Six friends hire a medium to hold a seance via Zoom during lockdown, but they get far more than they bargained for as things quickly go wrong.Six friends hire a medium to hold a seance via Zoom during lockdown, but they get far more than they bargained for as things quickly go wrong.Six friends hire a medium to hold a seance via Zoom during lockdown, but they get far more than they bargained for as things quickly go wrong.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 8 nominations
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- Writers
- All cast & crew
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFilmed entirely using Zoom during the COVID-19 lockdown.
- Goofs(at around 44 mins) It is established early on that Zoom meeting has a waiting room enable. When Teddy rejoins the call later the host is otherwise occupied and couldn't have admitted him to the call.
- Quotes
Haley: It'll be fine. The woman is a friend of mine. So she's done it a bunch of times for me. She'll kind of guide everyone through it, we'll just kinda have to follow her instructions. So just please, she is a friend of mine, not that I don't think you would, please take it seriously tho and be respectful.
- Crazy creditsIn the end credits, next to the person's name responsible for the sound, the video camera icon is disabled.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Chris Stuckmann Movie Reviews: Host (2020)
Featured review
Host with a ghost
Six friends gather online for a seance during lockdown, but end up sending out the wrong invitation.
Pretty much the same set up as Unfriended, using the tried and failed idea of getting the characters to sit around and face each other ... hang on - the cheesiest device in horror just found its perfect scenario!
This is pretty good. With no opportunity for a wide shot of a car travelling on a country road, the director just gets down to business with the characters. The performances are fine, given there's so little back story or history to work with. The process of going through the looking glass is gradual, although the pace does pick up about half way through, and it all fits nicely into the run time.
Some decent frights, but nothing original, and the mythos is fuzzy as a couple of kills happen outside the circle of the seance. Also, the title suggests a particular plot device on the Zoom platform, but I don't think that was followed through. A big problem with jump scares is that they need good sound design, but in this format and these circumstances it's not available. Plus the only music is internal, which really limits the horror effect.
In the end, I was hoping for a reveal to cause a sharp intake of breath, like in Rec or Blair Witch, but no luck.
Still, it's an improvement on Unfriended, which also had a neat concept but was way too busy with onscreen information and stuffed with gurning performances. But that was five years ago, and we have yet to see the computer screen deliver the same intelligence as the cameras in Blair Witch.
Overall: One small step on horror's road to hell.
Pretty much the same set up as Unfriended, using the tried and failed idea of getting the characters to sit around and face each other ... hang on - the cheesiest device in horror just found its perfect scenario!
This is pretty good. With no opportunity for a wide shot of a car travelling on a country road, the director just gets down to business with the characters. The performances are fine, given there's so little back story or history to work with. The process of going through the looking glass is gradual, although the pace does pick up about half way through, and it all fits nicely into the run time.
Some decent frights, but nothing original, and the mythos is fuzzy as a couple of kills happen outside the circle of the seance. Also, the title suggests a particular plot device on the Zoom platform, but I don't think that was followed through. A big problem with jump scares is that they need good sound design, but in this format and these circumstances it's not available. Plus the only music is internal, which really limits the horror effect.
In the end, I was hoping for a reveal to cause a sharp intake of breath, like in Rec or Blair Witch, but no luck.
Still, it's an improvement on Unfriended, which also had a neat concept but was way too busy with onscreen information and stuffed with gurning performances. But that was five years ago, and we have yet to see the computer screen deliver the same intelligence as the cameras in Blair Witch.
Overall: One small step on horror's road to hell.
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- begob
- Aug 17, 2020
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Phòng Chat Quỷ Ám
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $443,807
- Runtime57 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
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