HOST
Ask anyone who knows me if horror and I are friends, and they will tell you, without hesitation, nope. For as long as I can remember, I’ve tried to avoid “end of the world” films, supernatural films and especially horror films. But horror has a way of finding me and striking fear into my very being. From the unanswered phone call just after my flatmates and I watched THE RING, to running out of a late night Edinburgh showing of JEEPERS CREEPERS because another patron decided to sit right next to us in an empty cinema, to answering the door to an old woman selling good luck charms after I returned home from DRAG ME TO HELL, to the sleepless nights that followed PARANORMAL ACTIVITY…There isn’t a duvet big enough to protect me when the 3am fear kicks in. And don’t even mention jump scares, which my partner just delights in!!
So it’s 2020 and COVID is sweeping across the country, and I, like so many others, find myself working from home, trying to figure out how to do my actual job. Out of nowhere comes Zoom. I’m now spending most days on screen in a little digital box in a grid of little digital boxes. Zoom wasn’t just a platform; it became a lifeline for me as it was now my office and my way to connect with friends and family.
So when my partner suggested we watch a film called HOST because “Kim you use Zoom, this will be interesting for you”, and “ it’s literally just a group of friends getting together on Zoom”. How scary could it really be? Well I watched with my hands clasped firmly to my face (that’s how I normally watch horror) peeking through my fingers. The digital grid that hosted my team meetings, my parties, and my socially distanced catch ups with friends was now a haunted house and I was scared stiff.
HOST isn’t just another horror film, it has managed to capture that strangely specific moment in lockdown when everyone was scrambling to find new ways to stay connected. It was the era of nonstop “You’re on mute,” “Your sound’s off,” and “Turn your camera on!” HOST understood all of it: devices dying mid-call, glitchy connections, buffering, unstable network warnings, and those awful frozen screens.
By the time the film ended, my soul had left my body several times and I had another thing to go on the ever growing avoid list: films about Zoom seances. My nerves were shot to hell, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Months later, I felt that strange urge to plunge myself back into the horror that had petrified me the first time. And guess what? It still terrified me. So even though horror and I are still not friends, HOST definitely has to be one of my favourite horror films as it managed to tap into my everyday realities and wrapped them in fear and terror.
Kim
