Host

Host
Starring Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova
Directed by Rob Savage

2020 was easily the worst year for millions of people worldwide, as a raging pandemic led to massive country-wide shutdowns and quarantines, confining people to their homes. This real-life horror is expressed in Rob Savage's "Host," but thankfully it doesn't focus entirely on this real threat and instead allowed those stuck at home to experience a unique, fun, and thankfully short supernatural horror film cleverly filmed through Zoom (which, for anyone who had to endure Zoom calls, is horrifying in itself) that relies almost entirely on classic jump scares but surprisingly hit more often than not.

Haley (Haley Bishop) gathers her five friends - Jemma (Jemma Moore), Emma (Emma Louise Webb), Radina (Radina Drandova), Caroline (Caroline Ward), and Teddy (Edward Linard) over Zoom to participate in an online seance led by medium Seylan (Seylan Baxter). Although Haley wants her friends to take it seriously, it doesn't take long until they're secretly mocking Seylan, with Jemma going as far as to invent a spirit named Jack that supposedly spoke to her. After this happens, however, the laughter turns to screams as Jemma unknowingly summoned a demon that begins tormenting the Zoom callers, before brutally killing them one-by-one.

The concept of a film shot entirely from a computer screen isn't too different nowadays, with "Unfriended" (and the better "Unfriended: Dark Web") being out there, along with superior dramatic films like "Searching," so the idea is a bit novice at this point. Still, when you're totally limited to what you can deliver, you work with what you got - and director Rob Savage still manages to provide enough scares in the film's under-an-hour runtime to make you gasp and scream for the moment, but once the film ends it doesn't have much lingering worries.

There's a show I like to watch called "Paranormal: Caught on Camera" which supposedly shows true supernatural events captured on camera by average citizens, and I enjoy it because even though I'm a huge fan of the supernatural and believe in it, all the videos shown can be easily debunked and uses typical tricks like piano wire pulling on objects and the like. "Host" incorporates these gimmicks as chairs seemingly move on their own, objects go flying across the screen, and cabinet doors open on their own. It's all very standard when you think about it, but again, when you're limited to what you can do, and I can appreciate the effort that everyone put forward to provide a fun little escape from reality.

The performances are fine, and pretty much what you'd expect - lots of screaming, crying, talking over each other, and obvious panic. Savage directed everyone remotely, and the actors were responsible for setting up their own stunts, camera, lighting, and most of the dialogue. To not be able to work off another living person is difficult, and the actors were all able to make the viewers feel like they really weren't alone, offering genuine scares that were effective in some moments, not-so-much in others, but as I've said many times before here, I can appreciate the effort put into producing this during that time.

Thankfully, while the film obviously centers around people stuck at home during a pandemic, it doesn't treat Covid in a heavy-handed way but mentions it as the purpose for them all to get together that way, and it's helpful during these times to gather with friends any way you can - just as long as you don't accidentally summon a demon in the process.

Utilizing the limited capabilities during a pandemic lockdown, "Host" offers up decent thrills and scares in its scant runtime, providing decent performances and spooky effects that'll entertain you for the under hour runtime.

The Score: B+