Forgotten Sci-Fi Dystopia Gem From Twilight Creator Made Alien Invasion Look Romantic
Parasitic aliens and a love triangle? That's exactly why we loved sci-fi dystopia a decade ago.
Stephenie Meyer has already made history as the author whose novels about the love triangle between an ordinary girl, a vampire and a werewolf were so popular that they were brought off the bookshelves and onto the big screen, creating one of the most commercially successful and popular franchises.
Twilight 's impact on culture has been liberating, and it's not just the fashion for vampires and the supernatural. The success of the story Meyer told paved the way for other similar stories, both in the book world and in the movies.
It's hard to say whether publishers, and then Hollywood executives, would have believed in the success of The Hunger Games if Twilight hadn't come out a few years earlier and hadn't been so popular.
However, due to the worldwide popularity of Twilight, many have not noticed another worthy work of the author that has also been transferred to the big screen and undoubtedly deserved attention.
The novel The Host was first published in 2008, stayed on the bestsellers list for 26 weeks and could not stay out of the sight of Hollywood. The movie based on the book was released five years later in 2013.
What is The Host About?
The Earth has become the target of an invasion, and soon our place will be taken by Souls – aliens stripped of their fleshy shells, who expel the spirit from the human body and replace it with their own.
Most of humanity has already died, and the few survivors are hiding in a pathetic attempt to delay the inevitable. Now the Soul tries to take over the body of young Melanie. But the unexpected happens: Melanie and her Soul are forced to coexist in one body.
The Soul should track down the rebellious earthlings Melanie is connected to and hand them over, but she helps her host. Moreover, love complicates everything: Melanie loves Jared, who can't accept that his girlfriend has to share her body with someone else, while the Soul who enslaved Melanie's body begins to have tender feelings for a man named Ian.
The Host Was Made by The Prominent Director of The Sci-Fi Genre
The perfect director for a movie of this genre – Andrew Niccol (who created such films as Gattaca and In Time, and also wrote the screenplays for The Truman Show and The Terminal) created exactly the world that Meyer described.
The Host has its own unique style and atmosphere – the director managed to show the whole essence of the aliens in several scenes, and the sequence with the arrival of the Soul and its infusion into the human body is simply mesmerizing.
The Host Will Appeal to Both Sci-Fi And Romantic Movie Fans
Sci-fi fans will definitely love the well-thought-out concept of alien parasites, and fans of romantic movies will be hooked by the love triangle of the main characters. And yes, the lead role is played by one of the most talented actresses of our time – Saoirse Ronan.
So maybe now is the time to return to the sci-fi dystopia that was so popular 10-15 years ago and watch The Host, an overlooked but no less worthy representative of the genre.