"The Host (Gwoemul)" ** (out of four): An Eastern monster movie with a decidedly Western influence, director Bong Joon-ho's wildly uneven CGI extravaganza lacks focus but delivers a few chuckles and scares along the way.

“The Host (Gwoemul)” - an old fashioned monster movie with big budget effects from Korean director Bong Joon-ho - starts off with a reverent homage to monster movies of old. An evil (American) morgue technician orders his hapless (Korean) assistant to pour gallons of toxic chemicals down the drain, polluting the Han River. A scant six years later, something horrific appears from the river’s depths to wreck havoc on downtown Seoul. Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) – a perpetually sleepy single-father working at the family food-stand – witnesses the monster’s first appearance, as it makes mincemeat of unsuspecting riverside revelers. No sooner does Gang-du spring into action than the monster snatches his young daughter before his eyes and disappears into the watery depths.

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