31 Days of Halloween: Host

 2020. Rob Savage (Strings) -- download

Finally, something that was not only tightly done, well scripted & acted but also EXTREMELY timely, as it all takes place during the 2020 Lockdown, on Zoom. Yes, the horror movie via webcam has been done before, but not with so much of its viewing populace having recently used the platform for pretty much the same reasons the characters in the movie did -- to reconnect with their friends while all stuck at home. But, I wonder how many have actually run a seance...

Haley arranges the seance between her and five friends, and a spiritual leader Seylan. Despite the at hand booze, and a Room full of sceptics, Hayley asks one thing -- take it seriously. We can see there is already some tension between the friends, but that is to be expected amongst a largish crowd of 20sumthins who have been locked indoors for a couple of months by now. The movie, based on the meeting details, is set in July, 2020.

One of the girls mocks the spirits, which according to Seylan is the wrong thing to do. When you lie about the spirits, it can give a gateway to dark things, demonic things that won't follow the rules and only have malevolence in mind. It starts mildly enough; noises and lights, and a sliding chair. But things quickly escalate. This is one fucking violent spirit that tosses the girls about, one by one, smashing them and anyone around them like rag dolls until... the Zoom meeting ends.

I loved how it mixed the technological aspects of the movie into a tight, quickly resolved plot. Free Zoom meetings can only be 40 minutes, and the movie runs just over an hour. Some of the girls are using laptops, some their phones, which changes perspective and interaction. There is no soundtrack, bad camera work (front cams suck) and LOTS of eerie darkness. And then there is that yellow labeled bottle at the centre of the screen that begs to have an eye kept on it. The movie had some very good scares, not an empty ounce of jump scare, using every scary element to its fullest.

While this may be accused of being just another found footage style film, it really does do an effective scary movie while acknowledging its predecessors. That one girl spends much of her time under a blanket seeking protection harkens back to the tent scene in the ff original, Blair Witch Project. And some of those barely scene images of the evil spirit are so obviously inspired by those viral videos that had the horrid face inserted, to scare kids and parents alike, with their false connections. I can see this movie becoming a favourite of teenage girl sleepovers, well once sleepovers are a thing people are allowed to have. Zoom's having a banner year, so it should still be around by then.