thankfully, the humor never devolves into goofy slapstick, as sometimes happens in Korean cinema. (Even Chan-wook Park‘s contribution to Saam gaang yi, “Cut,” had absolutely painful moments of crude humor that crippled an otherwise intense film experience.)
With just the right amount of suspense, humor, horror, and drama, Gwoemul is an entertaining 2 hour ride that is already being gobbled up by the Hollywood machine. (News has already broken of an impending English-language remake.) Despite some minor imperfections—notably a plot thread that doesn’t really go anywhere— Gwoemul is the best creature feature I’ve seen in quite some time. (Try and see it so you have a point of comparison once the glammed-up Hollywood version is unleashed upon us…)

* The Orphanage has worked on a whole slew of other films, including Superman Returns, the English-language remake of Pulse, and Hellboy, as well as the upcoming Grindhouse, and Fantastic Four and Pirates of the Caribbean sequels.

Parting shot: Interestingly enough, the next film of Kang-ho Song (who plays Gang-du) is Bakjwi, its English title, Evil Live, which is the title of the movie-within-the-(short)-movie in “Cut.” Bakjwi is being directed by Chan-wook Park, and has been described as a “modern-day vampire story” (as we saw in “Cut”).
Parting shot2: Du-na Bae (who plays Nam-joo) can also be seen as Eun-suh in Dong-bin Kim’s Ring Virus, the Korean remake of Ringu.

(Originally posted 012207)