Mary Reid

Korean horror movies are not my usual genre. But to my great surprise I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Host'.

It's a monster movie intertwined with a family drama set in and around the concrete banks, underpasses and sewers alongside the River Han in Seoul. It manages to mix comedy with fright, fast action and bathos.

For me, the only shortcoming was the monster who looked like a giant catfish with legs, straight out of a Disney cartoon.

You can view the trailer, an interview with the director (in Korean) then more shots that show the actual monster here.

This film was seen by 10 million people in its first three weeks in Korea, and was wowed in Cannes, so we were very fortunate to get it as the opener for the 2006 Kingston Film Festival at The Rotunda.

You can pick up a programme from lots of places including libraries and The Guildhall, as well as the cinema, of course. Other films include 'Renaissance', 'Little Fish', 'The Notorious Bettie Page', 'Shanghai Dreams', 'Three Times' plus several programmes of short films by students at Kingston University.