Superhost, 2021.
Directed by Brandon Christensen.
Starring Sara Canning, Osric Chau, Gracie Gillam, and Barbara Crampton.
SYNOPSIS:
A pair of travel vloggers stay at an isolated house to make a video for their ailing channel, helped along by an owner very keen to get a good review.
Everybody wants to be liked, and for a certain generation of people the way you show you like them is by clicking a button marked ‘Like’ on a screen. For some, this act seems to validate that what they are doing is appreciated and, in some cases, validates them as a person. This idea seems to be at the core of Superhost, a short and gruesome horror movie that, like so many movies produced over the past two years, makes very good use of how we use modern technology and how you can do quite a bit with so very little.
The people who wished to be liked in Superhost are Claire (Sara Canning) and Teddy (Osric Chau), a couple who make their living from travel vlogging so hits on their videos and subscriptions are important. However, the number of subscribers seems to be falling and the pair are desperate to get their numbers up, especially Claire who seems to be prepared to do anything to reverse the falling figures. This leads them to rent a holiday home out in the middle of nowhere, owned by the rather odd Rebecca (Gracie Gillam) who seems to be all smiles a little bit too much and gets a bit obsessed with Claire and Teddy giving her a good review, leading to a chaotic finale where the overly friendly but creepy Rebecca reveals her true plan.
Clocking in at under 85 minutes, Superhost is a tight and concise little movie that ends at precisely the right time, never outstaying its welcome and not stretching out its ideas to silly lengths. The real strength to it, however, is in the totally unhinged but brilliant performance from Gracie Gillam as Rebecca, whose constant sneaking up on her guests with a wide beaming grin and an over-friendly manner is as endearing as it is unsettling; you know that Rebecca is a wrong ‘un right from the start but she doesn’t actually do anything to warrant that – she just seems too eager to please in that off-putting way that some hosts can.
And while Gracie Gillam is the obvious focal point, the other two leads do a wonderful job of creating characters who, although are generally annoying and unlikeable due to the act they must put on when they are filming, do warrant our sympathies once Rebecca’s grin turns from one of joy to one of pure evil. Horror legend Barbara Crampton also turns up as a previous host whom Claire and Teddy have given a bad review to, and her presence gives the movie a bit of weight despite her not being onscreen for very long.
Overall, Superhost is a fun and gory horror that gets in, does what it needs to and gets out without hanging around. Being so short and broad with its characters means that there isn’t a lot of room for suspense or any major surprises, but for a short palate cleanser of blood-soaked insanity it works incredibly well, and if you wish to pursue its surface level social commentary messages any further then there are plenty of other online media-based horror movies from the past couple of years that will scratch that particular itch. There may be nothing totally innovative about Superhost as a concept but one thing that sticks is that Claire keeps saying of Rebecca “We need more of her”, and that is very true because after the credits have rolled Gracie Gillam’s performance is the one thing about this movie that you will remember.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
