The Lonely Host

A beautiful twist. That is the basic gift of this short film about a night, an eccentric host, two hidden video cameras and a garbage bag. All so simple, good performances, nice use of cliches.

No pun intended - I have been to a few BnBs (there is one particular App that is in the air, but I will not mention it - quite certain there are more out there too) ... I never had a host as weird as that. Most were quite friendly - I have to admit, I do not know how I would have reacted. Ones own reaction informs (sometimes) what response one might be getting.

That all said, the Host (the actress) is really good ... it's a fine line she has to walk. Not to mention make it obvious but maybe not too obvious where this may lead ... now is there a twist here? I think there is, but you'll be the judge of that. Some nice touches (of phones, so no pun intended) included ... maybe more of a thriller than a horror movie ... still quite a decent one! Script is ok and the acting is good too. Seem worse shorts and movies for sure.

Plot After arriving at her BnB, Silvia quickly learns that her offbeat host isn't quite as harmless as she seems.

Cast Sorry, I knew nobody or the creator.

Verdict Girl goes to BnB, becomes concerned with kooky host and deals with the imminent threat all set across 15 minutes.

Here's the thing, I've seen this before a thousand times. If you're going to do this plot then you need to throw something new in there, a twist, an angle, something to make it stand out from all the others.

Did The Lonely Host? Absolutely not. I kept waiting for it, I hoped they were going to throw in something unexpected, a shocking reveal, a character arc I'd not seen coming, a spanner into the works but nope it's colour by numbers.

Granted our cast do a passable job, especially our victim but that only goes so far.

Not horror, more thriller and a mediocre one at that.

Rants I swear if you stick The Lonely Host into Youtube the 2nd result is a reaction video to it with a wally in the corner doing the standard Youtube thing of totally overreacting. In the corner of the screen, eyes wide and mouth wide open like he's giving a eating an invisible corn dog in one. If you're shocked by this I have to assume you've never seen a movie before.....like any.....ever.