FILM OF THE WEEK
HOST (Cert 15, 65 mins, Vertigo Releasing, Horror/Thriller/Romance, available now on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from February 22 on Blu-ray £32.99)
Starring: Haley Bishop, Caroline Ward, Emma Louise Webb, Jemma Moore, Radina Drandova, Edward Linard, Patrick Ward, Seylan Baxter, Jinny Lofthouse.
HALEY (Haley Bishop) organises a Zoom video call with five friends, Caroline (Caroline Ward), Emma (Emma Louise Webb), Jemma (Jemma Moore), Radina (Radina Drandova) and Teddy (Edward Linard).
Once pleasantries and light-hearted banter have been exhausted, Haley invites her pal Seylan (Seylan Baxter) into the chat room to conduct an online seance. Caroline is nervous – "Can't we just do a board game?" – but Seylan attempts to allay the group's fears even though, in her own words, they will be "slightly less protected" by summoning spirits remotely rather than standing together in a circle with hands linked.
Shot during the first national Covid lockdown, Host is an unsettling exercise in sustained tension that makes the most of the physical restrictions of filmmaking during an outbreak.
The cast operate their own cameras and a frenetic finale engineers a couple of truly gob-smacking moments that scratch our nerves and mercilessly exploit universal fears of things that go bump in the night.
In 2014, low budget horror Unfriended used a video call between pals to take the philosophical concept of a 'ghost in the machine' to the outlandish next level. Rob Savage's film attempts the same trick albeit with some artistic licence – a free 40-minute Zoom call during one balmy evening is stretched to 54 minutes of screen time – and obvious nods to The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity with jump-out-of-seat scares.
For the most part, the nimble dramatic conceit works extremely well although the extended use of the flash of a Polaroid camera to illuminate darkened rooms feels increasingly contrived.
Rating: 9/10
ALSO RELEASED
THE OWNERS (Cert 18, 93 mins, Signature Entertainment, Thriller/Horror/Romance, available from February 22 on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from March 1 on DVD £19.99)
Starring: Maisie Williams, Sylvester McCoy, Rita Tushingham, Jake Curran, Ian Kenny, Andrew Ellis.
NATHAN (Ian Kenny), best mate Terry (Andrew Ellis) and their pal Gaz (Jake Curran) stake out the home of Dr Richard Huggins (Sylvester McCoy) and his wife Ellen (Rita Tushingham), who run a community practice from their ramshackle country pile.
The three young men intend to break in and plunder the elderly couple's electronic safe.
The best laid plans of three hapless thieves are derailed by the unexpected arrival of Nathan's girlfriend Mary (Maisie Williams), who needs her car back so she can get to work.
She becomes embroiled in the bungled robbery and witnesses Nathan threatening to cut off the fingers of Mr Huggins with a Stanley knife unless her husband reveals the safe's combination.
The medic pleads clemency for his frail and forgetful wife, who bears the deep emotional scars of losing their daughter. "She's not entirely herself anymore," explains Dr Huggins.
Adapted from Hermann and Yves H's graphic novel Une Nuit De Pleine Lune, The Owners is a twisted home invasion thriller, which ramps up the gore by delivering blunt force trauma to one woebegotten character in stomach-churning close-up. Blood continues to flow freely on screen as protagonists kill with kindness in the name of survival.
Fans of the diabolical 2016 horror Don't Breathe, which will give birth to a sequel later this year, will second-guess the script's gnarly narrative beats, which gleefully upend polite assumptions.
Williams wrings out plentiful tears as her ill-fated heroine is dragged through the emotional wringer by events beyond her control.
Rating: 7/10
SERIES / BOX SETS
BIG SKY (16 episodes, starts streaming from February 23 exclusively on Disney+, Thriller/Romance)
DAVID E Kelley, creator of Big Little Lies and Ally McBeal, masterminds a TV adaptation of CJ Box's novel The Highway, which engineers a race against time to rescue kidnapped girls from the clutches of a long-haul lorry driver.
Ronald Pergman (Brian Geraghty) abducts sisters Danielle (Natalie Alyn Lind) and Grace Sullivan (Jade Pettyjohn) and conceals his prey in an old shipping container. Danielle's boyfriend Justin (Gage Marsh) alerts his estranged parents, ex-cops Cody (Ryan Phillippe) and Jenny (Katheryn Winnick), who work together at a private detective agency.
They agree to help solve the case aided by Cody's antagonistic business partner Cassie Dewell (Kylie Bunbury) and Montana patrol officer Rick Legarski (John Carroll Lynch).
As Cody and Jenny gather evidence, they realise several more girls have vanished in the area and they are dealing with a serial predator.
For All Mankind – Season 2 (10 episodes, streaming from February 19 exclusively on Apple TV+, Drama/Sci-Fi/Romance)
THE acclaimed Apple TV+ series, which imagines an alternate reality to the space race, returns to the streaming service this week to continue the battle beyond the stars between global superpowers.
The second chapter begins in 1983 at the height of the Cold War with Ronald Reagan installed in the White House. Nasa continues to play catch-up after Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first man on the Moon in June 1969.
The Department of Defense moves into Mission Control, militarising Nasa as America and the Soviet Union compete to control resources on the moon. This power struggle, which lights the fuse on threats of nuclear war, has potentially dire repercussions for astronauts Edward Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) and Gordo Stevens (Michael Dorman) and engineer Margo Madison (Wrenn Schmidt).
GINNY & GEORGIA (10 episodes, streaming from February 24 exclusively on Netflix, Drama/Romance)
THE past catches up with a young mother and her brood in a 10-part drama created by Sarah Lampert.
Georgia (Brianne Howey) moves to Massachusetts with her 15-year-old daughter Ginny Miller (Antonia Gentry) and young son Austin (Diesel La Torraca). The children are used to moving around and angsty Ginny is wary of forging close emotional ties in New England in case they have to uproot again.
At school, the teenager nurtures an unspoken attraction to neighbour and classmate Marcus (Felix Mallard) and tentatively comes of age with support from three close gal pals.
Meanwhile, Georgia does whatever it takes to protect her family from the unspoken horrors of their former life.
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY – THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (Cert 18, 567 mins, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment/HBO, available now on Amazon Prime Video/iTunes/NOW TV and other download and streaming services, available from February 22 on DVD £27.99/Blu-ray £42.99, Drama/Horror/Romance)
THE hallucinogenic 10-part HBO drama based on Matt Ruff ’s novel materialises on home formats this week followings its run on Sky Atlantic.
Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) is determined to track down his missing father Montrose (Michael Kenneth Williams) in racially segregated 1950s America.
He embarks on a road trip with good friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett) and his uncle George (Courtney B Vance) into the beating heart of white states, where racism is the least of the group’s worries.
Atticus, Letitia and George face horrifying monsters, that could have thundered off the pages of a novel penned by HP Lovecraft.
The three-disc DVD and Blu-ray sets include all 10 episodes plus 15 behind the scenes featurettes.
