Host

"Someone new has joined the meeting."

2020 0h 57m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 1,348

Horror

Synopsis

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Six friends hire a medium to hold a séance via Zoom during lockdown — but they get far more than they bargained for as things quickly go wrong. When an evil spirit starts invading their homes, they begin to realise they might not survive the night.

“Someone new has joined the meeting.”

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Cast

Haley Bishop
Haley
Jemma Moore
Jemma
Emma Louise Webb
Emma
Radina Drandova
Radina
Caroline Ward
Caroline
Edward Linard
Teddy
Seylan Baxter
Seylan
Alan Emrys
Alan

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Rob Savage
Writers: Gemma Hurley, Rob Savage, Jed Shepherd
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 57-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 6 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Brenna Rangott shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Haley Bishop and Jemma Moore and Emma Louise Webb carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Someone new has joined the meeting.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt12749596 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Rob Savage directs. Brenna Rangott cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 57-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Shot for just $0.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Made its money back 4.4× over at the box office.
4Released 6 years ago.
5Editor Brenna Rangott shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Haley Bishop and Jemma Moore and Emma Louise Webb carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Someone new has joined the meeting.".
8IMDB entry: tt12749596 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 19 themes, including "quarantine", "computer", "isolation", "evil spirit".

The technical file

Editing: Brenna Rangott
Costume design: Alexi Kotkowska
Makeup / hair: Dan Martin
VFX supervisor: Steven Bray
Sound: Calum Sample
Stunt coordinator: Nathaniel Marten
Runtime: 57 min · 0h 57m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $100,000
Box office: $443,807
Return: 444% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Host (2020)

Also by

Rob Savage

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Community reviews

What people are saying

tmdb280390232022-08-25
★ 5/10
I had my reservations about Host. Zoom became very popular during the pandemic, but that doesn't mean that people are clamoring for movies about other people using Zoom. That said, I admit that Host won me over little by little. It's nowhere near perfect; the characters stay logged onto their Zoom sessions much longer than any sane person would, considering what they go through. Not only do they spend an inordinate amount of time in front of their computers, but on the rare occasions they go elsewhere – which is never too far –, they make sure to bring their laptops along (one even falls to the ground dragging his computer with them, the device managing to land at a perfect angle to continue following the action). This is not how real persons would react; it's how characters in a script behave. I understand that their monitors are our windows to the their world, and without them we would be left in the dark, but I'm more willing to believe in an evil spirit than in the perfect ubiquity of a video camera. Having said that, let's move on to the good stuff. This is a very well paced film. Director/co-writer Rob Savage is fully aware that his premise isn't sustainable in the long run, but he doesn't jump the gun either. Clocking in at 56 minutes, the movie its short enough to avoid tedium, but also patient enough to take the time to establish its characters. Do we feel like we've known them forever? Of course not, but there are five main characters, and each emerges as a distinct individual with a clear-cut personality. Additionally, Host has effective practical effects and genuine scares; the chair that moves with a person sitting on it reminded me of Poltergeist, and I also enjoyed the footsteps that appear on spilled flour on the floor, the bottle that takes off and crashes on a character's head, the moment when one of them throws a sheet into the air and instead of falling to the floor it hangs in the shape of a human body, and finally the last shot of the film, just before the computer runs out of battery (there is another incident that I prefer not to reveal, hoping it will have the same impact on future viewers as it did on me). Generally this type of movie falls short in the character development and special effects departments. Host gives us human beings and surrounds them with phenomena that convincingly turn these humans into victims; without realistic effects we would never believe these people were truly in danger, but most of the credit goes to the performances. If the actresses weren't able to foster empathy I wouldn't care if they stayed where they were or took their laptops with them or not, but they are and I do.

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