G4 DISCOVERS SOMETHING DEADLY IN THE WATER THIS HALLOWEEN WITH THE EXCLUSIVE U.S. BROADCAST DEBUT OF "THE HOST"
South Korean Box Office "Monster" Hit Depicts Sinister Mysteries, Which Lie Just Beneath the Surface
LOS ANGELES, October 16, 2008 � This Halloween, leave a bowl of candy on the front porch, bolt the front door and gather your bravest friends around you for the U.S. television broadcast premiere of Bong Joon Ho's monster masterpiece "The Host" presented only on G4. Receiving numerous critical accolades, "The Host" was South Korea's biggest box office smash in the country's history. The New York Times calls it "A seriously SCARY freakout" while the Chicago Times calls it "one helluva MONSTER movie," and G4 viewers are sure to call it "the scariest way to spend Halloween since first watching Godzilla rise up from the ocean to terrorize a group of innocent villagers." G4's special Halloween 2008 presentation of "The Host" premieres this All Hallow's Eve, Friday, October 31 at 8 pm ET/PT, only on G4.
South Korea's Han River is a perfectly nice river ... that is, until a grotesque creature plunges into it from a bridge only to emerge on the river's shores to feast on a group of gaping-mouthed onlookers. However, when this out-of-control bad boy snatches up a young schoolgirl, the girl's family gets busy with a plan to get her back. In doing so, the family soon learns that the ferocious carnivorous monster is not the only real danger lurking just below the surface. Told by the government and the military that the creature is the result of evolution-gone-wrong, leaders order all who come in contact with it to be quarantined lest they spread the deadly virus it contains. But is our long-tailed water-bound friend the real monster here, or is it the environmental degradation, gross pollution and the ensuing government cover-up that is to blame? Either way, a LOT of blood is spilled on the path to finding out who, or what, is responsible for "The Host." Chock full of conspiracies, the film was inspired by an incident in 2000 in which a mortician working for the U.S. military in Seoul dumped a large amount of formaldehyde down the drain.
One of South Korea's most successful movies of all time, "The Host" has received rave reviews from fans of the genre, including Logan Hill of New York magazine, who calls it "one of the greatest monster movies ever made," and People's Leah Rozen, who declares it "a knockout monster movie." Setting it apart from other monster-themed films, the creature terrorizing the Han River is fully visible from early on in the film, sometimes for large stretches of time and even in broad daylight, which earned the film additional critical praise. Released in 2006, it shattered box office records and ultimately became the highest grossing South Korean film of all time.
"The Host" premiered in Cannes and was screened at the Toronto, Tokyo and New York film festivals, among others. The film was the third feature-length film directed by Bong Joon-ho and featured one of the most popular leading actors in the country, Song Kang-ho.The film swept Korea's Blue Dragon Awards, receiving 5 awards, with Ko Ah-seong taking Best New Actress and Byeon Hee-bong awarded Best Supporting Actor.
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