SPEAKER_01 0:04

Whatever you are, just don't come here. No disrespect, you do you. You looked great. Just creepy.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. We are flattered you chose to return. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, a total joke, a waste of time, or a slash. Totally killer. Fun intended. We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. That being said, my name is Chris. I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Gore Lover Alexis. Hey everyone. The cowardly creeper Ryan. Hiya. And the Screaming Queen Paris.

SPEAKER_04 0:52

Hey sweets.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

If you've been here a while, you know that from time to time we usually like to cover new theatrical releases. While the pandemic has kept movie theaters closed down for a while, we miss the excitement of covering a new movie. Now, as we're recording this on July 30th, we've all just finished watching a new horror film that's hit Shudder today. Before we get there, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_04 1:12

I just wanted to take some time to thank two of our newest patrons, Anthony and Luis. We have a uh group chat for the Hackerslash pod, and every time she says that we have new patrons, I'm always surprised. I'm like, wow. Because in my mind, like these people like listened to the podcast, which, first of all, amazing. Then they went online, and then they like went to the Patreon, maybe had to make an account, and then like did all of this just to help support us. So we really appreciate any contribution you guys can make for us. Uh and thank you, Anthony and Luis.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Thanks for going to new websites for us. Thank you both so much. Now, this week's film is a shutter exclusive brought to you by Rob Savage. The film itself was commissioned, written, produced, and released all in under three months. This story, filmed entirely remotely, features a group of friends using the Zoom platform to conduct a seance during lockdown. This week, we're talking about host. Now, a a question that comes to mind before you even get into this movie, lightning round, I gotta know. Yay or nay on paranormal activity and found footage.

SPEAKER_06 2:12

Yay when it's not overdone. For me, it it just kind of depends how how it's done. Like paranormal activity I was into, but it was like because I was at the right age for that type of movie, that movie specifically. But then like Blair Witch Project is the worst thing that's ever existed.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

So what? Terrifying. I came, I that was my genre or my time. Yeah. Perfect time for me. Hated it the most.

SPEAKER_04 2:35

For me, I usually don't like it because it doesn't make sense a lot of times when it's used. It for me it has to make sense. Um, so something like paranormal activity kind of made sense to me. Blair Witch made sense. Uh, but there was a time in like the 2000s where everyone was like, oh, what if we just like did this on a webcam or like made it found footage for the sake of it? And that doesn't usually sit well with me.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

That's totally fair. I happen to love found footage. I think it's a technique that you can use to really create a more intimate, immersive experience for horror. That being said, it's not like this gimmick that should be taken lightly or oversaturated, right? It takes a masterful hand to do it well. And I was a huge fan of the original paranormal activity. Now, going into this, originally we're supposed to release a different episode this week. We caught some wind of this movie happening and figured it would be worth a shot to change things up a bit on our schedule. The only thing I knew about it was the aforementioned facts, right? The cast entirely filmed it on their own independently through Zoom during lockdown. I didn't really have the highest expectations. I expected it to be fun, but what I didn't expect was it for it to be as short as it was. So 56 minutes and five seconds, which is outrageous. What were you all expecting from this movie?

SPEAKER_01 3:51

I was expecting some, you know, again found footage or you know, I I saw this movie a few months ago. It's searching, and it was with um the guy from Harold and Kumar, and they kind of literally it's all interactive from the phone, the texts, like emails. That's how you get this whole interaction. There's no like real, like the only acting you actually see is like through some sort of like web interface or phone interface, which I was like, oh, this is cool. It's been done a different way. But this I was like, oh, okay, so pretty much it's paranormal activity, but on Zoom. So I had kind of low expectations, um, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_06 4:27

Y'all know me. I'm I'm anti uh reading descriptions and trailers or anything like that. So I had no idea what to expect. Obviously, I saw that it was like a Zoom call type of thing. Um, seeing a movie that's 56 minutes is is it's different. Like you kind of don't know what to go into it expecting, but then you know, you think about it and you watch an episode of a good show, it's an hour. But I I think the timing worked so well for this. It it definitely didn't feel like you watched uh half of a movie, basically.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

I don't know if I could have taken that much. Um I didn't like being on the edge of my seat for another 30 minutes or anything.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

I had pretty low expectations going into this. Um, obviously, like the the promotional imaging shows a bunch of girls like on a Zoom call. And I was like, okay, I mean somebody had to do it. Everyone's making like quarantine/slash Zoom related content right now. And obviously, as we said, found footage is really hit or miss sometimes. But I did not expect like the seance element. I heard host as the title, and I was like, okay, something about like parasites, maybe like they're like tackling the pandemic from that angle. And then for some reason I was also thinking like aliens, like an alien host, like which is kind of parasite adjacent. But yeah, I was not expecting it to be as spooky as it was.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

I love that your mind goes there and not just like the host of the meeting. That's what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_04 5:46

Oh, I forgot that that was even a thing.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

This movie certainly kept Alexis on the edge of her seat, and I'll say that I was absolutely captivated by it. You know, again, I love found footage because it's such an intimate look into the characters. But what I found from this one is that it didn't stumble into the same pitfall where you have that one found footage person who's in charge of the footage that is found, right? So, like I think Cloverfield, the guy with the camera. Uh, I think Paranormal Activity, the boyfriend who spends a lot of money on the camera, and then you kind of resent him halfway through the movie. What I found from this one though was that a lot of the characters were actually super charming. But what about you guys? What were you feeling during this movie?

SPEAKER_04 6:26

I definitely felt uh tense for a lot of it. Really in the beginning, it reminded me of the things that, you know, annoy me when I'm on a Zoom call or like conference call for work. There were a lot of like pet peeves that were going on where I was like, okay, we're here for a specific goal. Can we stop all like the side conversations and whatnot? Um, but you know, people like to have fun, and that's something I have to remind myself of. But for the most part, I was feeling pretty tense and surprisingly like invested in these characters. I think because you're just kind of thrown into them, and I'm not sure if a lot of it was improv, but it felt improvisational, like it felt really organic. Uh so it made me just be like, oh, these are girls that are just like you and me. So it made me root for them.

SPEAKER_06 7:05

Dude, I felt so stressed during this movie. Like the entire, I mean, it it comes in in, I mean, you know, you only have 56 minutes. You gotta get it in from the start. And it definitely, there's just this amount of tension. And I was watching this movie on my phone, which is a weird thing, but now it's normal. In 2020, we just watch movies on our phones. And this, because it's a Zoom call and I'm holding my phone, it made me a part of the Zoom call. And I was like, I don't like this. I I mean, I wanted to not have the movie on anymore. That's how stressed and or scared I was throughout this.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

I love that. I really should have watched this on my computer now.

SPEAKER_06 7:43

Yeah, yeah, on your computer, on your phone, on an iPad or something. It really, I think it really does add an element to it.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Now I feel super dumb because I had it, I was refreshing Shutter like exactly at midnight to watch this movie in the middle of the night and be all spooked out. And for some reason, my Apple TV app wasn't syncing it. So I had to like pop it open on my iPad, and then I was so close to just watching it on my iPad, and then I airplayed it. I was satisfied, but now that you say this, I'm disappointed in myself. I argue that it's like 10% better on a mobile device in your hands.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

I believe that.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

But you heard it here, folks. Watch it on mobile. Yeah, and probably at night. It's so funny. I watched this during the day and I was still on the edge of my seat. It was just, I mean, I've heard and I've seen movies and I've said it before on this podcast that, you know, there's a lot of movies that like feel like a roller coaster. I'm like, you know, on this high, on this low. But I think this movie did it great. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat. There's some parts that are so silent and some parts that are super loud. And it's crazy because if you've ever been on a Zoom call, and especially for work, sometimes there are parts that are dead silent and some parts where everyone's talking at once. So it was just like Paris was saying it's just like so relatable. So I was just completely invested, and that's why you know, all the highs and lows during this movie, I was just completely enthralled, I think is a good um yeah, good emotion to describe. I was there's a few times the only reason I didn't look because I was like something's gonna pop up, and I didn't want to look, but I still wanted to look. So it wraps you up, that's for sure. Yes, not in a cozy blanket, though, I will tell you that for sure. A spiky blanket. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Something really cold. Spiky blanket is such such a great description for this. So I already mentioned that I was definitely caught off guard and surprised by the runtime. And one of the things that surprised me even more than that is how well they were able to establish all the characters in such a short amount of time. So many horror movies that we've seen on this that we've reviewed during this podcast start out as a short film. Like Lights Out was a movie that started out as a short film. And sometimes they had to go straight to the punch and you know, immerse you into the creepy elements. But I love the approach here of getting to know these people without feeling like you get to know them too much before things start popping off.

