The Host | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

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Where to Watch The Host What to Know Critics Reviews Audience Reviews My Rating Cast & Crew More Like This Related Movie News Videos The Host Photos The Host

93%

Tomatometer

156 Reviews

72%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

Careless American military personnel dump chemicals into South Korea's Han River. Several years later, a creature emerges from the tainted waters and sinks its ravenous jaws into local residents. When the creature abducts their daughter (Go Ah-sung), a vendor (Song Kang-ho) and his family decide that they are the only ones who can save her.

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The Host

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Critics Consensus

As populace pleasing as it is intellectually satisfying, The Host combines scares, laughs, and satire into a riveting, monster movie.

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Critics Reviews

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Mark Holcomb

Time Out

Rated: 5/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Rated: 4/5

May 13, 2009

Full Review

Liam Lacey

Globe and Mail

As ebullient and bizarre as a monster that can do back flips, leaving the viewer in a shock of delight.

Rated: 3.5/4

Apr 1, 2007

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

The Host may seem familiar in the first half-hour […] but it grows beyond a single genre or traditional blockbuster entertainment by including a political editorial alongside a brisk creature feature.

Rated: 3.5/4

Mar 8, 2024

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

A monster movie for those who like a little meat on the genre's bones.

Rated: 3.5/4

Oct 26, 2021

Full Review

Sean Fennessey

The Ringer

The Host filled a crucial hole in our horror life: a big, hulking, unstoppable force that we accidentally created and can't control.

Mar 22, 2021

Full Review

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Audience Reviews

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J L How is this movie so underrated? Seriously this is actually the best kaiju movie outside of a franchise, maybe even better than Godzilla Minus One. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/13/24 Full Review Tommy W It maybe was scary during Covid. This movie is a joke now. I don’t understand how it has such high ratings Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 10/07/24 Full Review Timothy T One of the best creatures ever. Loved this horror movie. The characters and story were great. The only negative was the run time. Tim Treakle Rated 4.5/5 Stars • Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 05/14/24 Full Review Aidan B Completely lacking in most of the horror aspects that it advertises, though successful in most other aspects, "The Host" is a decently made film with some exciting and entertaining scenes that help mask the clearly outdated CGI. Characters were very well done, and the acting is extremely well. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 04/25/24 Full Review Spike G A oscar worthy monster movie Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/26/24 Full Review Emilliano Jr S A well made Korean creature feature. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/28/24 Full Review Read all reviews

The Host

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Cast & Crew

Bong Joon Ho Director Song Kang-ho Park Kang-du Byun Hee-bong Park Hie-bong Park Hae-il Park Nam-il Bae Doo-na Park Nam-ju Ko A-sung Park Hyun-seo

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The Host

The Host: Trailer 1

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Synopsis Careless American military personnel dump chemicals into South Korea's Han River. Several years later, a creature emerges from the tainted waters and sinks its ravenous jaws into local residents. When the creature abducts their daughter (Go Ah-sung), a vendor (Song Kang-ho) and his family decide that they are the only ones who can save her.

Director: Bong Joon Ho
Screenwriter: Bong Joon Ho, Baek Cheol-hyeon, Ha Junwon
Distributor: Magnolia Films
Production Co: Chockstone Pictures, Silver Reel, Nick Wechsler
Rating: R (Language|Creature Violence)
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Original Language: Korean
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 9, 2007, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 1, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.2M
Runtime: 1h 59m
Sound Mix: Dolby SRD
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)