HOST (2020)
a review by Evan Landon
We've all been locked away inside for so long, we all want something to break our boredom. We all want something to take our minds off of what is going on. That's what movies are for, right? Well, why don't we make our own horror movies over the same Zoom meetings we use for business and family board games online? Yeah, that will take our minds off of it!
Apparently, this is also how you can do séances and summon spirits, demons, or other worldy beings from beyond the veil. No worries tho; the afterlife also seems to be equipped with the latest version of Microsoft Windows because apparently Vista doesn't have that kind of range.
This type of filmmaking is a new style called "Screen Life” or "Computer Screen Film" or "Desktop Film" which is a sub genre of "Found Footage" that was capitalized on in such classic films as Unfriended, The Den, even Searching (with John Cho) and is a perfect format for this pandemic lockdown the film industry is currently facing. Shit, it is done on such a low budget, I'm even thinking about making one of my own. The new craze is here, dammit, & you're gonna watch!
All joking aside, this is an ambitious take on making movies since no one can really be in the same room together, much less share a stage of any kind. All of the actors even give their own names as characters, so they were definitely chiming in with their own ideas. One of the girls is even listed as a writer. The director said that he edited the whole thing down in his bathrobe. Now, that makes it interesting, even relatable or comedic, but does it make it good? The answer is: not really.
I won't go spoiling anything for you, but if you decide to watch this movie, I'm sure you know what you have in store for you. Jump scares are prominent, but character development, background, or arc are not. I like to feel what a character's intent or history is to feel somewhat related to the characters, y'know, so I can give a shit about them. But nah, not this one.
The plot? During the virus lockdown, a bunch of friends have a séance over a zoom meeting and unleash something in each person's living quarters. That's it. Nothing else to report without spoiling the entire movie, but seriously, you already know what happens to these idiots.
The good news is this is one of the only movies released in 2020, so it will probably clean up in every category in the Academy Awards. The bad news is there will probably be multiple sequels because of how well it was received garnering high praise from critics with an aggregate score of 6.7/10 on IMDb, but I'm pretty sure that is just because of how starved we all are for content of ANY kind.
1.5 out of 5