The Host (Gwoemul, South Korea, 2006)

Director Bong Joon-Ho's second feature film is a new look at the monster movie plot. Fortunately, this one is really good. The monster appears in the first 15 minutes of the movie, and from that point on, the action scenes are almost non-stop. It all begins when a forensic doctor throws formaldehyde into the sewer. This toxic substances ends up in the Han River intoxicating a living creature (we never know what) and making it grow into a huge Godzilla-like monster, but ten times more terrifying if you ask me. The story then continues with our main characters, a small family (a little girl, her dad and grandpa) who runs a candy shop in the shore of the Han River park. As you can imagine, the monster comes out of the river, kills several innocent people and takes the little girl as hostage. Is she dead or can someone still rescue her? You'll have to watch the movie, but I am guessing you already know. Joon-Ho's effective blend of comedy and horror is what makes this movie really unique. The computer special effects are impressive as well. And it surely beats the hell out of the US version of Godzilla.