SPEAKER_06 10:01

Oh, I think I feel the same way. When I was thinking about this, I was talking about it afterwards. I was like, yeah, I just watched a 56-minute video, uh, it's a 56-minute movie, but it's not like I missed any of the story. I didn't I didn't miss an intro. I didn't miss getting to know people, getting to know their relationships. Like they did it so well and so efficiently. Um, I I would never expect that from a movie. I feel like we don't get to know characters that well in two-hour-long movies sometimes, you know? And it's it's the characters in this movie really are what make it good because it could be terrible.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Yeah, you could feel like it's very like inorganic and very like played out. And I I mean, I'm a fan, not that I'm saying this is a beat movie, but I've seen a lot, and that's kind of like my favorite horror movies, because sometimes they can be a little bit cheesy. The acting isn't, you know, it's not like lived in, but I kind of like that. I I like the quirkiness of it, and this I felt really lived in. I could relate to this whole thing because I've because I have been on Zoom calls and I have been in the point where I'm like, oh my gosh, we almost have our hour up. Clearly, some of the things that happened in here didn't happen to me, but yeah, these care characters are like super crazy. Like it's I I I've never like rooted, I've never felt so immersed in something that was so short. So that's what really surprised me too.

SPEAKER_04 11:24

I was mostly surprised by two things. One of them was I was surprised that I was able to forget that it was like a found footage film. And I think that's because they had so many different perspectives that they were able to focus in on when they wanted to. And I think they did that very artfully uh because it didn't at no point was I like getting a headache from all the motion or getting bored of looking at the same thing for too long. So they really used the the format of Zoom very effectively, in my opinion. And then I was also very surprised at how they were able to sort of convey the COVID-19, 2020 quarantine experience without beating us over the head with it.

SPEAKER_06 11:59

Yes. So true. It was so topical. And I I usually don't really like stuff like that. Like I don't really like on the nose. Because you can relate though. Like this one did it well. It was perfect. It was just like, you know, talking about things that you're doing. Like, and then the, you know, a couple that's not getting along well while they're stuck in quarantine. It's so topical and so relatable without smacking you in the face with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

And I think a lot, I mean, anyone can pick a few things. Clearly, I can be that couple, like, or like, you know, the coughing. And she goes, Oh, you can't cough now. And I was like, Oh my gosh, that is so true. Like I cough and I'm like, I don't have COVID-19, I swear. So it wasn't like, okay, we get it. Yeah, we have to live it every day, and it sucks. It took what what annoys us and what you know we dislike, and it kind of plays off that, which I thought was really well done.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

And that's the whole thing, right? It's real, and it's clear that they didn't just film this movie and have it set in the early pandemic. They really timed it out for when everybody's super over quarantined, they've been in it for a while. Your boy has enough time to grow a man bun in the amount of time they've been in lockdown.

SPEAKER_06 13:09

It's like they knew how things were gonna go for us because they came up with this movie idea three months ago. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

I'm not saying it's a conspiracy, but I'm just saying somehow the world gets stopped by COVID-19, but it did not stop innovative filmmaking. And this movie took a pretty wild ride through that, right? This movie gets you. And I think this movie got me to feel a creepy sense that no other movie has got gotten me to since I saw Hellhouse LLC the first time in the middle of the night, watching it at like two in the morning, all my lights off. I had one little red light behind my TV, and it's just this feeling of like not jumping at the jump scares, but it being effective enough and building its tension to stick with you.

SPEAKER_04 13:54

Oh, it definitely sticks with you, Chris. As we're recording right now, we are all on a Zoom sort of call, and I've my eyes have already been trained to just like constantly be looking at the background. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

How funny is that? It was not, I was on cue. I actually texted him and said, When you are talking about this, you should come down.

SPEAKER_04 14:14

I was going to say, I've got my eyes trained to be constantly looking at your backgrounds, and then Alexis' boyfriend just walked in the background and scared the shit out of me.

SPEAKER_05 14:22

Great timing.

SPEAKER_04 14:23

Yeah, that was great timing. Uh that kind of just goes to show that this leaves you with like a lingering, creepy feeling. And at times I was even like very scared. There were a few times where I just had like chills through my body and I had just had like goosebumps. Um, and that was nice to feel because it's been a while since we since we've watched a horror movie that gave me that physical reaction.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

That's exactly what I was thinking when I watched this. I was like, wow, we haven't really reviewed anything lately that's like made me terrified to like Chris knows they usually have to put turn off all my lights while I'm upstairs and lock the door behind themselves while I go to my room. And they do they It's been at least a year since that has happened. Exactly. So this literally had the the lasting, the la a lasting scare for me. I mean, I'm still, I was telling Ryan, I'm like, I can't even go past this one room because you know, I have a mirror there and I know I'm gonna see something. So I think it it plays on your fears because I'm one of those people that always am like, I know something's gonna be there. I know I'm gonna close my door and see something behind it. I but in this movie you actually do. And the depth it creates in this, you know, atmosphere where you're in a box, like so many details. So you're paying attention to all these sort of things, and it's just chaotic, and it's building that tension, which I think it it did wonder. Um I can't think of anything bad.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

This is not a movie that you can watch passively scrolling through Instagram and like get the same effect.

SPEAKER_04 15:47

No way.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Oh, definitely not.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

I had to watch it twice, and let me tell you, I still jumped at all of the freaking jump scares.

SPEAKER_06 15:54

Alexis got so scared she's speechless. Also, just want to reiterate the reason you can't walk by that room is because mirrors are creepy. And this movie, it reinforces everything that you just said. It's scary, it builds tension, it sticks with you a little bit. Like I mentioned, I felt like I was on the Zoom call with them. So as people started dropping out, I felt like I was coming next. And I'm watching this on my couch in the whole afternoon. You know, it's sunny outside, it didn't even rain today. So I this is the first movie that I have been scared by in a long time. I literally can't think of the last movie that I was scared by.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

The cowardly creeper is scared. I know, and I'm scared of so many things. Crawl was the last movie that scared you, by the way.

SPEAKER_06 16:33

Yeah, yeah. I mean, jumping in a theater is different, you know? But this movie, like, it had some jump scares and I was tense and stressed. And you could see some things coming, but it didn't make it any better, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

They were like one second off on the jump scare where you're like, oh, I'm good. And then it's like, bam, you're like, oh shoot.

