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‘Host’ on Shudder is Fun and Bone-Chilling Paranormal Horror

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Host

Host, the new paranormal horror film from director Rob Savage (Strings), debuted on Shudder yesterday, and it’s quickly becoming one of the most talked about new films on social media.

Filmed entirely during quarantine with a 56 minute run-time, Host centers on six friends who, bored with social-distancing and isolation due to Covid-19, decide to hire a psychic to perform a seance for them via Zoom. When one of the group members fails to take things seriously, however, all hell breaks loose, and what follows is pure genius.

Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova, and Caroline Ward round out the central cast with Seylan Baxter appearing as the medium.

Savage wastes very little time getting down to business once his characters are introduced, and he makes every single minute count as the strange and terrifying events begin to take place.

Now, to be fair, Host is a bit of trope-fest. If you’re a fan of paranormal horror who has seen and enjoyed Grave EncountersParanormal Activity, and Hell House, then you have seen a lot of what goes on in this film. In fact, there is very little new or fresh about Host save for it all basically being filmed and directed without anyone being in the same room together.

However, Savage and his cast and crew chose to embrace those tropes and just go with them without pretension or judgement which ultimately makes the film not only fun but also effective.

Now remember, this film takes place entirely on a Zoom call? That puts everyone on camera with a lot of empty space, open doors, dark hallways, and shadowy windows behind them which automatically sets us ill at ease. Films like the aforementioned Paranormal Activity have taught us to not trust those open, darkened spaces, and as I watched I found myself constantly on alert, scanning each little Zoom window for anything out of the ordinary.

Moreover, because of the way Host was made, each actor was responsible for their own recording, lighting, make-up, and stunts which gave the movie a more homegrown, realistic feel than films like Unfriended where everything was just a little too polished.

And then there’s the brevity of the film. That 56 minute run-time is a blessing in itself. Nothing is overdrawn and it keeps each moment moving at a pace that ultimately serves the narrative.

When those elements combine, they work far better than I could have anticipated.

If the film falters anywhere, it is toward the end. As the action and terror ramps up so, do the special effects and stunt work. This is, of course, how things should progress, but there were moments where it became just a tad too flashy for the film’s otherwise organic feel. I won’t spoil anything, but you’ll know it when you see it.

Despite this fact, however, Host comes to a satisfyingly abrupt conclusion that will have you checking the dark corners of your house to make sure nothing and no one is there.

You can see the film exclusively on Shudder right now! Grab some popcorn, turn down the lights, and get ready to join the Zoom call from Hell.

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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