Well, 2020 has been the year that came the closest to breaking me and so many of the readers of the site. If it was a horror movie, 2020 would have been laughed out of the cinema for being far too unbelievable, stupid, and filled with a cast of characters so unrelatable that no one would want to spend a minute in their company, let alone 90 minutes or more. 

Thankfully, though for the horror movie fans 2020, has been an exceptional year,  one of the best vintages for a long time. With such greats as VFW, Relic, Sea Fever, The Wretched, The Platform, and Host.  And now heading to a screen near you is the latest film to get the Ginger Nuts of Horror's seal of approval, Hosts. Now pay attention here this is Hosts not Host, confusing I know, but Hosts had finished production before Host was even first heard off on the horror social media scene, but leaving aside any confusion, what we as horror fans are left with is, is two films with similar-sounding titles that should both rank in everyone's top ten horror films of the year.  

First conceived by writers and directors Adam Leader and Richard Oakes in 2018, Hosts confirms the well-known notion that Christmas is not what it is all cracked up to be. When a family invites their neighbours, over for dinner on Christmas Eve, they do not realise that their friends are now hosts (see that's where the name comes from),  to demonic forces, and they soon find themselves fighting for their lives as their neighbours decide that this will be a Christmas nobody forgets. 

This is going to be a hard review to write, not because of my feelings towards this film, hell I loved it, but more because it is one of those films that you need to watch knowing as little about it as possible, to gain the full effect. There are several crucial scenes whose impact will be significantly lessened if you are waiting for them to happen. One scene, in particular, left me with the same cold, numb and stunned feeling that I felt after watching Once Were Warriors for the first time. It was so powerful and shocking that I had to pause the screener I was given and get up, to go for a walk and quick smoke.

The timing, in terms of the lead up to the scene, and how the scene plays out were a perfect example of a director, cast and writer working together and knowing exactly what was needed for the film to ensure anyone, even a jaded horror fan like myself, would be shocked to the core.  

However, a horror film shouldn't be judged on scene alone, we all know that for a horror film to work, we have to be engaged from the first shot to the final shot, and if it is terrific, we are still engaged long after the final credit has rolled. (it's been just over a week since I watched Hosts, and I am still mulling it over in my mind such is the effectiveness of this film).

While the film itself is relatively simple in concept, mashing a home invasion thriller like The Strangers with a demonic possession film such as The Fallen, its execution on all levels is nothing short of scintillating. From the low key opening scene, up to when the two possessed neighbours enter the house we are lulled into a false sense of security, yes we know there is going to be something nasty on the horizon; otherwise, this wouldn't be an horror film. But as soon as they enter the house, the tension is layered on with a precision we normally only expect from a seasoned horror director,  with every element of the cast and production team working in perfect unison to create a genuinely unsettling experience.  

Adam and Richard's direction is tight, and on point throughout the film, but respectful enough to allow the small cast of characters to riff of each other's performances. Their direction also has impeccable timing; there are scenes in this film where the driving beats hit that massive bass drum sending booms of terror right into the middle of your gut. No scene outstays its welcome, there isn't a point in the film where your attention wanders, waiting for the story to move to the next stage. Much of the success of the film's directional success could be down to their experiences of music video production, but either way, this is a directing duo, that have great things ahead of them.

As mentioned above, in term of plot points and narrative structure this is, at its heart, a pretty simple movie, which is by no means a criticism, I particularly loved how there is very little time given over to unnecessary, heavy-handed exposition. Within minutes we know what is going on, thanks to the creative use of a news report, we know the couple are the latest victims of a demonic plague. We know that terrible things are going to happen to the neighbours, and that's pretty much it in terms of a background story. The effectiveness of the film would have been hampered if there was any attempt at trying to expand on this. Those of you looking for a nice neat, thoroughly explained film might have to leave your expectations at the door.  Hosts plays its cards very close to its chest and keeps its poker face unflinching until it's time to reveal the royal flush (note I have no idea if that's the best hand in poker). 

The film also looks stunning, the use of the limited locations is used to their full potential, with some fantastic shooting angles and repeating motifs, the Stag head, in particular, is a stroke of genius. I loved the way it was used as a sort of a scene break, and a foreboding precursor for the things to come.  

