Sommerleigh Pollonais, Horror Head Writer
Okay white people, let’s go over this, ONE MORE TIME.
Ouija Boards are bad.
Séances are bad.
The dead people you’re trying to contact are never gonna answer the line. Instead, their weird roommate is gonna pick up and TRUST ME when I say, you don’t wanna talk to that guy!
Host (not to be confused with the awesome South Korean monster movie The Host) tells the story of six friends who decide to have a séance via Zoom, because being lockdown during a quarantine wasn’t terrifying enough. Of course someone does something stupid and demon shenanigans ensue.
What I most enjoyed about this movie was the way it was executed. Like Unfriended and Searching, it’s all done via computer screens and sometimes handheld devices like a cellphone. Because of this we the viewer are limited in what we can see, which always makes watching a horror movie a notch or two more scary. You’ll spend a lot of your time squinting or watching between your fingers as the character’s POV is all you can see. So when they swing around a phone in a dark room, you’ll find yourself bracing for the jump scare you just KNOW is right around the corner.
Another positive was the cast. Yes, we have our mandatory clichés here and there, with certain characters who make dumb choices that endanger everyone else (screw you Jemma!) but to be fair no one thinks this stuff is real, until it is. Know what I’m saying? Even with the little bit of character development given the actors manage to nail their parts, and I felt a true sense of sympathy for some people and raging apathy for others.
In my opinion Host did a much better job of delivering the jump scares than Unfriended did. And while it doesn’t pack the emotional punch of Searching it more than makes up for that with solid tension, great pacing and some very solid scares. If you want more of my take on this film you can check out my video review here.
Sommer’s Score: 7 out of 10
You can view Host for yourself on Shudder by clicking the following image:
And you can check out more great horror content below:
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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