The tension builds well, and you find yourself looking beyond the characters, into the background of the scenes in case there is something demonic lurking there.Īpparently, it only took 12 weeks for Host to get to Shudder, and as quarantine was already in place, the cast had to perform many of the stunts and effects themselves, so you have to admire the production, and the challenge of getting the thing actually made. Give your friends the virtual creeps with the shadowy figure standing atop a misty. The scares are effective, and as a viewer, you are very quickly drawn into the meeting and the séance. This haunted house background from Pixabay has the Grim Reaper waiting for you to enter. If you enjoy these types of films, then I imagine you will get quite a lot from Host. The premise is topical and engaging, and the performances are actually really good, with the cast doing a great job with such a limited palate.

As the subgenre expands, though, topping the horrors of a particularly boring Zoom meeting at work may remain too great a task.The story escalates from here, pretty much in the way you probably expect it should, and the shocks and jump scares build to a shocking final scene. Host is just the latest horror film to take place entirely on computer screens after movies like 2014's Unfriended and 2013's The Den, though given how well this particular project seems to have worked out despite coronavirus production shutdowns, one can only assume many more like it will be on the way. Not only was the film produced during the pandemic, but it incorporates the coronavirus crisis into its plot, and writes that it's 'nice to see that the first horror movie to specifically address our present hellish circumstances is as unpretentious and tidy as it is.' Host currently holds a 100 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 14 reviews, with The New York Times saying Savage 'finds a surprising amount of ingenuity' in the premise, while Pajiba says that it's a 'satisfyingly scary picture,' The Guardian says it's a 'genuinely effective little chiller,' and the Austin Chronicle dubs it 'one of the most brutally innovative horrors of the last few years.' With this incredibly fast timeline in mind, critics say the end result works surprisingly well.

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