Host Director Teases What to Expect From the Follow-up Film

The coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on the movie industry, as it has not only caused a number of films to have their releases delayed for long stretches of time, but it also forced various productions to go on hiatus. The global quarantine didn’t slow down filmmaker Rob Savage, however, as he managed to shoot the Zoom-inspired film Host within a manner of weeks, having debuted on streaming service Shudder just last month. Given the success of the project, there are already rumblings of a follow-up film, with Savage confirming audiences can expect more of a “spiritual sequel” instead of a direct continuation of the original film.

“I don’t want to be the Zoom guy,” Savage shared with ComicBook.com about a new film moving to a different filmmaking format. “I love found footage and I’m really excited to work in the found-footage genre more. This has really got me fired up about doing more in that space. I think if we were to do another Zoom film and do it straight, just playing in the same sandboxes as Host, it’s gonna be a case of diminishing returns. So I think the idea that we’ve got as a follow-up, which is a follow-up, I wouldn’t call it a direct sequel, but it’s a spiritual sequel. And I think nobody’s gonna see it coming. I think it’s gonna step up from what Host did, and I think it’s gonna surprise a lot of people.”

Host is the story of six friends who hire a medium to hold a séance over Zoom during lockdown, but they get far more than they bargain for as things quickly go wrong. When an evil spirit starts invading their homes, they begin to realize they might not survive the night. The film stars Haley Bishop (Deep State), Radina Drandova (Dawn of the Deaf), Edward Linard (The Rebels), Jemma Moore (Doom: Annihilation), Caroline Ward (Stalling It) and Emma Louise Webb (The Crown), who also operated their own cameras, helped pull off their own practical effects, and lit their own scenes. Due to social distancing precautions, Savage never set foot in the same room as his actors at any point during production and instead directed them remotely.

Savage also noted during the conversation, which was held on Zoom, “It’s funny you’re wearing a House of the Devil t-shirt because there’s a clue there as to what we wanna do next.”

In Ti West’s The House of the Devil, a babysitter accepts a last-minute opportunity to supervise an elderly individual on the night of a rare lunar event, leading to the reveals of Satanic rituals being performed.

Host is now streaming on Shudder. Stay tuned for details on a possible sequel.

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