SPEAKER_06 16:50

I was really starting to think I couldn't be scared anymore. And I'm so glad. Thank you. Thank you, host, for bringing the fear back to my life.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

I love this so much because you're absolutely right. Jumping in a movie theater is very different, and it's probably gonna be a long time before any of us go back to a movie theater, right? So it's interesting to hear all of us watching this at different times of the day. I know Alexis watched it earlier in the day than you did. I watched it in the middle of the night, and yet it still has the same effect no matter where the sun is in the sky. And that's that's nuts. It takes such quality filmmaking to create that effect. Now, what's interesting about this movie is it's it's not exactly even found footage. It's found, it's like found footage's cousin, right? It's technological horror, kind of like some of the elements we even see in Cam, some of the stuff we even see in Unfriended, because you're not having to put on this veil of like, I need an explanation of why I'm even seeing this footage, because I didn't stumble across it in the middle of the day. You know what I mean? So I think that works to its benefit, but we see so many things in this movie that we've seen in other horror movies before. We've all seen paranormal activity. There are a few things that are in this movie that have happened in that still, it manages to feel fresh to me.

SPEAKER_06 18:02

I think it does feel fresh, even though it has those found footage elements and everything. And again, I think the how topical it is comes into that too, because it could feel like we're tired of hearing about COVID, honestly. Most of us are. They could have easily lost it with that, but they didn't. Uh it's it's just like they got the recipe really right. And there's a little bit of salt where we needed some salt, and a little bit of spice where we needed some spice, but not too much, because if it had been too much, it would have ruined it. The found footage element, it took me about, I would say about 30 minutes to realize, oh, this whole movie is gonna be found footage. And normally I'd be like, uh, this whole movie is gonna be found footage.

SPEAKER_04 18:41

And by then it was over.

SPEAKER_06 18:42

Yeah, and it was almost over. Yeah. I think they they balanced it just so, so nicely. It's fresh. I've never seen anything like this before, even though I've seen tons of, you know, I've seen pretty much every movie that's like internet-based horror, mostly. I've seen a lot of them, and a lot of them suck. And this didn't feel like that at all.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

I'm kind of a fan of those. I mean, just because I'm like, oh, this is interesting. What's gonna be the when I say fan, I just like to see someone do something different, and then I'm like, oh no, they did the same, but usually I'm never like so disappointed in it.

SPEAKER_06 19:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

But you're never blown away by it. I've never uh yeah, I've never like, oh wow, this is original. Yeah. But this definitely was, and I think it just plays on so many fears that people have. One, they're stuck at home, two, they're on Zoom calls all day. And I don't know about you, but I've seen some weird Zoom backgrounds, whether it's a screen someone has behind them, or like, you know, they made a video, or it's just a door in the background, and you're like, oh my god, what if that door? My mind just goes, like, what if that door opens? Yeah, you know, and if that happens, what do you do?

SPEAKER_06 19:45

Because you're actually not there. You really can't help.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Yeah, you know, and it's not and and I I I don't think this is found footage per se. I just think this is completely different, and this is something that I'm gonna be honest with you, hope I never see again unless they make something else. I just wouldn't want to see this. Is so original to me that I wouldn't want to see anyone else try to do this better. Like it would just ruin it for me. Like when they did you you didn't need like paranormal eight or what felt like paranormal eight.

SPEAKER_04 20:17

I definitely agree with a lot of what you guys are saying, in that it is rehashing a lot of things that we've seen before and we've seen done poorly before, but I think the timing of this is what makes it feel so original because this is a film that could only be made right now. It's because it plays on a fear and an experience that we globally have shared, which is something that only happens once in a lifetime, really, or if that. And I think that kind of brings up a concern for me. Like maybe in three years from now, is this movie still gonna be as good as it is right now? Maybe it won't age well, it's hard to say because it's so specific to a time and a feeling and an experience.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

Yeah, I wondered a similar thing, and then I looked at it as it wasn't too heavy-handed with the COVID-19 references. But I think even ten years from now, as long as we don't get oversaturated with Zoom call movies, which hopefully no one else like really beats it into the ground. I say that knowing it's gonna happen inevitably. I think this movie's still gonna hold up pretty well because it still uses some really classic tactics. One of the classic tactics is actually employed in its ending. That was um pretty abrupt. How do you guys feel? Alexis is shaking her head, seems like she's concerned.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

I literally I mean you're expecting something, but you're really not sure. Because at that point in the movie, you in your head, you know there's like more time in the movie. So like you're not thinking for it to end. So freaking jump my ass off in the first time. And let me tell you, I screamed the second time when I knew it was coming, but it it was super effective. And the This movie, like jump scares, I feel like are the easiest scare to have. And I feel like so many people do it ineffectively. They just do it to make the movie scary when this just like ah.

SPEAKER_06 22:12

I feel like I enjoy the ending, and and this is another thing where watching it on your phone is really really intense. I have like a comparison and stuff, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone that hasn't seen this yet since it's so new. Um, but I I enjoyed the ending. All of all the bits of it.

SPEAKER_04 22:27

For me, there was a a specific moment in the ending where I had a very unique reaction uh physically and emotionally. Um and my it was like a very silent reaction, it was a very small reaction, but my mouth was just like open and I was just shocked. Um and I thought that that was the perfect time to end it. And then it kind of went on for a couple more minutes, and it felt like it really did the most for those couple minutes, but there were a few extra scares added in that that last uh few minutes of time that I think made it worth it. Um, but we'll talk about the moment after the spoiler section so as to not give too much away.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Oh, we've spoken pretty highly about this movie so far, but let's see, because sometimes when something goes wrong in the ending or it drags on even the slightest bit too much, that can spell disaster for the movie's reputation. So we're gonna start making our way towards our ratings now. Before we score this movie, Alexis, how many people died in it?

SPEAKER_01 23:21

I was very happy that we have eight deaths in this.

SPEAKER_06 23:26

And how pet-friendly is this movie? It's so pet-friendly that I'd recommend watching this with a cute pup. There's uh no no no no worries about animals in this one.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

I definitely watched this with my dog last night, and at the end of it, she was on my bed panting, looking up at the TV like she was stressed. She was stressed. She enjoyed it. But let's go ahead and start getting into our ratings. Host, a brand new release. Is it a hack or slash? Dude, it's a slash.

SPEAKER_06 23:52

This is a good movie. This is a movie that I mean, like I said, I haven't been scared in a long time. I also have been seeing some real bad movies, and I've been on a hack streak. I've been just plowing through these movies and ripping them to pieces. You have. I really have. Um, I'm so happy. I had I had no expectation for something like this to be so good. And I'm the opposite of Lexis. I usually am not really like, oh, I love B movies or that type of thing. And I love this. I I can't even point out something that I would be like a a point that should be improved upon. I just liked it. I liked the subject, I liked how it was filmed, the characters are amazing. I just really like this movie.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

It's really good, and everyone should take a watch. I too will give this a slash. Um, I don't even know if I could pick out something wrong with it. Um other than my one thing was like, oh, maybe they should have had it somewhere other than Shudder. But I feel like you gotta get into the niche of horror, like the people that like are in this niche that love it. Because I feel like it would have got lost on Amazon, it would have got lost on Netflix. Definitely would have got lost on Netflix. It would have there's too much stuff on there. But this is like straight, everyone's excited, there's a lot of hype around it. And I mean, this movie is gonna be a movie. Let me just tell you this. There's a few people that listen to the podcast, and that um, especially on my work, that I like they're always like, watch this, watch this. And I'm like, Oh, you need to watch this, you need to watch this. I messaged all three of those people and my sister and said, If you don't have Shudder, you need to get it. Shudder has free trials, by the way. Everybody should give Shudder money because they got some good stuff. They really do. I've been watching it a ton lately, but I had told all of those people, I was like, please watch this. It's only gonna take an hour of your time. It's and it's well worth it. Pretty much, I mean, all around stunning movie.

SPEAKER_04 25:47

I think you're right, Alexis, when you say that um it's easy to recommend to people because it's only an hour long, so it's not much of a commitment. Um, and I kind of feel like that was a downfall or a detriment in this movie's case, just because it felt like there were a lot of unexplained elements, and they kind of used the shorter runtime as like the nature of the film to kind of excuse that.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

Are you about to try to hack this movie? No, he's just faking you out. He's gotta be faking us out. I will kick you off the podcast right now.

