£17.99
From the director of “Memories of Murder” comes Bong Joon-Ho's THE HOST, fresh from success in Cannes where Variety dubbed it “arguably the hit of the festival”. This fantasy monster movie, which expertly mixes humour and horror, has broken box office records in its native Korea, taking the opening weekend record and the highest single-day admissions ever. THE HOST recently showed in the Director's Fortnight section of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and has been compared in its scare-quotient to both “Jaws” and “Alien”
Gang-du is a dim-witted man working at his father's tiny snack bar near the Han River. One day, Gang-du's one and only daughter Hyun-seo comes back from school irritated. She is angry at her uncle, Nam-il, who visited her school shamelessly drunk. Ignoring her father's excuses for Nam-il, Hyun-seo is soon engrossed in her aunt Nam-joo's archery tournament on TV.
Meanwhile, outside the snack bar, people are fascinated by an unidentified object hanging onto a bridge. In an instant, the object reveals itself as a terrifying creature turning the riverbank into a gruesome sea of blood. Amid the chaos, Hyun-seo is snatched up by the creature right before Gang-du's eyes. These unforeseen circumstances render the government powerless to act. But receiving a call of help from Hyun-seo, the once-ordinary citizen Gang-du and his family are thrust into a battle with the creature to rescue their beloved Hyun-seo.
Special Features
• Making-of with director Bong Joon-Ho
• Monster Gag ReelAudition tapes
• The Characters, Storyboards
• The creature making process: 5 sequences showing the process from animatrix to completion
• Creature stills gallery
• Bong Joon-Ho’s Direction
• The Production Team
• The Staff
• Saying Goodbye to The Host - production team and actors talk about finishing the film Memories of the sewer – talking about the difficulties of shooting inside the sewer
• The film departments - Set design, martial arts, props, agent yellow, bones and bodies, Puppet animatronix
• Designing the creature
• Kevin’s Korean Life – Visual Effects Supervisor Kevin Raffertey’s experience of Korea
• Physical Special Effects
• Interview with Assistant Director
• Sound Effects
• Training the actors – archery lessons, gun training etc
• Creature animation – model-making and animation
• Deleted scenes
Reviews
Scary, funny, poignant and political, it's JAWS vis JURASSIC
Since its inception in 1999, Optimum Releasing has steadfastly adhered to one mantra: supporting filmmakers with a vision, and bringing these visions to the widest audience possible.
From Michael Moore to Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and Gus Van Sant to Guillermo Del Toro, the company - a UK-based, all rights company servicing the release of feature films across Theatrical, Video, Television and Online media - has therefore acquired a reputation for a dynamic, marketing-orientated approach to distribution; while the formation of Optimum Home Entertainment in 2004 has seen the company move into the DVD and video market, releasing over 60 titles in its first year of operation alone.
The company has enjoyed success with a wide range of films including key US Independents such as Gus Van Sant's Palme d'Or winning Elephant, acclaimed films Roger Dodger and Igby Goes Down and the groundbreaking Academy Award nominated American Splendor. Not forgetting Oscar winning films such as Spirited Away and Nowhere in Africa.
Optimum Releasing has consistently supported emerging filmmaking talent such as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarrittu (Amores Perros), Guillermo Del Toro (The Devil's Backbone) and Fabien Bielinsky (Nine Queens) as well as established filmmakers such as Oliver Stone (Comandante), Gus Van Sant (Elephant), Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 9/11), Jean-Luc Godard (Eloge de L'Amour) and Michael Winterbottom (9 Songs). The films feature an impressive array of acting talent that includes Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Bill Nighy, Jeremy Irons, Claire Danes, Paddy Considine, Isabella Rossellini and many many more.
Documentaries have always provided a key element in Optimum's output with films as varied as Lost in La Mancha, Biggie and Tupac, Dark Days and nature documentary Deep Blue. The company's work in this field culminated with the 2004 release of Michael Moore's Palme d'Or winning polemic Fahrenheit 9/11. Grossing in excess of £6.5 million at the UK box, the film has become by far the most successful documentary feature of all time.
Celebrating classic cinema has always been a big part of Optimum Releasing. Titles such as The Third Man, This is Spinal Tap, Breathless, Spirit of the Beehive and Whisky Galore hold a deserved place in the Optimum catalogue and sit alongside new British cinema such as Dead Man's Shoes, Lawless Heart and Born Romantic.
With a commitment to developing Optimum Releasing in the future the company will be further exploring its activities through Production, Optimum Home Entertainment whilst also looking at new means of distributing filmed entertainment.