The colour-grading used throughout the movie is also excellent, with a special shout out to the outdoor scenes, the electric blue wash given these shots lends the film an otherworldly sense of dread and disorientation.  

Wrapping up everything that we see on the screen is a sumptuous score by Benjamin Symons.  The mark of a great score is one that never becomes obtrusive, but understands that its purpose is to lift what is happening on the screen without it taking over.  Symons' score adds a wonderful layer of creepy tension to the film complementing each scene to the fullest. 

But all of this is a moot point if the acting can't live up to the technical production side of a film. When a film relies on the performances of seven actors, for its entire run, there needs to be a strong sense of compatibility between the actors. The ensemble cast of Hosts is a tight knit entity, Frank Jakeman (A View to Kill, Rise of the Krays), Nadia Lamin, Lee Hunter (Vikings, Eastenders), Jennifer Preston, Buddy Skelton, deliver accomplished performances of the family brutalised by their neighbours. The nuanced acting allows the viewer to become completely immersed in their plight, and even allowed for a suspension of disbelief with regards to how the characters react to a specific scene. I was initially a bit put off by it, but after dwelling on the scene, and those leading up to it, I can now see it as a refined portrayal of shock and grief.

A great horror film needs a great monster or two, and with Neal Ward (Two Graves, To Dream), and Samantha Loxley Hosts has two gloriously gruesome monsters. Whether they are coming across as cold faced emotionless dinner guests, or when they kick it up a gear to the utter embodiment of psychotic killer, you can see that they are relishing the opportunity to flex their acting muscles. They say it's in the eyes, and both Neal and Samantha, have that cold, cold stare of a real killer. And yet even when they are maxing out on the psych front, their performances remain wholly grounded. One of my biggest gripes in horror films where the monster is human is far too many times the depiction drifts into pantomime villain territory. Thankfully both Neal and Samantha have the acting chops to prevent this from ever coming close to happening. There is a scene in the attic of the house that displays their refined acting ability correctly, but you will be captivated by their performance throughout the film.

Also of note, the chemistry between Nadia and Samantha was another highlight of the film.  There is a sort of ying-yang thing going on here with Nadia's emotionally charged depiction of a doe eyed victim contrasting perfectly with cold unflinching portrayal of the possessed killer. There is a  underplayed fragility to Nadia's performance, more than matches the psychotic performances from Samantha and Neil.

I'd hate this year to be the year where two films went head to head just for the sake of having similar titles, I loved Host, and I love Hosts, they are two completely different films that share nothing other than their names. And this reviewer is not going to do either film a disservice by saying which one they preferred, even if they both feature in my top 5 films of the year.  

What I will say though, is this, Hosts is a triumph of filmmaking, acting and storytelling, a lean, mean, uncompromising, brutal film that will leave the viewer wishing they had a bigger sofa to hide behind, and double-checking the door locks before heading off to bed.  

A woman's conviction that she will die tomorrow spreads like a contagion through a town.

Director:
Amy Seimetz
Producer:
Justin Benson, David Lawson Jr., Aaron Moorhead, Amy Seimetz
Writer:
Amy Seimetz

Caleb grew up all over the Midwest of the United States, but eventually settled on calling Saginaw, MI his home.  His earliest memories are of watching movies ranging from Tim Burton’s Batman to Back to the Future; which some would consider to be a horror film (his mom wants to sleep with him – come on).

He spent his time in undergrad at Saginaw Valley State University where he study the craft of acting.  He starred in over 20 productions there including Pippin, The Crucible, The Andrews Brothers, and One for the Pot.  He also received the award for Outstanding Theatre Major during his senior year.

Caleb decided to continue his theatrical education by attending grad school at Eastern Michigan University, where he received an MA in theatre performance.  There he developed his love for teaching and furthered his love of movie watching.  Caleb is currently an Adjunct Instructor at SVSU, where he teaches theatre to non-theatre majors and education majors.
 
In 2017, Caleb decided to develop his own creative outlet that would fulfill his desire to perform and his desire to watch movies.  So, he launched his YouTube channel called Caleb Watches Movies, where he randomly selects films that he owns from all genres and produces a review from the average person’s perceptive.  It is a great mixture of humor, performance, realness, and honesty.  The channel has seen tremendous growth in a short amount of time, and it is also Caleb’s catalyst to etch his legacy in a recorded medium.