SPEAKER_04 26:17

There were also some problems I had with a few of the characters. I didn't really care for them. Ultimately, this did feel very familiar in a lot of ways, but at the end of the day, it was original, it was fresh, it was something that could only happen right now, so it's a very unique experience. Most of the characters were great. Uh, it felt very improvised and organic and natural. It's getting a slash because it scared me. I was very scared for a long time.

SPEAKER_06 26:44

You are so stressful and untrustworthy.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

No, you gotta look for that like cheeky glimmer in his eye, and that's when you know he's just bullshitting you before he gets to the other rating.

SPEAKER_04 26:56

Listen, I try to weigh the pros and cons when I give my my hacker my slash because this movie isn't perfect, but it is great.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

This movie isn't perfect, but it for sure is so much better than a lot of failed quarantine projects. I think Ryan, this movie and Ryan are the only two things I've seen really be successful attempting something new. Ryan has learned how to make like furniture during lockdown and quarantine.

SPEAKER_04 27:19

Baking bread. Remember when she was that girl?

SPEAKER_02 27:21

So many people learn new things though. This movie is so special, and the beauty of it is that it it maximizes every second of its runtime. It doesn't spend too long on the characters, it doesn't dwell too much on certain moments. This movie took so many things I've already seen and made it feel new and exciting again. It gave me the same feeling that I had when I saw Paranormal Activity for the first time in movie theaters when I had never seen anything like it. Uh, it gave me the same creepy feeling that I've had watching Hellhouse LLC. And I'll remember that you know I went to a friend at work the next day. I'm like, we have to talk about this. You got I don't want to see you again until you watch this movie because you we gotta unpack it. So this movie feels exciting, and I can think of no better sensation to motivate giving a movie a slash. So there we have it, folks. Host, streaming on Shudder, has earned a universal slash. Now we do have a couple other ratings that have leaked in pretty early. We have one from our friend Gabriel.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Yes, this is Gabriel, and I just got through watching host, and I give it a slash. It was very original, even though it had some undertones of Blair Witch project and paranormal activity. It had great jump scares, great special effects, and I would definitely recommend it.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

And then we have another rating from our friend Tristan.

SPEAKER_04 28:36

Yeah, this movie's really hot right now, you guys, apparently. Tristan on Twitter said, I thought that host was super effective in creating tension that left me on the edge of my seat. While the ending wasn't my favorite part of the film, I thought the movie was an overall fun ride. It was creative, thrilling, and left me wanting more. It's a slash in my opinion, and then he even gives it an eight out of ten, which is a solid B.

SPEAKER_06 28:56

Also, if you guys want to reach out to us in the future and share your feedback with us, um, you can hit us up at the hackerslash hotline. You can text us, call us, leave us a voicemail, or an audio message. The number is 757-606-0128, and that's how you can get featured like our friend Gabriel.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Very nice. So even though we're down one Mac, we did pick up an extra two slashes, so it's still a universal slash, so that's very exciting. I think one really cool thing to really appreciate here, folks, is I'm a fan of slashers. Alexis is a fan of like hardcore gore. Ryan, you're scared of so many things, and Paris, you like some psychological thrillers.

SPEAKER_04 29:30

Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

And yet we all enjoyed it. Exactly. So, check it out. Shudder has a free trial when you first join, so if you're new to Shudder, don't hesitate. This movie alone is worth the sign up. Check it out, and we'll see you in the next half so we can talk about all the things that freaked us out.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

Do you need to communicate with someone you've lost, but you can't because they're dead? Is there someone you need to reach from beyond the grave? Do you have a deceased loved one that still owes you money? Hi, I'm Sir Sharon. Here to share with you an amazing new technological development from the makers of Zoom. It's called Doom, and it allows you to connect with up to 100 users on both sides of the veil. Doom has already helped thousands of the living and the dead connect against all odds, harnessing the limitless and unknowable power of 5G. Doom brings the spirit realm right to your home or office. Doom is great for seances, dia de los muertos celebrations, or even business meetings with ghosts. With Doom, unfinished business is booming.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Alright, welcome back. Host, streaming over on Cheddar has earned a universal slash from us and even two slashes from our listeners. Now we have so much to break down in this movie, and it's gonna be great, but let's first start with the gore.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

I thought the gore was perfect in this. I don't think it was extreme, like in a saw, which is where I put saw say extreme, but I don't think it was low enough where it was, you know, where you put on a psychological kind of thriller sort of thing. I don't know. There's per it was just like a perfect balance. And like some deaths you see off screen, some you just you don't see any blood, and some you see a lot. And I also love this look of this monster that's in here. And I don't know if or demon or spirit entity, I will say. I uh whatever you are, just don't come here. Okay, um, whatever you are, no disrespect. Disrespect, you do you. You looked great, um, just creepy. So, whatever it was, I can't tell if it was just one or each person had one in their house, or like, I don't know. There was just a lot going on, which I like. There was still like there's still a lot of questions in this. Like, the person watching this is definitely not left with like, oh, well, I didn't hear about this or this or this. It was just like a perfect, I didn't need to know any more about him. But there are eight deaths, so everyone dies pretty much, except for the lead paranormal lady. Don't know her actual title. Well, medium. Oh, medium. Okay, seance leader. Her business card has a lot of descriptions. So I really want to know, like, I'll start off, but I'd love to know like what kind of kill or you know what like what you liked probably about the gore. Personally, I I don't think anything was more jarring than I and I know it was jarring seeing someone's face getting smashed, but I think my tolerance is a little bit higher than that for blood. So I think the most disturbing image was seeing um Ginny floating above the water, and then you're just like, what's going on? What's going on? And literally her neck cracks and she just falls. And I don't know if there's something about that like sound and just seeing that. And you guys know I don't like people like crawling up and down steps backwards, like all of that, like sort of so seeing her body be so unnatural in that sort of stunt sense really scared me. And it definitely is my favorite death because it was the most disturbing in in my view.

SPEAKER_06 33:08

I'm so surprised. I almost forgot that that happened in this movie because there was so much going on at that point. For me, my favorite it's Caroline with that smashing that smashing head. I mean, obviously, we just uh we just watched Cam a few weeks ago. It gave me those, you know, those vibes of that little competition of smashing your head against the desk. Through a webcam, yep. Yeah, through a webcam. But I think seeing that like zoom background uh that kept cutting in and out while she was smashing, oh my gosh, it was so intense. And I think a lot of the kills or things that went on with the characters had a lot of similarities. Is it they all kind of seemed to be like neck hanging related? A lot of them did, but I feel like hers was completely different. It was just, you know, like I felt the pain in her nose that the blood, oh, it was horrifying.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

Could you imagine? Like you're just sitting there, there's no one behind you, but there's this force, and you don't know where to grab it. I mean, like it's it must be like terrifying.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

It's like a bad car accident, but at your work from home desk.

SPEAKER_04 34:09

Uh, and multiple times.

SPEAKER_06 34:10

Yeah, and then like the the chat with the like random letters. Like, I was like, wait, is the is the spirit trying to he don't know how to type, you know, he's trying to talk to him. Nope. There's no language in the astral plane. Oh drink. Take a shot. Yeah, it was so intense. Uh I loved and hated every minute of it.

SPEAKER_04 34:28

Ryan, you have excellent taste because you took my favorite kill. Uh, I loved the homage to Cam that that gave us. I loved what you said with the how she had the background, like the digital green screen background while it was happening, and it was basically like her face smashing through that effect multiple times. I thought that was just very well done. Um, but I'll give it to my honorable mention, which was Gemma. Um, and this it's specifically the scene where she gets to Haley's house and she's standing there, and that bottle just flies and sp clobbers her in the face. I thought for sure she had died. I thought for sure that movie was over and that was it. Uh and my job was just on the floor because I did not see that coming, and it it scared me in such a way that none of the other kills did. Uh so that one gets my vote.

