Relatable screen horror films perfect for current pandemic
This week, the most popular movie on the film social networking site Letterboxd is a 57-minute horror flick called “Host,” available on the horrorspecific streaming service Shudder. “Host,” directed by British filmmaker Rob Savage, takes place entirely on Zoom, the videoconferencing application. A group of friends convene for a Zoom seance, and soon, incredibly spooky and terrifying things start to happen in each of their spaces, the danger only magnified by their isolation.
The film was shot and edited from conception to release during the shutdown and makes ingenious use of the Zoom features we have come to know all too well. It’s a swift and spooky achievement in horror filmmaking for this moment, but it also fits right in with the “computer screen” film genre, a subset of the found footage genre. Screen films initially seemed gimmicky, but we’re living more and more of our lives online, and the computer screen thrillers and horror films have been getting better and better (and even more relatable).
It could be argued that the first proper computer screen horror flick was 2013’s “The Den,” directed by Zachary Donohue and starring Melanie Papalia in the role of the computer user, a woman studying webcam users who witnesses a brutal murder during the course of her research and is subsequently targeted. That is available for a $3.99 rental on Amazon/YouTube.
The breakthrough films in the genre were definitely 2014’s “Unfriended,” directed by Levan Gabriadze, and the 2018 sequel “Unfriended: Dark Web,” directed by horror writer Stephen Susco. “Unfriended” took on the issue of cyberbullying, featuring the ghost of a deceased victim haunting a group video chat, while “Dark Web” probed the depths of the more sinister corners of the internet for horror. There is no doubt an “Unfriended: COVID-19” is in the works, so catch up with the first two, which deliver the scares aplenty. Both are available on HBO/HBO Max (and on other digital platforms to rent).
But it was 2018’s “Searching,” starring John Cho, that seemed to be the moment when the screen thriller crawled out of the depths of low-budget horror gimmickry and into more prestigious territory, thanks to the star power of Cho. Director Aneesh Chaganty masterfully used the many, many ways we use technology to depict this story of a man searching for his missing daughter, and Cho’s performance grounds the film emotionally. It’s available on Starz, or for a $3.99 digital rental on Amazon/iTunes.
Meanwhile, many other creators and filmmakers have been staying busy during the lockdown, using the limitations to their advantage in storytelling. “Mythic Quest,” on Apple TV+, pulled off a magnificent and emotionally resonant Zoom special episode. Filmmaker Riley Stearns released a short film called “The Blanket” (vimeo. com/445919335), an odd and emotional piece about the sudden loss of interpersonal intimacy and our fears of contamination. Another filmmaker, Joe Burke, set out for the desert with star and collaborator Oliver Cooper to make “Desert Quarantine” (vimeo.com/431476610), a lean and efficient horror short about danger lurking just outside the boundaries of home.