10 MORE Ridiculous Horror Movie Villains That Shouldn’t Have Worked… But Did

Bong Joon Ho has made a career out of unpredictability, each of his new films distinct from the last, tackling subjects and themes that traverse national, class and generic boundaries. Before he ever hit it big with English-language Snowpiercer or Academy Award-winning Parasite, he was working primarily out of South Korea's indie scene, releasing films that balance danger and darkness with comedic sensibilities in what we now recognise as the first wave of New Korean Cinema.

Right on the tail end of this cinematic period, Bong took a sharp turn releasing The Host, a classic monster movie with one major difference: the monster is a gigantic tadpole. Known as Gwoemul, the creature spawns from a formaldehyde spill in Seoul's Han River and, frankly, it doesn't even sound like it would have been a plausible villain in the '50s monster movie boom.

And yet, counterpointed by a cast led by long-time Bong collaborator and Korean movie legend Kang-ho Song, the monster comes into its own onscreen. Recognising that less is more, Bong tends to keep Gwoemul to the back of his shots, and allows a deep air of mystery and suspense to build around the creature, its motivations and its origins - so much so that we soon forget the good citizens of Seoul are being hunted by an overgrown Poliwag.