It has been a huge box-office success in South Korea.

The movie tells the story of a family battling a carnivorous amphibian from the Han River.

'I lived in an apartment near the Han River when I was a child.

'When I looked at the river, I would imagine what would happen if a monster appeared,' said Bong, a respected Korean filmmaker.

'The idea for The Host stems from my childhood, so I was very happy that I could make this film.'

A big fan of monster movies, Bong said he didn't want his mutant creature to look like any of its Hollywood counterparts.

'The monster looks like a fish. It doesn't look like a dinosaur, wolf or snake. It has beautiful body curves ... and conveys a sense of oriental beauty,' he said.

The Host has plenty of action, special effects and frightening moments.

It is especially scary when the monster climbs out of the river and begins attacking people.

Actor Song Kang-ho plays the idiotic Park whose young daughter Hyun-seo is kidnapped by the monster.

The film's funny moments are thanks to Song's brilliant performance. This is no regular monster movie - it combines satire and comedy with horror.

'The film is not just about the monster. It was also important to tell the story of an ordinary Korean family,' said Bong.

Common family situations are therefore portrayed in the movie.

'There is a scene when the grandpa keeps talking and the children fall asleep. Things like that happen in Korea, so in the movie I included this habit of not respecting elderly people,' he said. Bong insists that The Host is not a political film, despite poking fun at the US military and Korean authorities.

In the movie, Park and his family go in search of the kidnapped girl.

Not only do the authorities refuse to help them, they spread rumours about the monster.

What's more, the film's mutant creature is the result of an official at a US army base in South Korea dumping toxic industrial waste into the Han River.

A similar incident actually happened six years ago.

'The monster is not just the mutant creature. The world in which we live, its politics and system, when combined together, can be more fearsome [than a real monster],' said Bong.