The Host 2, environmentalism, kang full, lee myung-bak, political allegory, politics...

Host Sequel Has Multiple Monsters

A forklift driver tries to block a monster coming out of the ground in this early concept art from The Host 2, which starts filming this summer. The sequel to the best monster movie in ages will feature multiple monsters, says writer Kang Full. And it sounds as though it'll be even more political than the original. Click through for full image and more details.

I love the look on the forklift operator's face. Says scriptwriter/comics artist Kang:

I wanted to maintain the grace of the original film and to overcome the difficulties and limitations a sequel could have. And I wish to show more action with multiple monsters.

According to the synopsis from production company Chungeorahm, the movie aims a barb squarely at Lee Myung-Bak, South Korea's new president-elect. Not unlike Rudy Giuliani taking credit for cleaning up New York, Lee ran for president based on his record of renovating Cheonggyecheon, a foul-smelling concrete-covered creek running to downtown Seoul. The restored creek is now a major tourist attraction. But environmentalists call the restoration a sham, because the stream's water is piped in.

The Host 2 takes place in 2003, six months before the first movie. Once again, our sympathies are with the regular people. We follow the street vendors displaced by the renovation and the demolition workers and police involved in it. Supposedly a line in the movie actually mentions Lee pushing for the river project so he can run for president. The project disturbs horrible creatures that live underground, and you can guess the rest. Monster pile-on! [Scifi Japan, via MonsterFest]

1:10 PM on Thu Jan 10 2008
By charliejane
1,619 views
6 comments

Comments

TheN at 01:47 PM on 01/10/08
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You know, I was disappointed by The Host. It was soooo ultra hyped in our little San Francisco film community thanks to the folks at The Orphanage (the FX shop) working on it. The film's director Bong Joon-Ho even came through and showed some of his earlier films at the Clay a week before The Host hit big.

I almost wish I hadn't gone to see them, since his Memories of Murder is a far superior film... with storytelling tricks he recycles (in a sensibilities, um, sense) for The Host.

If you haven't seen The Host its worth checking out, just dial down those expectations a few notches.
FunkyJ at 02:24 PM on 01/10/08
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I had the exact opposite situation with the Host. Someone just gave me a DVD and said "watch it".

I was like "WTF? This is cool!!!"
Bellatrixie at 04:37 PM on 01/10/08
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I was blown away when I saw it. It breaks free of so many of the stereotypical monster movie cliches! That said, my boyfriend's parents think it's one of the worst movies they've ever seen. We don't speak to them anymore.
stefan_jones at 09:55 PM on 01/10/08
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I thought The Host was really well done and original, but a bit too grim and fatalistic.
El_Bandito at 10:47 PM on 01/10/08
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I loved The Host and I can't even put my finger on why.

No. Wait a minute, it's the big, mutant scary piss-in-your-pants-monster that you see five minutes in. That's right! :D

And there's a Host 2?

SQUEE!!!!

*dies
Katana_Mind at 02:08 AM on 01/11/08
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@TheN:
Hyping a movie seldom pans out. And even though you consciously try not to be swept away by the hype, it still affects you. I feel sorry that you missed out on a awesome discovery as me and my friend just picked it off the shelf without almost any notion of what it was.
We knew it had a monster in it.

So we were pleasantly surprised to see that it was such a sensitive movie, and the monster basically a plot device to drive the story.

But, stop me if I'm wrong here.
Wasn't it heavily hinted that the release of a thousand gallons of formaldehyde in the river was the mutating factor that created the monster in the first place? And now the storyline from the second movie suggests that the lay dormant somewhere and was stirred by the restoration of the river?