Online unease
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Host
Dir Rob Savage, UK 2020 On digital platforms
It had to happen. At the beginning of this year people were digging out older films like Contagion, Outbreak and even Dawn of the Dead to give them some pointers about what do to if things ever got that bad, or perhaps just as a sort of morbid fascination with the end of days. But by the middle of the year the Covid-19 pandemic and concomitant restrictions were inspiring new productions. Host, made by the Shudder channel, is a fine example of that.
The premise, in more normal times, would have been routine: a group of friends gathers for a séance and it all goes tits-up. In the time of coronavirus, however, the séance is being hosted on Zoom and the participants are all in separate locations. No holding hands around the table here then.
I’m usually highly suspicious of these à la mode films: no-one remembers or any more do they? is very much a 21st century production: I never thought I’d see a film where fear could arise out of an Ocado delivery, or a dropped Internet connection. But, to my surprise, it