SPEAKER_02 35:13

Interesting. I think I would have been disappointed if she actually died because it's like, man, all these other people went out so intensely, and then you just got Gemma getting whacked in the back of the head.

SPEAKER_04 35:24

But it was so like less is more for me, you know?

SPEAKER_02 35:26

It was just like It was a really good moment, and it was for sure like just seeing the bottle just kind of fling itself over. It was done really, really well. My favorite death was undoubtedly Ginny, but Alexis has already covered that pretty well. I'm gonna go my runner up, which was Alan. Alan, whose little feet you see dangling in the background around the 30-ish minute mark, only to see him topple from the ceiling, intense and terrifying. Very intense.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

This is getting tense now. Just I wanna be transparent to our listeners. Um, every little sound I hear, Ryan and I are looking at each other like, okay, someone's coming for us. Is this the time? Is this it? It is really frightening.

SPEAKER_04 36:07

Definitely, Ryan. It's a very unique experience when you're consistently doing these kinds of calls because it's almost like your consciousness kind of transfers into the device you're on, and you're kind of just like in that space with the people you're in this chat with, and you kind of like like sort of zone out your actual surroundings.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

Yeah, you lose your situational awareness.

SPEAKER_04 36:24

Exactly, because you're so focused on this like one small screen and the people in it. Uh, and that's definitely something that this movie played up really well.

SPEAKER_06 36:30

Are are we writing host two right now?

SPEAKER_02 36:33

Maybe this is very creepy.

SPEAKER_04 36:35

We're starring in it.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

Hello? There's so many cool visuals in this movie, right? So we've talked about so many of them already within the gore and within our favorite kills, but there were so many effects that all that each cast member had to pull off on their own and light their own scenes while they were doing this whole movie. Did anything stand out to you outside of those deaths about the visuals in this movie?

SPEAKER_06 36:59

Oh, something for me, like a scene for me, is uh the living room where Emma is like she has you know the little like face filter on, and it's just a face in the middle, a mask in the middle of her living room. And then she goes and gets the flower, which honestly, I think the big thing about these characters is they're so realistic, and that's exactly something that I don't maybe I would do, but there's it's something that someone would do.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

That's for sure, a I oh, I saw this in paranormal activity. Let me just go do that.

SPEAKER_06 37:30

Yeah, but it's like you know, and it's one of those things where like I was just thinking, like, yeah, but then what if she what if everything's fine and she wakes up the next day and like you walk into the living room and you're like, I forgot I threw flour everywhere.

SPEAKER_04 37:41

I did think about getting the Dyson out to vacuum up all that flour afterwards.

SPEAKER_06 37:44

Yeah, I thought I was like, I wouldn't clean that up for like a week. But that whole part, that bit of the chasing there, I enjoyed that so much and like to have the technology interface with these spirits, these demons, and you know, to be like a sea of mask in the middle of her living room. Like, uh, I loved that so much. That wasn't a kill, but I love the moment.

SPEAKER_02 38:03

Do you guys remember when Sna that like happened on Snapchat for a while and everybody was posting these spooky pictures of filters just like appearing out of nowhere?

SPEAKER_06 38:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 38:13

I got uh outlet to look like a face, which was very satisfying. Also, my dog, I put the dog filter on my dog. Less spooky, more fun.

SPEAKER_04 38:22

For me, I'd have to say one of my favorite visual elements, um, and even more so now that I learned that these cast members had to pull these things off on their own. So I'm really curious about this one, uh, was a character I didn't particularly care for or like, uh, but it was Teddy, and watching him basically sleep while being burned alive was very unique uh experience for me as a viewer. I don't know if that was all done in posts or what, but like the lighting was right, and I he he was on fire as far as I was concerned.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

Someone is credited in this movie with pyrotechnics, so there was for sure fire at some point.

SPEAKER_04 38:54

Nice, they did a good job.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

I know I'm gonna be generic. I think my favorite part, I think it was done so well is looking at each frame in the Zoom, especially when you get all three and you're like, what's gonna pop in one? But I just love how everyone's background one was so different and kind of like gives a little bit of light to their character, but also like is a scene for something to happen. So like you're looking and you're paying attention to what's happening, but you're like, okay, did I just see something there? You know, that door is gonna open. And all of there was so much depth in each of the frames, like, and they're just sitting there. So, like, I mean, as we're recording now, you know, there's you know, to my right, there's a staircase, you know, behind me there's a door, you know. And I I just can't imagine like looking in a thing, looking at myself in a zoom call and seeing something going on behind me, it'd be the most terrifying thing. And I think they played that up so entirely well. So I just loved like looking in the background and kind of finding was like, I spy, I spy, I think I saw something, you know. But clearly the first time I did not see Alan's feet, so um, which I'm glad I watched a second time. So you should definitely watch it twice.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

It flashed by and I was like, no, I've gotta be crazy. Like, because I was like, I was doing a little rotation, I was doing a clockwise rotation on the screen, like trying to see what I'm missing. And then she walks, you see his legs dangling, and I'm like, What? When he falls down, like, okay, no, confirmed he was definitely up there. Now I need to re-watch it so I can just appreciate that moment again.

SPEAKER_06 40:21

Yeah, I definitely ran it back. That was one of those perks of watching it on my phone. I was like, wait, mm-hmm, I'm not in this movie. I do get to see it twice. I'm gonna go backwards and watch that again.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

I'm gonna have to do the same thing now. But I actually watched this with my boyfriend, and it was interesting because there would be things that he saw because he was looking in a different place than I was, and there would be things that I saw that he didn't. Specifically when our psychic medium Saline, when she gets taken out of the zoom call, I was like, babe, did you see that? Like something just like took her out from above and like like fell on her or something. And he's like, No, I didn't see that. And I was like, It definitely happened, I'm not crazy. And it kind of like gets you into the same headspace of the people that are in this movie experiencing the same thing because not everybody's looking in the same place at the same time, and there's a lot of like blink and you miss it moments.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

For sure. When that thing crashed in her house, which is hilarious to me because it crashes and her internet went out. So you know her router was sitting on that, and then it just became unplugged, and she's like struggling to try to set it back up. Uh so I I was disappointed to know that she didn't die, but it makes perfect sense that she wouldn't. Looking at the visuals in particular, when we're thinking about like the effects that had to be pulled off, two things that I really loved was when Emma threw the sheet or the blanket at the ghost and it just captured that form. I was like, nope, nope, that's Michael Myers not doing it. No, no, no, no, no. And then the other element was just Haley being thrown around in that chair twice. Every time she yells at Gemma, she gets tossed or pulled back in that chair. To look at how that was executed, it was just so smooth and so convincing. I absolutely loved it. A bit of a visual that stands out to me architectually is the attic. Okay, who here has seen the original Black Christmas?

SPEAKER_04 41:58

Why do you ask us those things?

SPEAKER_02 42:00

Again, I am disappointed. I I I keep asking this every year and still nobody. But in the original Black Christmas, there is an attic and it's super fucking creepy. It's not quite like this one where it has a pull-out, so I guess this should remind me more of like National Lampoon's Christmas vacation, but or the boy. Or the boy, or the boy. But this one in particular, it's just like her saying nope and getting that selfie stick and doing the scan around. Super unsettling.

