The Host (Movie) by Stephenie Meyer

Everybody has heard of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, but her science fiction adult novel The Host isn't as widely known.

The bestselling novel about aliens who take over human bodies is being made into a major feature film adaptation. The movie will be in theaters March 29, 2013.

There aren't any vampires in it, but it does have aliens. It also has a good balance of love scenes and suspenseful action that should interest a lot of people. This is a story that will appeal to more males than Twilight did. It's not just a romance story, it's about an alien invasion and body snatchers.

• Saoirse Ronan (Melanie Stryder/Wanda)
• Diane Kruger (The Seeker)
• Jake Abel (Ian O'Shea)
• Max Irons (Jared Howe)
• Chandler Canterbury (Jamie Stryder)
• William Hurt (Jeb Stryder)
• Frances Fisher (Maggie Stryder)
• Boyd Holbrook (Kyle O'Shea)
• Scott Lawrence (Doc)

• The Host movie has been in the works since 2009, about a year after the book was released.
• The movie has finished filming and is currently in post-production.
• The movie was directed by Andrew Niccol who wrote and directed Gattaca and did the screenplays for The Terminal and The Truman Show. He also wrote the screenplay of The Host film based on Stephenie Meyer's novel.
• Stephenie Meyer is one of the producers of the movie.
• Saoirse Ronan is playing Wanda, an alien who is in the body of Melanie Stryder. Ronan is differentiating the characters by giving Wanda (the alien) a generic American accent and Melanie a Louisiana twang.
• Stephenie Meyer says she sees The Host becoming a trilogy, so there might be more books and movies to come in the future. The book sequel would also be from Wanda's point of view. The other possible books are tentatively titled The Soul and The Seeker.

You can tell if a human has an alien "parasite" by looking at their eyes. A blue ring appears around the pupil of the eyes of the aliens and is reflective at night.

• The Origin - The Souls' home planet.
• Spider World - The Spiders were the first creatures the Souls attached themselves to. Vultures were attacking the Souls, so the Souls implanted themselves into the Spiders as a defense. The Spiders welcomed them.
• Vulture World - The Vultures attacked the Souls.
• See Weeds World - The closest planet to earth and completely covered with ocean. The creatures on the world are sentient See Weeds who live their lives rooted to the ocean floor.
• Summer World - The third planet acquired by the Souls. Summer World is a very beautiful planet.
• Mists Planet - The world is an ice world inhabited by creatures similar to bears. They have very agile hands and use them to create art and sculptures from the ice.
• Singing World - Is one of the closest of the worlds. The creatures on the planet are blind and bat-like. They spend their days singing and harmonizing with each other.
• Flower World - Is the most beautiful of the Souls' planets. It is inhabited by sentient flowers who have very limited emotions.
• Fire World - The planet has created a dilemma for the Souls because of the creatures. The Souls have assimilated a species known as Fire-Tasters who eat Walking Flowers. But the Souls discovered that Walking Flowers are also sentient. The Souls have a deep concern for all forms of life so they are looking for another source of food for the Fire-Tasters.
• Dragon World - The world has a thick atmosphere made of acidic gases. Dragons are the creatures living on the planet. They are jelly-like and can fly. The dragons breathe the acidic gases.
• Dolphin World - Is an ocean planet and one of the latest planets acquired. It has creatures "dolphins" who live underwater. They are more like dragonflies with hands that they use to build cities.

**Spoiler Alerts**

The earth has quietly been invaded by aliens. Most humans have become hosts for the aliens who are centipede-like creatures who refer to themselves as "Souls."

They are small, silvery creatures with thousands of tiny arms that attach themselves to the humans' brains at the top of the spinal column.

Despite taking over the human bodies, the aliens are peaceful creatures who don't squabble amongst themselves. The earth has become a calm and harmonious place for once since the Souls' arrival.

Melanie Stryder is one of the few rebel humans remaining. She gets captured and a Soul is put into her. The Soul is known as Wanderer ("Wanda") because she has lived on eight other planets controlled by the Souls. (See the chart to the right for more details about the other planets).

Typically the human consciousnesses of the host bodies fade away and the Soul is left in complete control of the body and mind. But Melanie is mentally strong and is fighting Wanda from the inside.

Wanda is supposed to be digging in Melanie's memories for information about other "wild" humans. Instead, she is becoming more and more attached to the things and people that Melanie loves.

Eventually Wanda gives in and lets Melanie lead her to where Melanie's brother, Jamie, and boyfriend, Jared, might be hiding.

The hiding spot is a series of caves in the Sonoran desert of Arizona. Melanie's uncle Jeb finds Wanda and decides to bring her back to the caves where they will decide whether or not to kill her.

They imprison her in one of the caverns hoping to find a way to remove the Soul from Melanie's body. Meanwhile the other humans in the hideout find out she is there. Two brothers, Ian and Kyle, decide to kill her anyway.

Uncle Jeb intervenes. After the scuffle Jeb and Ian discover that Wanda isn't like the other Souls and that Melanie hasn't completely disappeared.

Wanda is allowed more freedom and reconnects with her brother and with Jared and develops a budding relationship with Ian.

A tug of war develops inside Melanie's head as Wanda starts a new life while Melanie clings to the life she used to have...