9 Horror Movies That Got Too Real As You Watched
4. Host Is Shot & Released During COVID Lockdown
By April 2020, roughly half of the world's population was in some form of lockdown in an attempt to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, and though the last five years have seen numerous films released that explored the lockdown experience, none proved quite so timely as Host.
Host was a horror film written and directed by 28-year-old filmmaker Rob Savage - a movie set entirely on a computer screen during the pandemic as a group of friends accidentally summon a demon during an online Zoom séance.
The film was incredibly produced entirely in lockdown in a span of just 12 weeks, Savage remotely directing the cast and crew, who due to lockdown restrictions had to manage their own cameras, makeup, special effects, and sound.
And given that Host was released on streaming service Shudder by July 2020, audiences were able to watch the film while themselves likely still in some form of lockdown, ensuring a perversely immersive quality, as though we ourselves were part of the livestream while also ordered to remain in our homes.
Host is still an effective and well-crafted horror film when watched today, but the level of realness it achieved for those watching it on original release will (hopefully) never be replicated.