Matthew Brady's Movie Review of Host (2020)

Well then, I guess the glitch didn't just typed.
Matthew Brady - wrote on 02/10/21

So 'Host' is a horror "movie" that was filmed entirely using Zoom during the COVID-19 lockdown. Some spooky stuff happens with a demotic demon and one by one everybody is killed off. It's like 'Unfriended’ but Zoom. There's also 2018 'Searching' starring John Cho, even though that isn't a horror movie. Basically, this concept of the whole movie taking place on a laptop or any online chat site isn't anything new. 'Host' doesn't add anything new to this concept and instead plays on predicable scares with no imagination behind it.

This feels like one of those "we need to get a movie out that's relevant with references to the outside world like masks, Covid, Zoom, etc." Zero artistic integrity, just boring and poorly put together. Just because its topical doesn't mean it's good.

I thought it was poorly acted, as I didn't fully believe them as the characters. They don't talk or act like real people. It was just so awkward and unnatural, especially at the beginning which was so painful to sit through.

The movie felt like a waste of time, despite the movie being 57 minutes long. I mean this is barely a movie. What's more insulting is that they added a seven-minute actual Zoom call with the cast and crew doing a seance, because I guess they wanted to pad out the runtime so it's feature length. Man fuck this movie. The more I write and let things sink in, the angrier I'm getting.

There was literally a scene when a demon throws a beer bottle at someone's head and it was so unintentionally hilarious that it came off as slapstick. I also noticed one of the actor’s broke character at one point when one of sneeze during a serious and scary moment; I could see them holding back laughter before going back into scared and upset mood. It was so bad.

The only positive thing I can say about this piece of shit is that at least it's short, even if it does end on a final jump scare, because we all know that great horror movies end like that.

I wish my Zoom calls were as eventful as this.