10 Horror Movies Where The Monster Is Revealed Almost Immediately
2. The Host (2006)
Long before Bong Joon-ho was raking in the Oscars and torching the English-speaking world's aversion to subtitles, he was one of the noughties' pioneers of Korean cinema, matching Park Chan-wook pound for pound in character, cinematography, social commentary and assorted narrative miseries.
This is precisely the nexus in which his mid-decade creature feature The Host resides. Following a mass dumping of formaldehyde in the Han River, a many-legged fishlike monster spawns and unleashes itself upon the good people of Seoul. As the film revolves around the creature and the supposedly viral infection it causes in humans, Bong gets it up onscreen and wreaking havoc early doors. It stomps, it mashes, it swallows and it abducts people to its sewer lair.
However, not only is the monster a human creation, so is the non-existent virus. The government and international community use the mere idea of a virus as carte blanche to implement martial law and use chemical weapons on the population. So, yes, maybe the real monster is humanity, but either way we see it from the start.