SPEAKER_06 42:26

Well, let me be the first one to say I'm never going into an attic if anyone ever asks. This is not something that's on my resume, it's not something that I do. I don't take trash out and I don't go into attics. Basements are also kind of questionable, but it depends. And this was such like a realistic attic. There's always just like crap everywhere. Like, why are there so many two by fours in the attic? Nobody really knows. That's just where they are. And there's just all this stuff like right at the edge. Um, and you know, like the slide down steps and everything. It just felt so real. Like I felt like I was just in this girl's house looking in her attic, which is always a bad idea, just for with the record.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Yeah, I definitely had one of those when I was growing up. A pull down with the steps. But I never was scared uh when I was younger because my mom would always be up there, and I knew it was like, oh, all our Santa and Christmas stuff are up there. And like, but let me tell you, here, I do not mess with the attic, nor does my boyfriend. Um, literally, we have it, the closet behind me has everything. Our Christmas tree, like, we don't, and even there, it's scary to go in. Now I've seen this movie. I'm like, if something falls in there, and I know it's because there's a shit ton of stuff in there, and they're all just thrown in there, but nope, there's literally nothing in our attic because we do not go up there.

SPEAKER_06 43:38

I actually don't know if I've ever been into an attic. I've avoided it my whole life. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 43:43

I never have, and I'm gonna try to confront that fear because when my girlfriend and I were like looking at like houses to live in in the future, all the houses in Maine have these really dope like attics kind of areas that you can like refinish and make a room, and then it just reminds me of Amineyville Horror, so I'm down with that. But when I was a little Little kid, we have an attic that looks similar to the one in this movie. As in, well, it's really just more of a crawl space. It's not like you can't even stand up in that thing. But the entrance to it looks exactly like this, and it's directly above my childhood bedroom door. So we'd always have this thing watching horror movies when I was younger. Everybody finish the movie, run to your room, and the last one to get into the room, the man in the attic is gonna yank up. And I was scared out of my mind between that and the green puppy that my sisters told me about. There's one time I crawled into bed with my sisters, uh, because we all like shared a room, and my heart, I was silent, but my heart was like pounding out of my chest, and they vowed then to never do that to me again. And now I love horror movies.

SPEAKER_06 44:44

So uh this is a lesson to scare the crap out of all of your younger family members and and scare your kids as an adult, also.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

Basically.

SPEAKER_04 44:52

I feel weird hearing all of this because when I was little, we did also have an attic um that I would take my toys up and play in because it was warm and it had a funny smell.

SPEAKER_02 45:00

Oh yeah, you're cool.

SPEAKER_04 45:01

Um so attics aren't all scary. It wasn't like dark.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

So you are the man in the attic.

SPEAKER_04 45:05

I guess so, but it was like a fun space because it was like quiet and like really hot for some reason.

SPEAKER_06 45:10

That is scary. Just the heat is scary.

SPEAKER_04 45:12

Um, but in regards to our friend Caroline in the attic, uh, getting the selfie stick was a very smart move. That's something I would do. But like you guys were saying earlier, like throwing flower or a blanket at what you think is a ghost, that's not a smart move to me. Because what is what's the follow-up to that? Are you gonna hit the ghost? What are you gonna do when you know that the ghost is there? I would much rather just not know it's there and just get the fuck out.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

Because you need to get them footsteps.

SPEAKER_04 45:35

Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

Yeah, you can track the ghost. You can know where the ghost is.

SPEAKER_04 45:39

But also, like, it's a ghost.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

It's a ghost positioning system. Like, why would you not want to have that information as you're trying to traverse the house and get out?

SPEAKER_04 45:47

The real GPS.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

You're welcome. So, Paris, I I've gotta know, we already established who you weren't a particular fan of in this movie. But in terms of the characters, what were some of your gripes there?

SPEAKER_04 45:59

I will say that the best thing that Teddy did was leave the group chat when there were seven of them, because then it cleaned up into a nice two by three grid, which was much easier to look at. So, shout out to that moment.

SPEAKER_06 46:10

Not wrong.

SPEAKER_04 46:10

I would say that my favorite characters were probably Haley and Gemma, because I think we get the most of their relationship.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

Or lack of a relationship.

SPEAKER_04 46:17

I don't know. I feel like they're kind of it's complex, you know, in ways that we aren't privy to, which I I enjoyed because there was like implied backstory and you could feel it, even though we didn't know what it was. Um, and I kind of saw myself in both of those characters. Like, on one hand, if something like this was to go down, I totally see why Haley would be like, you guys take this seriously, just like we plan this out. Like, please just like go along with it. Don't like fuck around. Well, like when they were playing that drinking game, I was like, I was so embarrassed. Um, but then also like having some fun with it, like Gemma, and like faking a ghost experience. Like, that's fun too. So I really enjoyed the two of them together. I definitely didn't like Teddy, but I also didn't really like Emma. She just like did a couple things for me that I was like, why are you here still? Um, one, hiding under that blanket for so long, like what what protection was that blanket providing? And also like get a better angle.

SPEAKER_02 47:07

Fear isn't always logical.

SPEAKER_04 47:08

Right. And then also she like kept that face filter on for way too long. And it actually made me laugh in a part where I should have been scared because I was like, take that snake filter off.

SPEAKER_06 47:16

But she's like panicking, she's like afraid for her life, you know. I will say, I do think she was under the blanket for a little bit too long. I would agree with you there.

SPEAKER_04 47:24

She just felt the most useless to me.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

If I saw each of you drop out and I knew already that there was something spooky in my house, and you see the inevitable happen to all your friends, I'd be frozen with fear, realistically. I'm sure at some point I would try to get out, but I don't blame her at all.

SPEAKER_04 47:40

She was moving a lot under that blanket.

SPEAKER_02 47:41

I don't know. I gotta make a run for it.

SPEAKER_04 47:43

Yeah, exactly. End the zoom call and get out.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

End the zoom call because that ends it all. Like no, I I it's funny, I actually liked her. Like she was really bubbly in the beginning, and then you can just see this transfer transformation in her. One, because I am the friend in the group chat that does the filters and the face stuff, and I've been there and done that. That was like, oh my gosh, this is me.

SPEAKER_02 48:06

I actually really enjoyed her.

SPEAKER_01 48:07

Yeah, I did too. And I think like I I just love the perspective, although maybe it might not have been realistic for some of you guys that she was under the covers. When I was younger, I was always afraid to go under the covers because I was afraid of like I got all these like nightmare in Elm Street kind of vibes. And I put like the head over my covers. I was like, Yep, and then I'm gonna fall asleep and I'm gonna go into some world underneath like the blanket. But I don't know, I feel like I would be the same way because I'm like, okay, well, I can't go by the door because I can't see who the fuck is out there. So I think I would be like in fear, like, all right, let me just hide. It's literally a safety blanket. And I have one of those blankets when I was younger too.

SPEAKER_06 48:43

So yeah, it's super realistic. I I don't doubt that that's what most of us would probably do, to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 48:50

Listen, I didn't hate her, but she was in the top three of characters I liked the least. And there weren't that many to pick from, so somebody had to be there.

SPEAKER_01 48:56

Yeah, I was like, out of eight, that's not bad. Yeah, that's true. She wasn't hateful.

SPEAKER_02 49:00

She and Haley were like my favorite of the actual group, but my heart goes out to Salem because man, like to to put up with the disrespect and also have maybe a borderline lack of awareness of what's going on with the drinking game and just like having someone like you show up for your job or the thing that you do, and someone's just making a joke out of it the whole time. I would have pieced out right then and there. Like that shit would have pissed me off.

SPEAKER_06 49:25

Yeah, and I feel like some people in a group trying to, you know, take a shot every time somebody says something, like that it's it just is uh Zoom meetings, like this is just how things are. Some people are doing their own thing and it drives you crazy, especially when you're someone like Hayley and you're trying to take this seriously, and you invite somebody there, and then you have these friends that like embarrass you. It it's it's just so real.