He currently resides in Kalamazoo, MI with his wife, cat-sons and cat-daughters.


https://www.youtube.com/c/CalebWatchesMovies
 
https://www.facebook.com/CalebWatchesMovies
 
https://twitter.com/Calebwatchmovie
 
www.instagram.com/calebwatchesmovies/
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Director: Brendan Walsh
Producers: Brendan Walsh, Amanda Bowers, 
Screenplay: Brendan Walsh, Daley Nixon

Caleb grew up all over the Midwest of the United States, but eventually settled on calling Saginaw, MI his home.  His earliest memories are of watching movies ranging from Tim Burton’s Batman to Back to the Future; which some would consider to be a horror film (his mom wants to sleep with him – come on).

He spent his time in undergrad at Saginaw Valley State University where he study the craft of acting.  He starred in over 20 productions there including Pippin, The Crucible, The Andrews Brothers, and One for the Pot.  He also received the award for Outstanding Theatre Major during his senior year.

Caleb decided to continue his theatrical education by attending grad school at Eastern Michigan University, where he received an MA in theatre performance.  There he developed his love for teaching and furthered his love of movie watching.  Caleb is currently an Adjunct Instructor at SVSU, where he teaches theatre to non-theatre majors and education majors.
 
In 2017, Caleb decided to develop his own creative outlet that would fulfill his desire to perform and his desire to watch movies.  So, he launched his YouTube channel called Caleb Watches Movies, where he randomly selects films that he owns from all genres and produces a review from the average person’s perceptive.  It is a great mixture of humor, performance, realness, and honesty.  The channel has seen tremendous growth in a short amount of time, and it is also Caleb’s catalyst to etch his legacy in a recorded medium.

He currently resides in Kalamazoo, MI with his wife, cat-sons and cat-daughters.


https://www.youtube.com/c/CalebWatchesMovies
 
https://www.facebook.com/CalebWatchesMovies
 
https://twitter.com/Calebwatchmovie
 
www.instagram.com/calebwatchesmovies/
​

In order to give what we believe to be a more unbiased constructive criticism of the piece, the members of Bloodhound Pix are tackling each review as a panel of three. None of the members know the others’ thoughts on the content until after they submit their initial response.
 
Director: Minoru Kawasaki
Writers: Minoru Kawasaki & Masakazu Migita, Story by Eiji Tsuburaya
Starring: Yuya Asato, Ayano Yoshida Christie, Hide Fukumoto

C. I think we all are in a similar boat on this. It’s not the most effective use of that purposefully bad, throwback style, even for kaiju (check out the incredible Big Man Japan). However, it’s fun, creative and an amazing exercise in making something unique and high concept on a low budget. My biggest issue comes from wishing I had a communal view, because I feel it’d be a riot… thanks 2020.
 
J. A get-drunk-wth-your-friends type of film.  It’s fun and the filmmakers clearly had a good time with it. 
 
K.  I concur with my cohorts.  It’s silly fun, though it takes a while for the film to kick into gear and the documentary asides tend to slow things down a bit, though they end up being a great source of comedy when they get into the gourmet monster food.  You’ve gotta take this one for what it is.
 
Bloodhound’s average score: 3 out of 5 ​

​Possession and haunted house movies have earned a reputation for some by using tropes to create a paint-by-numbers story. For every one within the subgenre that becomes a prime example of what can be accomplished, there are 20+ others that feel like a carbon copy because someone wants to ride that money/fame train. However, my pessimism can be diminished despite a movie utilizing these generic tropes if the filmmaker is able to put their own artistic vision to make something truly personal. This is where The Unfamiliar shines.

The film tells the story of a British soldier who comes home after her tour to find something is off with her family. Is there something really or is it purely the trauma of battle that she has yet to confront? I’m trying to avoid spoilers since there are plenty of twists and turns within the movie, but long before we shift locations from their family home in England to a rental in Hawaii, the answer to that question will become obvious. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as this is where Pretorius’ use of tropes come in handy, diverging the path enough to be both familiar and unexpected. Significant elements of this are using Hawaiian-based mythos instead of resorting to the stale Judeo-Christian themes, the veteran character as the mother, being a more “modern” family (she’s the stepmother to one of the children but seen as the mother figure), incorporating an almost body snatcher-device, change of location and style halfway through, and a slew of other things. While it might not seem drastic in written form, these little differences make The Unfamiliar fresh and kept me engaged throughout.

