The idea of the movie stemmed from a prank Savage was trying to pull off, according to an interview with. Savage is clever with how he uses Zoom, as he plays with the reality of video chats: internet connection issues, difficulties with navigating Zoom and the changing of backgrounds and face filters. There have been a few movies to use video chat as a crutch, such as horror movies “Unfriended,” “Unfriended: Dark Web,” and critically acclaimed mystery, “Searching.” While it is easy to compare and contrast, “Host” is a bit more realistic and scarier. But when an evil spirit is conjured, things quickly go wrong. The premise of the movie is straight forward six friends hire a medium to hold a seance over a Zoom call during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Host” was directed and co-written by Rob Savage and released exclusively on Shudder on July 30. Well, we got our first movie that was shot on a Zoom call. It feels like Zoom and Skype have become a way of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Alex Behunin, Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor

Zoom scary movie