Host star Jemma Moore on real-life inspiration, surprises and the ending
Host spoilers follow.
Lockdown might have led to movies being delayed everywhere, but one filmmaker saw it as an opportunity to scare the hell out of us.
Host, directed by Rob Savage, arrived on Shudder last week to terrify viewers with its tale of six friends who hold a séance over Zoom during lockdown. Needless to say, things go wrong very quickly and they're left fighting for their lives.
It may only be 56 minutes long, but Host packs more of a punch than most horrors do with longer runtimes, earning the horror movie a rare 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
So we had to talk to one of its stars, Jemma Moore, about the real-life inspiration of the horror movie, the challenges behind filming in lockdown, and the intense ending that will have you wanting to log out of Zoom forever.
Thankfully, the interview wasn't on Zoom, but it does contain major spoilers for Host, so look away now if you haven't seen it yet.
Host started off as a prank
The cast of Host are friends in real-life and have their own WhatsApp group where, like many of us during lockdown, they arrange movie nights and quizzes. But one day, Rob Savage had a different idea...
"There was one day where the boys were so keen for us to come on a Zoom chat. I just had my car vandalised and I was like, 'Guys, I don't want to come on a Zoom chat', and they're like, 'Everyone's on here. Everyone really wants to see you'. So I was like, 'Oh, that's nice, OK then'.
"Rob Savage, the director, pranked us. It was this whole thing about this goblin in the attic. My thoughts were actually the pandemic's happened, so many other things in the world, Brexit happening... Yeah, goblins are the next logical step. That blew up and it went viral."
I’ve been hearing strange noises from my attic, so I called a few friends and went to investigate… pic.twitter.com/CxmJAf44ob
— Rob Savage (@DirRobSavage) April 21, 2020
It's based on a real-life experience
The Host cast didn't just watch movies and test their knowledge. They also decided to do a virtual séance, like in the movie. Fortunately, it didn't end as badly for them as it did for their characters, but Jemma Moore has her doubts...
"I had an experience. There were a lot of things that were in the film that were based on the seance. So, for example, the medium actually cut out in the seance so we've not actually closed it properly, so I could still be in it.
"And then also, there was a loud bang in my house and something fell off my bookshelf. I stood up immediately and started crying. I was so scared. I was terrified of it. My character Jemma, which is a weird thing to say in itself, I think may be a little bit braver than me.
"So I'm still undecided about ever doing a séance again, but I think we might be doing another one. I don't know why I keep agreeing to these things."
They had no idea what was going to happen
Filmed over two weeks in their own homes with the cast setting up their own sound, lighting and the like, Host didn't start off with a full script and there was improvisation every day, including Savage giving out instructions via Zoom private messaging. They knew who was going to die – they just had no idea when or how...
"We never actually saw the full script, a lot of it was redacted, so when it came to reacting to deaths, it was in the moment. A lot of footage that was used, I think, was the first time [we saw it happen].
"The first time we saw Caroline's death which we're all a little bit shook after because it was so graphic. Then it cuts back to that looped video afterwards, I was just like, 'Oh my God, that's so traumatising Rob. I'm gonna go get make a Ribena, I'll be right back'.
"We knew when people disappeared, we just didn't know how and we didn't know how the lead up would happen. I knew what my journey was throughout, but I actually didn't know what was going to happen at the end.
"I didn't actually know until I was doing ADR because that last sequence was all VFX, which was Steven [Bray] and all of his team. They did some incredible work on that."
Socially distanced filming proved challenging
The entire shoot abided by the social distancing rules we've all been living by in recent months. This, of course, made things like stuntwork tricky, especially when Jemma goes to Haley's house in Host's intense final scenes...
"A lot of the time, we'd come up with ideas from what we had on the day. I got a call from Douglas Cox, our producer, who was like, 'Jemma, how do you feel about a wine bottle being thrown at your head? Do you think you could do that stunt?'.
"Social distancing became our biggest obstacle. Going to Haley's house, there were big conversations around it as we had to be respectful to the situation at hand. There's a shot where we bump elbows, that's not even me, that's Haley's boyfriend.
"The bit where I get smashed in the head is Nathaniel Marten and the Lucky 13 Action stunt department. Haley's in another room texting me where stuff is in her kitchen at her house and Nathaniel's in full PPE and outside, the paramedics were waiting if anything went wrong.
"Douglas Cook is just a genius. I don't know how he did it. He's just a very good producer because there were so many challenges. Lighting setup, doing our own sound setup. Poor Calum [Sample, sound designer]. I grabbed my chest so many times.
"I got a text from Caroline [Ward] saying I'm definitely not doing the mic right and then I realised I was just grabbing my microphone while I was screaming. I don't know how Calum got the screams from me because they must have been all muffled."
What happened after the ending?
The final moments of Host see Jemma and Haley think they're in the clear, only to realise Jack – the evil spirit that Jemma unwittingly brought into the group chat – is still right there in the house with them. The spirit lunges towards the camera and then... the Zoom free chat minutes end...
"I could be a goner. I could be still around as Jemma at Haley's being tortured. Maybe I am Jack… I don't know. I think it's left so open to so many possibilities, but I don't want to say anything just in case there's something really exciting coming.
"There's so many talks in our WhatsApp group about cool ideas, so I think it's up to the audience to figure out. I know that the boys and Gemma [Hurley, co-writer] have left lots of little Easter eggs in the film, and they're all glimpses that you might not quite catch the first time.
"It's definitely Haley's fault [though]. We can all say it's Haley's fault... When something like that happens, everything goes out the window and if you know you're next, you have to fight for your friendships.
"In the pandemic, those are the things that you're really holding on to is those friendships. I think that's why we stay on the Zoom because we are very alone in our own individual way during the pandemic, so we're holding on to what we have left."
Host is now available to watch via Shudder on Amazon Prime Video.
Jemma Moore's podcast The Hobbyist is coming back soon for a second season and you can listen here.
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