With that all being said, while I acknowledge the toying with of common tropes set the film apart from your standard possession or haunted house movie, the use of these tropes themselves didn’t allow The Unfamiliar to push those creative limits that I believe it could’ve. However, I don’t feel limit-pushing was ever the intention but instead it was just to tell a spooky story. To add onto that issue, with so much attention on a “changing it up” mentality, a lot of the potential for expanding upon the incredibly interesting mythos and building tension get lost. It’s not really as scary or dread inducing as it could be if the script went through another draft of fine tuning, especially for modern audiences. The best way to describe this is to paraphrase Ginger Nuts of Horror founder, Jim Mcleod in that it feels very classic British horror. There is a heavy focus on atmosphere and tension but there’s not as much urgency in the story that we’ve become accustomed to, despite many elements within the plot calling for that. This is apparent when an infant is in grave danger and the characters take several beats to react. Those parts of the movie you cannot tell if they are purposeful, stylistic choice or clunky editing. I feel like saying it’s the latter because there’s several scenes where the cut is a beat too early (before the sentence is finished) or a beat too late. Those are the crucial moments that took me out of the movie.
​
Overall, this is a great calling card for Pretorius that showcases a powerful voice. It builds an interesting mythology, has moments of tension, action, strong character development, is marketable, and has plenty other qualities that can be checked off in the boxes for producers to know he could handle something with a larger budget. Is it fine-tuning of the script that suffers from too many ideas to allow moments to truly shine? Is it fine-tuning in post-production to really provide clean final piece? Whatever the case may be, my pessimism was not diminished entirely, and some of these challenges appeared to hinder The Unfamiliar from being the movie it deserves to be.
 
3 out of 5

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Seimetz created a hypnotic trail of cryptic messages, mental health, and mortality, and I walked the path without hesitation. Now the beauty of She Dies Tomorrow lies in its plot, as something that could be expanded upon as a larger piece but also is personal enough to keep an intimacy of a lower budget film. The story begins with Amy, who believes that she will die the following day (tomorrow). We witness Amy coming to terms with her end. However, this is not a singular incident based on one person’s mental health, but rather the notion of dying tomorrow spreads like a virus to whoever listens to the infected person. Now this has The Lobster-level black comedy, or some sort of paranoia horror written all over it. Instead of going those routes, Seimetz returns to her mumblecore, arthouse roots, creating a poignant piece that is more about the characters coming to terms with their death rather than the cause.

For me, the concept is outstanding and when the virus moves to Jane (Adams) there are pockets that are brilliant. The acting is great by the majority of those involved, pretty to look at, directed well, and is incredibly personal with a strong artistic voice. Yet with its laundry list of positives, it did not sway me one way or the other, because it missed urgency and that entertainment factor that makes me want to watch, and most of all enjoy watching. By “enjoy” I don’t mean it has to be fun, but rather engaging or compelling. Earlier I mentioned black comedy or paranoia horror, which is to suggest changing the approach is a horrible form of criticism, because it is not the version Amy Seimetz wished to tell. What I am suggesting is this incredible concept is limitless in its unique stylistic choices, and the style we got works, but for me it felt like how non-arthouse fans view arthouse cinema. A prime example is within the movie we listen to the same song on repeat four times, while watching Amy do a series of menial coping activities. By the second time you get the point and it’s effective. Perfect. By the fourth time it feels like filler to reach an appropriate feature length. Therapeutic filmmaking. Which is fine, and in theory all filmmaking or art should be therapeutic in some form. But with film or theatre or any other medium of dramatic storytelling it is both a collaborative effort and designed for an audience’s response, which ultimately means, we must be given a tiny dash of that entertainment factor.
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She Dies Tomorrow is not the only film to do this recently in the independent film industry, especially with the incorporation of companies taking more of a chance on “elevated horror” (a horrible term). But it allowed me the opportunity to have this discussion on arthouse horror. I’ve acknowledged my love for the concept and the themes hit me on a very personal level that I can see returning to for another viewing at some point. Overall, it falls into those middle ground categories that is a technical marvel and well-intentioned but is missing those small (but crucial) pieces to be something noteworthy.
 
2 1/5 out of 5