'Host' The Terrifying Horror Film That Spawned During Lockdown

August 05, 2020

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Think your lockdown was bad? Think again. It was inevitable that a new wave of movies would emerge as a result of the global coronavirus lockdown, and 'Host' is one such movie based in the paranormal world.

If you already feel like you never want to do another Zoom call in your life, then 'Host', a new breed of lockdown horror will have you running from your laptop for good.

The movie was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic by the cast who operated their own cameras. Since its release, 'Host' has scored a very impressive 100% on review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes.

'Host' is the story of a group of friends who hire a medium to conduct a remote séance using video conferencing software during lockdown, something that real life paranormal teams were doing during the lockdown to keep their customers and followers entertained while staying safe at home. However for the six friends in the movie, a virtual séance was the worst thing that they could have done.

Things quickly start going wrong for the friends, when an evil spirit invades their homes as the gang fight to survive the night. The story unfolds through the video chat itself in a similar style to the 2014 movie, 'Unfriended', that falls into a new horror sub-genre that's being called "desktop horror".

The British film is directed by Rob Savage and stars Haley Bishop ('Deep State'), Radina Drandova ('Dawn Of The Deaf'), Edward Linard ('The Rebels'), Jemma Moore ('Doom: Annihilation'), Caroline Ward ('Stalling It') and Emma Louise Webb ('The Crown').

The movie was written by Rob Savage, Gemma Hurley and Jed Shepherd, but because of social distancing rules in effect during its production, the cast were directed remotely by Savage and had to muck in by lighting their own scenes and even help pull off their own practical effects.

There's plenty of terrifying moments to rival any big budget horror movie, but before things kick off it perfectly sums up what life was like during the pandemic, with talk of "breaking lockdown," how our "pores are not doing well in lockdown" and the stress of moving in with your partner for lockdown.

The 57-minute-long film is an easy watch and is available now on the horror movie streaming service, Shudder. Readers in the UK can watch Shudder via Amazon Prime.