This film is currently unavailable
The Host
Bong Joon-ho's barnstorming yet highly original monster movie follows an eccentric family's attempts to rescue the daughter snatched by a huge amphibious creature.
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Overview
When a young girl is snatched away from her father by a horrifying giant monster that emerges from the River Han to wreak havoc on Seoul, her entire family sets out to locate the beast and bring their little girl back home to safety, in South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's big-budget creature feature.
Bong was already one of the South Korean cinema's hottest prospects before The Host, but the film's popular appeal and international breakthrough resulted in it becoming the most successful Korean film ever (at that time). What impressed critics was Bong's ability to retain the eccentric characters, offbeat humour and wild tonal shifts of his earlier work, amid the film's sweeping scope and spectacular special effects. There's also a potent political commentary throughout the film, with the monster's origins being traced to the chemical malpractices of the American military, a plotline inspired by a real life incident in 2000. This perceived anti-American message even led to rare praise from North Korea; usually only known for its virulent hostility to its neighbour's cinema.
Related
Crimes of the Future Crimes of the Future
Science Fiction 2022 108 mins Director: David Cronenberg
Referencing his 1970 feature of the same name, Crimes of the Future marks Cronenberg’s fully-fledged return to body horror and the cinema of transgression.
Plan 75 Plan 75
Drama 2022 113 mins Director: Chie Hayakawa
Faced with a rapidly ageing population, a government in near-future Japan rolls out an unsettling agenda.
LOLA LOLA
Science Fiction 2022 79 mins Director: Andrew Legge
Two sisters in WWII Britain invent a machine that can decode TV broadcasts from the future, in this irresistible found-footage sci-fi that buzzes with timeless ingenuity.
Memoria Memoria
Fantasy 2021 136 mins Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Tilda Swinton stars in the first English-language feature from master filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul; a mesmerising and beautifully immersive work.
The Untamed The Untamed
Fantasy 2016 98 mins Director: Amat Escalante
Amat Escalante follows Heli with a boundary-pushing, mind-blowing mix of sex, sci-fi and social drama.
The Day the Earth Caught Fire The Day the Earth Caught Fire
Science Fiction 1961 100 mins Director: Val Guest
The BFI’s HD remaster of the British sci-fi classic. A journalist discovers that the Earth has been knocked off its axis and is moving ever closer to the sun. Is the Earth doomed?
The Battle of Algiers The Battle of Algiers
Drama 1966 121 mins Director: Gillo Pontecorvo
Gillo Pontecorvo’s masterpiece about the last years of French colonial rule in Algeria, seen from the perspective of both the revolutionaries and the French authorities.
Caravaggio Caravaggio
Biopic 1986 93 mins Director: Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman’s unique biopic of the 17th century Italian artist Michelangelo da Caravaggio is a powerful meditation on sexuality, criminality and art.
Daisies Daisies
Comedy 1966 73 mins Director: Věra Chytilová
Two self-confessed hedonists wreak wanton havoc in Věra Chytilová's visually spectacular neo-dadaist farce.
Island of the Hungry Ghosts Island of the Hungry Ghosts
Documentary 2018 98 mins Director: Gabrielle Brady
A therapist helps traumatised refugees detained on a remote island where powerful natural and tribal rituals prevail, in this extraordinary mix of fact and fiction.
Female Human Animal Female Human Animal
Drama-documentary 2018 74 mins Director: Josh Appignanesi
Josh Appignanesi's art-world psycho-thriller blends reality and fiction to delirious effect, in its tale of an exhibition curator pursued by a mysterious figure.
Heathers Heathers
Comedy 1989 103 mins Director: Michael Lehmann
Winona Ryder and Christian Slater star in the endlessly quotable cult black comedy that subverted expectations of teen movies forever.
Evil Does Not Exist Evil Does Not Exist
Drama 2023 106 mins Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s follow-up to Drive My Car is a hauntingly enigmatic eco-thriller. Winner of Best Film at the BFI London Film Festival.
Rare Beasts Rare Beasts
Comedy 2021 92 mins Director: Billie Piper
Billie Piper stars in her own directorial debut, a no-holds-barred, Fleabag-esque anti-romcom about a modern woman’s struggles in work and love.
Baltimore Baltimore
Historical drama 2023 98 mins Director: Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor
Imogen Poots grounds Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor's meditative portrayal of terrorist, disinherited heiress and expectant mother Rose Dugdale.
Four Little Adults Four Little Adults
Drama 2023 123 mins Director: Selma Vilhunen
A Finnish couple facing a marital crisis venture into the world of polyamory, in this mature meditation on love.
In Cold Blood In Cold Blood
Crime 1967 135 mins Director: Richard Brooks
Powerful adaptation of Truman Capote’s true-crime novel about the massacre of a family in Kansas, and the manhunt for the killers.
One False Move One False Move
Crime 1990 106 mins Director: Carl Franklin
Explosive thriller starring Bill Paxton as a small-town Sheriff, out to bust a gang of LA drug dealers… until he learns his ex-girlfriend is one of them.