Host (2020)

User Review

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  d_riptide

  8 / 10

  I’ve issued this statement multiple times in the past: if there’s one thing I hate more than bad horror films, lazy horror films would have to be worse. To my complete and utter bewilderment, Shudder’s “Host” is neither of those. While nowhere near as inventive or innovative as the groundwork it lays before us, it bares a familiarity to Livescream as far as the reactions, the presentation displayed and especially the stakes involved....and that right there is where I believe this film manages to barely surpass Livescream in both execution and tension: the stakes involved, since this was filmed during the on-going pandemic. With everything that’s going on outside, the Unfriended/Searching set-up serves as a direct tool in nearly doubling the amount of tension as well as setting the tone for the atmosphere for the rest of the runtime. The plethora of devilishly well-timed jump-scares work best when our confusion leads us to examine the screen closer and then have us wander our minds off so that it can startle us when we least expect it. Runtime is perfect, cinematography and editing are more than serviceable and this is definitely one of the more better acted horror films I’ve seen all year, the main group making use of their unfortunate lack of character development and giving me enough interplay between them to get me to root for them.
  
  Making the most of it’s own limitations, it also managed to build up upon the elements of Unfriended that worked and those that could’ve went somewhere. But even I have to admit, despite its exploration of themes regarding social separation and anxiety, it’s hard to overlook some obvious foreshadowing here, some ham-fisted symbolism there and yet another done to death message of not meddling with powers beyond your control. But none of that was enough to really deter the experience.

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