Host (2020)

Rob Savage’s film that was made during the pandemic is shot exclusively over zoom, using laptop and phone cameras to great effect and making for a tight and concise horror film. A few friends gather on zoom, as they have been doing weekly during the pandemic, and on this occasion one of them has hired a medium to add a bit of spice to the online proceedings. No surprises for guessing what happens, but what makes Host so imaginative and unnervingly familiar is that it plays out like something we all repeatedly did during the pandemic. All the horrors that occur in the film are in settings that feel fresh in our minds, and as if to prove that what’s happening on screen is real, Savage uses technology against itself; interweaving filters and screensavers into the story to up the anti and to leave both the characters and viewers in no doubt that they’re experiencing something horrifying. The minimalism of the computer screen as a tool works wonders in its size; when something happens it’s not so in your face as to make it glaringly obvious. Less is more when it comes to the horror genre, and Savage’s films’ set up itself is less in size than the norm, (it also lasts just under an hour) and makes for a claustrophobic, eerily recognizable platform that provides a highly efficient chiller. 7.5/10