Director: Na Hong-jin 
Writer: Na Hong-jin
Producers: Na Hong-jin, Saemi Kim, Saerom Kim
Stars: Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, HoYeon, Taylor Russell, Michael Fassbender
BBFC: 15
Runtime: 157 mins
Year: 2026
Every small town has a local chancer with a get-rich-quick scheme. In Hope Harbor, his scheme involves a fridge. Na Hong-jin (The Wailing) spends two and a half hours on the fallout, and on the vast BFI IMAX screen almost every minute of the carnage looks the part.
The setup is pleasingly simple. A battered alien ship crash-lands on the South Korean coast carrying a queen, her infant prince and an elite guardian (Michael Fassbender, formidable as a warrior-hunter-bodyguard). A feckless local snatches the prince, freezes him and plans to sell him online to the highest bidder. Cue the alien grown-ups coming to look for their child, and police chief Beom-seok (Hwang Jung-min), officer Sung-ae (HoYeon) and a small band of stalwart deputies trying to keep the town standing.
Na gives his supporting players room to show up with their stories and antics: the ginseng hunter who sees the creatures first, a gang of fortune-seeking pals convinced they’re tracking a tiger, a crew of specialist marksmen sent in on horseback, and the doctor whose autopsy delivers the verdict nobody wants: alien. The humour is down to earth and at times laugh-out-loud funny, which keeps the slower stretches afloat.
The horror plays the long game. Early scenes trade on glimpses and shock tactics before the creatures arrive in full, gigantic, game-like CGI that suits the film’s arcade energy complete with mandatory gorefest. The real star, though, is the camera. Dynamic third-person tracking shots chase the heroes through each battle like a video-game follow-cam, dropping you right into the middle of the mayhem. On a screen that size it’s a genuinely giddy ride. Kudos to the cinematographer!
The catch is the length. The story doesn’t need 157 minutes, and a few sequences, animation effects or not, could lose a good chunk of screen time without losing the plot.
Still, this is a monster movie that goes toe-to-toe with anything Hollywood has thrown at us, and more proof that Korean genre cinema is setting the pace. Did I mention the monsters? Go big, go loud, and maybe check your freezer first.