Host (known in Latin America as "Be careful who you call") is a 2020 British screen-on-monitor horror film directed by Rob Savage produced as an independent film for the streaming service Shudder. The main plot of the film follows a group of friends who come under siege from an evil force when they participate in a séance via Zoom video call. Inspired by a short film of his own that went viral, the film's director Rob Savage vowed to create a film based on his idea using the constraints of COVID 19 lockdown restrictions and a budget to his advantage. limited.
The feature film gained notoriety from the public for the format in which it was filmed as well as for having been completed during the first months of the Covid 19 pandemic by its director who instructed the actors to set up their own sets, cameras and practical effects separately. The film had an exclusive streaming distribution in the United States while for Latin America it was shared through other services such as Netflix and Google Play.1
The film was praised by critics for its themes as well as its premise which was called appropriate and current for the period in which it was released.
On July 30, 2020, a group of six friends: Hayley, Jemma, Caroline, Radina, Emma and Ted connect through a shared video call on Zoom to participate in a Spiritualist Session since they want to carry out activities together as a result of the confinement caused due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Hayley warns her friends to take the meeting seriously despite the fact that most take it lightly, especially Ted who proposes a drinking game every time the word "astral" is mentioned. By the time the boys contact the medium Seylan, she instructs them to light a candle in front of them and bring a personal item from the acquaintance they intend to contact.
During the session, Jemma claims to feel the call of an entity called "Jack" who hanged himself and wants to communicate through her. However, Seylin accidentally disconnects from the call so that when the group pretends to continue, Jemma reveals that she was just faking it. Unexpectedly some paranormal phenomena begin to occur such as Emma's glass breaking, the sighting of a hanging body in Caroline's house and a chair moving in Hayley's room. After contacting Seylan via a phone call she notices that Jemma's prank may have invited a spirit or demon into the session so she tries to help the girls finish the ceremony. However, the call is interrupted and Caroline is brutally attacked in her room without the others being able to do anything.
Hayley tries to end the session by leading the rest of her friends but she is dragged into another room by an unseen force while the camera records everything that happened. Soon after, Radina, along with her boyfriend Alan, are attacked and killed, which motivates Jemma to leave her own house, cutting off her call. A frightened Emma takes refuge in her room before seeing Ted connecting, unaware of the danger he is in until he begins to be chased by a kind of demon that kills his girlfriend Jinny and corners him in his yard where he kills him by causing him to set fire.
Emma realizes the demon is in her room when she throws a sheet over her so she desperately jumps out of her window, landing on a wooden bench. Jemma eventually arrives at Hayley's house where she begins to be attacked by a violent poltergeist until she arrives at Hayley's room where she meets her friend with whom she intends to escape from the house. Hayley uses a polaroid camera to try to locate the demon with each photo as the time on the Zoom call expires, the two are attacked and presumably killed by the demon as it lunges at them.