Then they see a huge creature hanging batlike underneath a bridge, but rather than run in fear, hundreds gather to look in awe. It's only a matter of time before the creature gets hungry and starts hunting for food, and many of the onlookers become tender morsels. The creature wreaks havoc on the riverfront, and Gang-du protects his daughter as much as he can. He does some heroic stuff for strangers, but then watches as the creature snatches up his daughter, carries her in its tail and dives underwater.

Gang-du's family and ex-wife hold a funeral for the little girl and other victims of the creature, but the young dad is convinced his daughter is still alive. His suspicions are confirmed when he gets a phone call from her, whispering that she is being kept in a tunnel by the creature. Meanwhile, the government and the public alternately turn Gang-du from a hero into a villain, and they try to quarantine him despite his insistence that his daughter is still out there. They burst out of the hospital and go searching for the girl.

Meanwhile, Hyun-seo finds herself in a pit filled with body parts and skeletons of the creature's victims. She rummages through them, seeking a cell phone that works so that she can call her father. When a boy younger than her is also brought to the holding area, she takes him under her wing and protects him from the hungry beast. It's only a matter of time, though, before it decides they will be an appropriate midnight snack.

Stomping amid social commentary

The creature's origins are murky, but there's a flashback to an arrogant white (presumably American) doctor who orders an assistant to pour hundreds of toxic chemicals down the drain at a morgue. The government figures out that the creature is the host of an unidentified virus and decides to quarantine anyone who has come in contact with it.

The creature itself is rather dinosaurlike, a walking fishlike lizard. It's fascinating to watch the interaction between the humans and the creature. Rather than constantly running away and screaming, as in classic monster movies from the past, these humans often stop to gawk, laugh and point, or even pose for pictures with the creature before deciding to start running and screaming. Of course, many of them don't make it. The creature looks realistic, and its interactions with the people and with the Han River landmarks come across as quite genuine.

Director Bong Joon-ho is making a lot of social commentary with this movie, poking fun at the government, the stupidity of the populace and the media's thirst for sensation. In one scene with grieving family members, photographers are snapping close-ups of parents and children crying and rolling around on the floor as they try to understand why this monster has eaten their loved ones. Bong uses the humor of the young father character to keep the otherwise hopeless film a bit light, and actor Song is appropriately pudgy and comical for the role—a kind of Korean Jack Black.

Expect plenty of gore and plenty of gut-wrenching moments. The creature is indiscriminate in its victims and likes to toy with them before finally biting them in half. This is as realistic a Godzilla-style movie as any ever made, and that is what has made it so popular overseas.