Streaming
Services: Shudder
Movie
Name/Year: Host
(2020)
Genre: Horror
Length: 56 minutes
Rating: NR
Production/Distribution: Shadowhouse Films, Shudder
Director: Rob Savage
Writer: Gemma Hurley, Rob Savage,
Jed Shepherd
Actors: Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore,
Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova, Caroline Ward, Alan Emrys, Patrick Ward,
Edward Linard, Jinny Lofthouse, Seylan Baxter, Jack Brydon, James Swanton
Blurb
from IMDb: Six
friends hire a medium to hold a scene via Zoom during lock down - but they get
far more than they bargained for as things quickly go wrong. When an evil
spirit starts invading their homes, they begin to realize they might not
survive the night.
Selina’s
Point of View:
This,
right here, is how you do a web cam film.
We
all know that found footage films, especially in the web cam sub-genre, can be
hit or miss. Shaky cam can make people feel dizzy and it can be really hard to
make it not feel scripted.
Shudder
made a strategically great move in working quickly to put out this flick. It
made the entire thing feel more relatable because it fed off of what people are
currently experiencing. The majority of us have kept in touch with friends
through online apps. Not only that, but we’ve been bored enough to try stuff we
normally wouldn’t. Sure, that mostly includes learning a new language or going
through the recipes in our cookbooks… but I can absolutely buy that there are
people out there trying digital séances.
My
favorite aspect, though, is that the film used a free Zoom meeting as the
setting and stuck to real-time. I love that concept. That meant the editing had
to be extremely tight. There was no lengthy exposition, no wasting time, and no
unnecessary footage to muddle through. Host got straight to the point.
It
worked. The suspense was palpable. I felt it in my chest the entire time. I’d
be paying attention to one square as the person spoke, and then something would
happen somewhere else that completely caught me off guard.
Not
going to lie, I jumped several times. It absolutely got me. Some of the scares
should have been considered basic, but because the film is so short, you skip
over a lot of the bullshit. You just get to those scares much quicker than
expected. It hits so much differently, in the best way.
Host is relatable and effective. There’s
really nothing more I need from a horror film. If you don’t have Shudder yet,
this could be a reason to get it.
Rotten
Tomatoes Critic Score – 100%
Rotten
Tomatoes Audience Score – 83%
Metascore – 72/100
Metacritic
User Score – None
IMDB
Score – 6.8/10
CinemaScore – None
Trust
the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 5/5
Trust
the Dice Parental Advisory Rating: R
Movie
Trailer:
