Film Review

Host (2020) • Shudder

Six friends hire a medium to hold a seance via Zoom during lockdown but get far more than they bargained for as things quickly go wrong.

Rob Savage’s low-budget feature Host is sensational and creepy. I’m usually against found-footage films because, ever since The Blair Witch Project (1999) became a phenomenon, aspiring filmmakers have seen them as the quickest way to get rich with a relatively small investment. They’re not wrong, but only a few of them can pull off this sub-genre successfully.

Host works because we’re in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, at time of writing. We’ve been communicating through video chats, phone calls, and text messages for months. We’re isolated inside our homes, watching films and television like there’s no tomorrow, and it’s taking a toll.

The premise of Host is appealing because it reflects on the present. We’ve been Zoom-calling for what feels like forever, so we can easily relate. It wouldn’t work this well in any other circumstances, but the creators grasped the potential smartly enough to employ it for desperate…