Host - 2020
Since the seminal work of 1999, The Blair Witch Project, the found footage genre of horror has admittedly lost some of its luster. It could be argued pretty convincingly that much of what made that maiden voyage of this kind of filmmaking so dynamic was the lack of internet press and spoilers at the time. The filmmakers were actually able to convince a few unlucky souls that what they were seeing was real (at 16, I had my doubts, but the divided feelings I possessed showed how effective the marketing really was). Since then, directors have had to get more creative, and to their credit, they largely have. The Paranormal Activity films were a boon to the genre. Others committed to the same style with mixed results.
As the technology evolved, so too did the presentation. Thus, we got Unfriended, the first found footage film that took place on a computer screen. A Skype call, in fact. Then there was the effective thriller Searching, which took place entirely on an individual's desktop. I'm underscoring the highlights here, but there have been loads of mediocrity as well. So where does the new "Zoom seance" horror flick Host fit in to the hierarchy? Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but in some ways it may just be the best of all of them!
I'm sure I've got my work cut out for me in convincing true horror fans. Two of my greater criticisms of this kind of genre effort are: poor characterization and bloated runtime. Hostavoids both BEAUTIFULLY. At only 56 minutes, it contains less fat than a certified BeachBody coach. Yet it spends 15-20 minutes magnificently setting up its characters. We get to meet each character, share some laughs and inside jokes between them. We hear about quarantine and lockdown. We witness them wearing masks when they venture out unwillingly into public. These people obviously have a long shared history and truly, deeply care about each other. Located in a particular time and place, they FEEL real.
The structure of Host is: Roughly 15-20 minutes of set up. Another 15-20 of meeting the seance leader and witnessing the onset of some strange happenings. Then 20 minutes of nails-digging-into-your-flesh, step-on-your-jugular, hair-raising horror. One sequence after another. Tension mounting and building to a fever pitch, until you simply just want to get up and walk away. But you can't. The genius of Host is that WE'REthe 7th Zoom caller. I once thought Zoom work meetings were bad. I'll never see them the same way again.
Now, the scares aren't particularly new. But that's not a bad thing. In fact, Rob Savage and crew seem to really be tapped into the history of the genre. They know the value of negative space and eerie objects (a clown mask, a music box). How to create fear in the dark by just reveling in pregnant pauses. The disorienting effect of grainy visuals coming in and out of focus. People are drug from rooms and lifted into skies and bludgeoned by various objects. It's been done before, but here we get kind of a symbiosis of old classic horror tropes and the thrillingly modern.
Zoom is also just a pitch perfect platform for this picture. Who hasn't been using it as of late? Further, who doesn't relate it to COVID-19, to quarantines, and the feeling of being trapped inside our own four walls? It's a pretty ubiquitous sentiment. The program also offers some fresh scares with its ability to create looping backgrounds (my favorite sequence of the whole film involves the use of this) and to throw facial effects onscreen. Moreover, we've all had the experience of staring at ourselves and other people in those little tiled windows. Soon, our eyes and minds wander to the edges of their frames. Hostutilizes these backgrounds and darkness to maximal effect. Pretty soon we're jumping not at what we do see, but what we COULD see or hear at any moment. It's suspense by subtraction, not addition.
Then again, with each of the characters staring intently at their screens, they open a blindspot so often utilized in horror pics - their backs! The film weaponizes this aspect of Zoom as well. So, we get horrible occurrences happening at up to six places at one time. (And, if we aren't careful, we start looking around our own place for signs of a demonic presence too). All of this together is the magic of Host. It can afford to set up characters and create rooting interests because it bludgeons us with suspense, sounds, and terror in the third act. Because the film's runtime is so short, all of those surprises come hot and heavy. No mounting tension is left without its catharsis in short order.
Oh, and by the way, if I didn't make it clear...it's freaking scary! 56 minutes was about all I could take. Afterwards I wanted to jump on Zoom and call my mommy, but Savage ruined all of that completely.
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