SPEAKER_01 49:48

They talked so casually in the beginning, though, which was kind of it wasn't frustrating because I understood the purpose of it, but I was like, and I get the intention, like no one was taking it seriously at first, and even kind of in halfway through it, they were like, Oh, yeah, whatever. But yeah, I was like, Okay, they're just talking about a seance, like it's so casual. Clearly, they haven't watched a lot of horror movies, but uh I would not be fucking around uh about a seance on Zoom, I will tell you that for sure. Nothing be like, so what was your what did you bring? What was your token?

SPEAKER_02 50:18

Like that's because you and Paris are both Hailey with your belief, and Ryan is Gemma. I'm Gemma.

SPEAKER_04 50:24

Ryan's Gemma.

SPEAKER_02 50:26

If you joked around like that, because of the lack of belief exclusively. Yeah, not because of your actions, but because of the lack of belief in ghosts.

SPEAKER_04 50:33

Uh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 50:34

Okay, yes. I wouldn't do what Gemma did. Paris would do what Gemma did, but I would not. Paris would for sure do what Gemma did. I think you would be the one trying to keep things light and kind of like make jokes along the way. Very true. This is who I am.

SPEAKER_04 50:47

Shout out to the food delivery person who uh totally interrupt Saline's uh vibe. I thought that was hilarious and believable. But yeah, I really liked her as a character too, Chris. She she did just enough to facilitate the narrative and then also just like popped back in towards the end and was like, hey, yeah, uh, this is probably what's going on. Ooh, gotta go by.

SPEAKER_02 51:07

Yeah, for sure. I also felt for Radina for moving in with her boyfriend like at the start of lockdown and like just seeing like how he's like chopping the knife, like, oh, get me out of here.

SPEAKER_06 51:18

Okay, but also can I just say who gets on Zoom calls without headphones in a public space in their home?

SPEAKER_01 51:23

I'm gonna be on it. Uh I'm gonna be honest. I completely can agree with everything she's doing because I will sit on a Zoom call. I had the space by myself, or hey, I didn't think someone would be like loud as hell. Chopping onions in the back. I feel I feel for her so much. I really do.

SPEAKER_06 51:42

Yeah, I just don't like people hearing my conversations, you know.

SPEAKER_01 51:46

Yeah, I don't know. It's just like when you wear it all day at the end, not that it matters, yeah. I mean, logistically, it is what it is, but like I get it. So you're you're are you victim blaming now? What are you doing over here? I'm not victim blaming, but sometimes sometimes it is people's fault.

SPEAKER_04 52:02

This escalated quickly.

SPEAKER_06 52:04

I'm saying she snapped about somebody making dinner and she could have just put headphones on.

SPEAKER_01 52:08

But he seemed like he's being a little obnoxiously loud cutting stuff, like yeah, for sure. I think they'd already had a fight. This is the whole point of quarantine, they're already fighting. My favorite was when um she was like, I have all this space, and you guys know what's going on in my life right now. So it's just a whole thing about space. So when you're so confined and you can't go anywhere, space is like a good thing to have. So she was like, I get all this space, and it was like a word.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

One of the other high points of this movie is the fact that you can step back and look at it in the trends of how everybody takes it as a joke, and then everybody takes it more seriously at the end. And really that's just the moral of the story. If something's going on, even if you don't necessarily believe in it, take it seriously and be respectful, right? So we see Gemma at the beginning of this movie, she's out throwing rocks at uh at Haley's window, she's not wearing a mask because she's out of public, right? Then she makes a joke out of everything, stuff goes down, and when she leaves to actually rescue or go check in on Haley, she puts on a mask, and even through all the crazy spooky stuff that they run into, they're still touching elbows. It just felt like a very loose metaphor of take things seriously, and we'll all get through together. Wow, I don't support taking things seriously.

SPEAKER_06 53:30

I do support wearing your mask, but do I take anything seriously? Ever.

unknown 53:34

Not really.

SPEAKER_02 53:34

Again, I don't think it was intended by that, but I think the real moral of the story is actually don't be a jerk when your friend cares about something and creates an event out of it out of you to have a fun time.

SPEAKER_06 53:44

Also, don't uh make up stories and invite demons to come to you with the mask on, basically. They can't come for any reason. So yeah, it's not a good idea.

SPEAKER_04 53:54

Oh wait, there was that whole allegory with like you've created a mask that anything can wear now. Yeah. Chris, I feel like now that you've pointed that out to me, that is definitely intentional. It feels intentional now that I'm aware of it.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

I don't know. I'd be curious to know from the filmmakers themselves that that was intentional.

SPEAKER_06 54:07

Maybe they'll hit us up on our hackerslash hotline.

SPEAKER_02 54:09

So for our listeners, you also won't know this yet. Two weeks from now, you'll hear an episode where we talk about ready or not. And when we're talking about ready or not, the subject of music boxes came up from Mac. And as soon as I saw that music box in this movie, I'm like, oh, well, maybe it's a good thing Mac is not here for this movie.

SPEAKER_04 54:26

I thought the same thing.

SPEAKER_06 54:27

All their trinkets were a little creepy. Like one, one was like a giant chess piece, it looked like like a pond, but it was like giant. Everything was a little strange.

SPEAKER_04 54:37

I saw that too. I wanna I wonder if there's like a backstory for each of them, like there was in um the cabin in the woods.

SPEAKER_02 54:42

I'll be honest though, if one of you tried to arrange a seance, I would for sure be trying to reach my dead pets from my childhood.

SPEAKER_01 54:49

Yeah, but what if they came back like Pet Cemetery? You probably would know.

SPEAKER_02 54:53

You're not trying to resuscitate them, you're just trying to communicate them and give them a good little pat on the head. You know what I mean? Like if you could just like feel the emotion of like your dog being happy to see you, that'd be so great.

SPEAKER_04 55:03

Sometimes dead is better.

SPEAKER_01 55:05

That is actually true. Would you really want that feeling and then it go away again? That that would be like the most heartbreaking thing.

SPEAKER_06 55:11

Oh no. Look, if you know, you know, you know, all the complaints about 2020. The beginning of my 2020 was losing my puppy, and I would literally do anything to see her, but also maybe not anything, because these people all died on a Zoom call. So you have to weigh these things. I'm not gonna be a part of any seance. I could be a hundred percent honest about that.

SPEAKER_01 55:33

I love you guys, but if you invite me, I'm declining.

SPEAKER_06 55:37

See, I feel like you would be the most down.

SPEAKER_01 55:39

Okay, I think I would because there's a part of me that's like very open.

SPEAKER_04 55:43

She caved so quickly.

SPEAKER_02 55:44

She'd do it for an in-person seance, but not a zoom seance where she can't control what you guys are doing.

SPEAKER_04 55:50

I'm the same way.

SPEAKER_01 55:51

Yeah, I need us all holding hands in person.

SPEAKER_04 55:53

I'm a seance purist. We have to I don't think a zoom seance could actually work in real life, but I have been a part of several seances in person that have had spooky effects.

SPEAKER_01 56:03

Really?

SPEAKER_04 56:03

Yeah, one time I because you know, I'm from rural Pennsylvania, so we get real bored. Um, my cousins and my aunt and uncle one time we did like a seance, and a candle shattered at the table.

SPEAKER_06 56:12

I'm good. In my head, uh clearly that was a that was like a candle that they bought from Spencer, and like when you tap your foot three times, it explodes or something like that.

SPEAKER_04 56:21

That's always like the candle had been there for years. It was so ugly too. So I wasn't even mad.

SPEAKER_06 56:25

Hey, sometimes you gotta plan things for a real long time, okay?

SPEAKER_04 56:28

They're in the long, huh?

SPEAKER_02 56:30

Now we know about the purchases Ryan's making today for five years from now.

