Resolutely P.C. film critic Dana Stevens of Slate loves The Host. I’m not surprised, given that her litmus taste for genre films appears to be whether they can be seen as sufficiently allegorically anti-Bush, and by all accounts The Host passes that test with flying colors. For many mainstream film critics, the slightest display of political awareness automatically enables a horror film to transcend the genre, regardless of what else is going on, or whether anything else is going on. And I guess the fact that the bad guy in this is a monster rather also keeps her from having tut-tuttingly inform us that Doing Bad Things Is Wrong.
So once again, I’m unconvinced. But yeah, I’ll see the thing.