10 Recent Horror Reveals Nobody Was Ready For

3. The Vera Double Fakeout - Superhost

Chucky Nica Fiona Dourif
Shudder

If there's ever a chance to spotlight the wonderful Superhost, your writer here will take it. And man, does it have a brilliant swerve as this 2022 Brandon Christensen-helmed effort enters its final act.

For the most part, Superhost is a three-pronged affair centred around travel bloggers Claire (Sara Canning) and Teddy (Osric Chau), and the titular superhost Rebecca (a phenomenal Gracie Gillam). Our travellers visit various locales and do online reviews, and Rebecca's luxurious remote rental property is next on their list.

From its marketing and opening sequence, it's made fully apparent that Rebecca is going to be the villain of the piece, so there's no particular twist in that regard. The revelation that does come as a surprise though, involves the ever-magnificent Barbara Crampton as Vera, a superhost who Claire and Teddy have previously given a particularly negative review to.

Vera arrives at Rebecca's rental and throws a rock at a window due to her anger at Claire and Teddy. From there, Rebecca scares Vera off, and that's that. Well, until we meet up with the tied-to-a-tree Vera about 15 minutes later.

Here, we see Rebecca stab Vera as a way to assist her new friends Claire and Teddy. While the bloggers are left disgusted by this, it's soon shown to have all been a ruse, with Rebecca and Vera on the same page and this prank done as a way to teach Claire and Teddy a lesson about negatively impacting someone's livelihood.

While that in itself is a fakeout, it's immediately followed by another fakeout, as Rebecca fatally stabs a knife through Vera's face after Teddy dares to ask her a question. That's when the sh*t really hits the fan as Superhost turns up to another gear.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.