SPEAKER_06 56:35

I'm just saying, depending on how Lexis' life goes, I know she's down for a seance. I can feel it.

SPEAKER_01 56:40

So, what will go on in my life that would make me want to have a seance?

SPEAKER_06 56:44

I feel like there just would be certain series of events. I don't know, maybe losing people. I don't know. I don't know, I don't want to speak anything into existence. I have no idea, but I feel like things could happen, and then Alexis would be like, guys, I need to do a seance.

SPEAKER_01 56:55

I always thought the Ouija board was kind of cool, but I'm like, Do you know what? I've watched too many things where I don't want the negative energy. Yeah, I'd be afraid of the negative some sort of negative energy coming out of it. Too many scary movies.

SPEAKER_02 57:06

I promise you all, if I die first and you uh carry on this podcast and you bring me back in a seance to ask me about an issue with the recorder, I'm gonna haunt all of you. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 57:15

Please haunt us. I love you.

SPEAKER_02 57:17

Can you format that again?

SPEAKER_04 57:19

I'm truly always down for a seance.

SPEAKER_06 57:22

So Alexis is uh horrified by the ending. What I was gonna mention earlier that I think is a little too spoilery, and I we talked about this with another movie too. Um, but this totally gave me those like MySpace uh vibes of like, or or I guess that time in like the internet when you would like watch stuff online or like play games online and you'd be like doing a crossword puzzle, but then it would be the the face that comes out after. I hate it when people send me that shit.

SPEAKER_04 57:50

Those jump scare viral videos.

SPEAKER_02 57:52

Yeah, I think we talked about this recently on our We did, and I can't think of what it was.

SPEAKER_06 57:55

But yeah, I mean it it definitely does that at the end here, but I didn't hate it, and I also didn't hate like the other random like views of the demon that we got. Like there was the one the one that maybe was a little off to me is when it was like all dark and you could see that he was like very blue and like an eye, and he was like kind of it reminded me, it got I got very con uh conjuring, the the conjuring vibes from that.

SPEAKER_01 58:21

I was like the fake Darth Maul just covered in silk.

SPEAKER_06 58:24

Yeah, thankfully not Darth Maul. I feel like that was one that was one moment where I was like, maybe we saw him for a little bit too much there, but I didn't hate all the like jumping and like I didn't I wasn't worried about is this one is this one person, is this one demon? Is this one thing? Like, I don't know. It just there's some things that you don't have to like have an explanation for. And this movie perfected that not having an explanation for everything, but not making you annoyed by it.

SPEAKER_01 58:50

I think what what got me in the end was I was really so you guys know me. If I'm watching me like watching it through my fingers, like scenes like that, and I it was like snap, okay. And you there I've probably have said it on this before, I hate when people do that, but it was so effective in this because it was like, okay, clearly, like we can't see it, so maybe we can see it through film or something like that. So she was taking a shot and it was dark too. So it could have been a multitude of things, but snap, okay.

SPEAKER_06 59:19

You're starting so hard, just waiting.

SPEAKER_01 59:22

And I can't imagine watching this on a phone because I would literally throw my freaking um phone across the room. And that thing just like popped up. I don't know where it came from, and just pops out. And I just it was like one of those milliseconds where I was like, all right, it's done. And then I was like, no, fuck, it's not done.

SPEAKER_04 59:40

Yeah, that final scene that you're talking about, Alexis, when she's taking the Polaroid shots. I found myself watching the the timer in the top left because they had let you know, like, oh, you only have 10 minutes left before the zoom call is automatically gonna end unless you upgrade. Um, so I was watching her like take those pictures and I was watching the clock and I was like, obviously it's gonna sync up and like right as it goes to zero, it's gonna like the thing's gonna happen and you're gonna be scared. Uh, and even with that information, that jump scare got me so good. And I was just like fully spooked, and it reminded me of the jump scare at the end of I know what you did last summer, that also got me. It's like I knew it was coming, but it was still so effective, and I was proud of this movie for doing that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:18

Yeah, it'll get you a second time too, trust me.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:21

I bet it was spooky.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:22

One thing I love about that timer is it made me like sit back and and question so they obviously had the Zoom call for free. Somebody asks if they're actually paying the medium uh when she like disconnects and like has hasn't come back yet. And I want to know how many people in these horror movies that we watched pay for their own death, right? Like they didn't have to pay for Zoom, maybe they didn't pay for the seance, but is there something where they have to pay for it and then like it ends up leading to their death? Like a d an example would be in Final Destination, a roller coaster ride or a plane ticket, you know what I mean? Like, are you paying to die?

SPEAKER_06 1:00:59

Wouldn't like every like vacation or cabin or like all those movies would be a a paid death?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:06

Yeah, I mean for sure, like indirectly, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:09

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:09

Indirectly, right? But like I'm talking about like a direct payment, like I'm gonna do this and then I'm gonna die. Yeah, very scary. I just want to go back and tally it now.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:17

You would. You're the kind of person. Death is a boom in business. You're the kind of person that would spend time doing that.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:22

The cost of death.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:24

I just also want to mention this, which probably nobody here cares about, but I loved the end credits so much. Oh wait.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:30

Well, I love that too.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:32

The people, you guys know I'm you know, always worried about like the design things. I care about a title scene, I care about it, I care about some end credits. And they also made it take so long that if you're paying attention to the timing of the movie, you didn't realize it was about to end. Um, because it the credits were a little bit longer than maybe would be normally, and they were so good. I loved them.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:51

Also a very unique watching experience because during that end credits, you also see the date, and it is today's date, which was spooky.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:58

I didn't even notice that. I did not notice that. That's amazing. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:02

Yeah, I was like, oh my god, babe, that's today. That's now. This just happened.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:06

That is sorry, folks. If you're listening to this episode, you already missed it. Go into settings on your phone, set the clock back one day. Let's try this again.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:15

How do you feel about like how there's no open? I think I'm so used to like something super theatrical that I'm like, there's no open. I like I had to rewind. I'm like, Did I miss something in the beginning? No, like no, no, no title sequence. It just started and I was like, oh, this is cool. They just did it right. Yeah, no, they did it perfectly. It works for this movie, yeah. Because normally I'd be annoyed. Yeah, you wouldn't, you're not like, oh, why didn't I get an opening scene? Well, you're in the opening scene.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:38

Yeah. Although I will say I could easily forget the name of this movie because I didn't see it in the movie, and I know that sounds silly, but maybe that's just how my brain works. I don't know, but I could easily come up with like four other names for this movie.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:52

I assumed the H in the corner was for Haley, but maybe it is just for Host.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:57

Yeah, maybe that was the title. That that was the title sequence right there.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:00

Maybe they just forgot the G and it was actually Ghost.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:02

Sign G, yes. All right, folks. We we've talked so much about this movie, and I think it's been a long time since we've all been so excited for a movie. And just a reminder, Host obviously is in Universal Slash. Now, we want to know what you think and what your thoughts are on this movie. Again, you can sign up for a free trial if you're not already subscribed to Shudder. I've been paying for it for a little while now. I personally think it's worth the payment. Go ahead and check it out and then let us know what you think. There are a number of ways you can reach out to us, starting with our website, hackerslash.com, and on our social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:38

And I've mentioned it so many times today, you no longer have an excuse. Hit us up at our Hackerslash Hotline. The number is 757-606-0128.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:47

Add that to your contacts, honestly. Put us on speed dial. Call us. If you have been haunted by a horrible Zoom call gone wrong, you can reach out to us via email at feedback at hackerslash.com. And if you've enjoyed listening to our podcast, consider becoming one of our patrons. Check out patreon.com slash hacker slash where you can earn cool perks for as low as one dollar a month.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:09

We'll see you next time. Bye.