The Host (2006)

In 2000, an American pathologist at a US military base in Seoul orders his Korean assistant to pour hundreds of bottles of formaldehyde down a drain leading to the Han River. Years later, strange creature sightings are reported.

In 2006, Park Gang-du runs a snack bar in a riverside park with his father, Hee-bong. A huge amphibious creature leaps out of the river and attacks the crowd. Gang-du grabs his daughter Hyun-seo's hand to run, but loses her, and the creature carries her into the river. The government says the creature carries a deadly virus and quarantines the family.

In hospital, Gang-du gets a phone call from Hyun-seo, who is alive and trapped in the sewers, before her phone dies. The family escapes quarantine and buys weapons to search for her. In the creature's lair, Hyun-seo protects a young homeless boy, Se-joo. The family finds the monster, but runs out of bullets, and the creature kills Hee-bong. Gang-du is captured, while Nam-il and Nam-joo escape.

Gang-du learns that the virus is a hoax, and the authorities plan to lobotomise him to keep him quiet. He escapes. Hyun-seo tries to climb out of the lair, but the monster swallows her and Se-joo. The government and US forces release a chemical called "Agent Yellow" near the river to kill the creature.

The family reaches the monster as Agent Yellow stuns it. Gang-du pulls Hyun-seo out of its mouth, but she is dead, still holding Se-joo, who is alive. Gang-du, Nam-il, Nam-joo and a homeless man set the creature on fire, and Gang-du kills it with a pole. Later, Gang-du lives quietly at the snack bar, raising Se-joo as his own.

Does Hyun-seo survive? No. Gang-du pulls her from the creature's mouth, but she has died. She was still holding on to Se-joo, who survives.

How is the monster killed? Agent Yellow stuns it. Nam-joo sets it on fire with a flaming arrow, and Gang-du impales it with a pole.

Was the virus real? No. It was a story invented by the authorities to distract the public from where the creature came from.

What does the final scene mean? Gang-du has adopted Se-joo, the boy his daughter saved. Hyun-seo's love lives on through him. They switch off the TV news, rejecting the official story.

Is the story based on true events? The opening is based on the real McFarland incident of 2000, when an American civilian on a US base ordered formaldehyde poured down a drain into the Han River.