New Horror Film 'Host' Is Set Entirely On Zoom And It Looks Terrifying

A horror film set entirely on Zoom has become a viral internet sensation.

Host follows a group of British youngsters as they join a séance on the video conferencing platform and try to commune with spirits.

The psychic medium who hosts the virtual séance loses her internet connection early on (typical!) leading to a terrifying sequence of events as an evil presence takes hold.

Jed Shepherd, Rob Savage and Gemma Hurley are the brains behind the 57-minute production - which started life as a prank among friends during lockdown.

Savage, who has directed multiple award-winning horror shorts, decided to fool his pals during a Zoom call to relieve quarantine boredom.

Filming himself as he climbed up into his spooky attic, he edited in clips from a Zombie horror flick to make it look like the footage played out in real time.

You can view the original clip in this tweet:

Just hours after being posted to Twitter, the video had been viewed several million times.

Film industry bosses showed so much interest in the clip that Rob and his fellow creatives went on to develop the film - which was edited and directed virtually - in just 12 weeks.

Actors helped create their own special effects, while the shooting itself took place in just five days.

The cast received partial scripts only, so no actors knew exactly how the plot played out.

Shudder)

Cast member Emma Louise Webb tweeted: "We had no idea how the other cast members died or how the film ended. It was all redacted and kept secret.

"Glad though because I loved the surprise of watching it back."

Talking about the project, Savage told The Guardian: "In years to come, when you look at this crazy time in history, we can point to [Host] and say "this is what we did with our friends".

Caroline Ward / Twitter)

Host went on to be the subject of a studio bidding war, and a UK cinematic release is reportedly on the way, though we don't have a fixed date just yet.

The horror short premiered on subscription video platform Shudder last month.

What's more, horror master Sam Raimi - creator of Evil Dead - has signed up to produce Shepherd and Savage's next creation, off the back of their success with Host.

Creating a viral horror and scooping a deal with a cinema legend? Beats baking banana bread, right?

Topics: lockdown, TV and Film, Horror, TV News, TV Entertainment

Mary-Jane Wiltsher

Mary-Jane Wiltsher is a freelance lifestyle and culture journalist. Elsewhere she writes for Stylist, Euronews, PHOENIX and What We Seee.