Movie Review: Hosts (2020)

Synopsis: A family invites their friends over for Christmas dinner, not knowing they've been possessed by some sort of evil entity. This, in turn, turns their family dinner into a night of trying to survive.

Who's in it? The movie stars Neal Ward, Nadia Lamin, Frank Jakeman, Lee Hunter and Samantha Loxley.

Review: I came across this movie at our local library and, even though I wasn't sure if it would be any good, decided to check it out anyway. After all, it was free. My wife and I watched it last night and, if it wasn't the worst horror film I've ever watched, it is easily one of the top 5.

Actually, let me correct that last sentence. It wasn't just a bad horror film, it was probably one of the worst movies I've watched from any genre.

In fact, this movie was so bad, I'm not even really sure where to start. I guess, for one, this is an extremely dull film. There's a lot of talk/introductions, one quick murder scene, then a lot more talk. In fact, I kind of wonder if maybe this movie was originally meant to be a short but the director decided to be ambitious by extending the run time. That would at least explain why there are so many scenes with characters doing nothing but staring into the distance and painfully long monologues that have nothing to do with the plot.

The plot itself left a lot to be desired, especially when it came to explaining what the evil entities wanted. What should have been a simple "we are trying to possess everyone" plot wound up being "let's try to torture the family first, over some obscure reason that really has nothing to do with us" plot, again, likely because the filmmakers were looking for a reason to make the movie longer without really putting any thought into it.

It also didn't help that I was starting to think the family wanted bad things to happen to them. It's the only reason why they didn't call the police when they were left (at least apparently) unattended with a working cell phone or make any attempt to escape through a window. Even fighting back was an option considering entities (or at least the bodies that were hosting them) could be killed. Basically, there was zero reason for this movie to be anywhere near as long as it was without a lot of help.

Final Opinion: It's a 30-minute movie (at best) that has been stretched to 90 minutes by adding a lot of unnecessary elements. Do not waste your time watching it.

My Grade: F-