As Paul Young might have sang in that charity classic years ago, tt’s Christmas time – and there’s a need to be afraid. However, please also be aware in this cinematic situation we are about to receive, when you let in light you don’t banish shade in the new sci-fi / horror offering HOSTS.
Yuletide has come around again, but on TV a report claims that Christmas traditions are outdated – and perhaps your old-style Pagan ritual crossed with a Solstice might be useful in eradicating this mindset which is clearly in need of a rethink.
Torch-like mystery alien entities infect Jack and Lucy, the friends of a family who are settling down for a traditional Christmas, a time when tensions can rise to the surface. For the mother of this family, she reveals that months ago she was told by doctors that she was diagnosed with cancer – and chemo might not be the answer.
Now-possessed Jack and Lucy are eating with the family – and the celebration is clearly about to begin, but the possessed Lucy has something under the table – and the father has something underneath to reveal….
Spooky and occasionally effective shock-heavy and very bloody alien-home invasion combination that evokes memories of classic variants like FUNNY GAMES, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, POLTERGEIST, THE SHINING and the original TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and the overall tone of the film more than compensates when it genuinely gets going.
Thanks to some solid make-up and visual effects, the film doesn’t make any compromises with darkly-coordinated cinematography and production design and makes firm use of a solid, if unoriginal, idea throughout. One for core sci-fi and horror fans initially, but potential for crossover is there too if you like some of the other films mentioned. Co-directors Adam Leader and Richard Oakes are names to watch.
