Magnolia Films Launches Alternate Reality Game for The Host

Magnolia films has fans looking for clues and deciphering puzzles in the new ARG that is now unfolding online in support of The Host, in theaters March 9th. The main site, Monster Hunters Club, looks innocent enough at first glance, but a trip to the forums quickly reveals that there’s something sinister going on beneath the surface.

Help solve puzzles and make the connections between amateur cryptozoologist, a beautiful 19-year-old Korean film student, a grandson finding out what happened to his army-scientist grandfather, and weird creature sightings that seem to be getting more numerous by the day.

The Host, a Korean movie we talked about last year on a previous Slice of SciFi show and on this website, is a story about Gang-du, a man who works at a food-stand on the banks of the Han River. Dozing on the job, he is awakened by his daughter, Hyun-seo, who is angry with him for missing a teacher-parent meeting at school. As Gang-du walks out to the riverbank with a delivery, he notices that a large crowd of people have gathered, taking pictures and talking about something hanging from the Han River Bridge. The otherwise idyllic landscape turns suddenly to bedlam, when a terrifying creature climbs up onto the riverbank and begins to crush and eat people. Gang-du and his daughter run for their lives, but suddenly the being grabs Hyun-seo and disappears back into the river.

The government announces that the monstrous thing apparently is the Host of an unidentified virus. Having feared the worst, Gang-du receives a phone call from his daughter on her cell phone; she is frightened, but very much alive. Gang-du soon makes plans to infiltrate the forbidden zone near the Han River to rescue his daughter from the clutches of the horrifying Host.