Written by Rob Savage, Gemma Hurley and Jed Shepherd; directed by Rob Savage

Second Sight, out 22nd February

‘Someone new has joined the meeting…’ 

Genre films have always been excellent at capturing the mood of a time, or rather presenting a reflection of the times. From the paranoia of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, to the vacuous consumerism of Dawn of the Dead, to the more topical Get Out and US… It comes as no surprise then that now we have a horror film that not only feeds on the very recent anxiety of lockdown and the Coronavirus, but also gives us a treatise on 2020 so far. The fact that it came so quickly and is so damned good is the real revelation, simultaneously paying homage to the classics yet retaining its own sense of self.

As many of us have been doing during this time, a bunch of friends arrange to have a Zoom call to keep in touch. The difference on this occasion? One of the friends, Haley (Haley Bishop) has brought in Seylan (Seylan Baxter) to perform a séance. It all starts off harmless enough, but when some of the friends – in particular Teddy (Edward Linard) and Jemma (Jemma Moore) – don’t take it anywhere near seriously enough, things start to spiral out of control.

You see, the spirits hate it when you do that and one in particular has decided to teach them a lesson that night. Cue lots of strange lights, objects moving by themselves, barely glimpsed movement in dark corridors or rooms, and one especially fraught trip into an attic. Every ounce of tension is squeezed out of the premise, the suspense at times quite hard to bear – as it is in all the best horror flicks. How does it all pan out? You’re just going to have to watch and see.

One of the clever things about this hour-long film – which has hardly any fat on it whatsoever – is that it takes something that’s freely available and we’ve all been relying on, something that definitely lends itself to cheap filmmaking, then turns it around on us. It’s both familiar and unsettling, owing huge debts to the likes of Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity and Unfriended of course, whilst at the same time creating its own mythology and scares – sold to us by a cast that give outstanding performances and are totally believable. One scene especially uses harmless and fairly new phone technology to create incredibly effective chills. If you’re a horror fan, it’s also huge amounts of fun: you’ll jump; you’ll check over your own shoulder; you’ll not want to go into a dark kitchen after watching. But it’s films like this that give you some degree of control over the frights, in a time when control over our lives seems impossible.

Now for the extras on the special Blu-ray release (a Shudder Original, it premiered on there last summer). First of all we have the commentaries, the first by director Savage and producer Douglas Cox, which is as witty and entertaining as you might expect (Doug: ‘That invite link is not my actual account!’ Rob: ‘The doorway and hall in Haley’s place is just really, really creepy!’). Then we have a cast commentary, which is a bit of a free-for-all among mates, preceded by some very funny introductions: ‘I’m Haley, and I play… Haley.’ ‘I’m Caroline (Ward) and… believe it or not, I play Caroline!’

If you prefer to see the cast talking then you have an interview with them all next where we have some great insights: on getting the gig, Emma Louise Webb says, ‘When we were first told about it, we were really excited just to have some work!’; on the real life séance they all did before making the movie, Jemma tells us, ‘I’m a bit of a wimp, and the medium said she had people in her walls or something! Then a book fell off the bookcase in my flat and I started crying.’; on working with mainly an all-female cast, Teddy jokes, ‘How do I feel about being slagged off by a load of women? I was used to it (laughs).’

The ‘Behind the Scenes’ featurette takes you through the production from the beginning (Jed Shepherd on the prank in the loft: ‘We got like a million views on major platforms, it went viral, so Shudder wanted us to make a longer one.’) through to how Gemma Hurley was drafted in on the writing side (Gemma: ‘They had this terrifying wishlist of scares they wanted to do.’) right through to how the effects were done – some as simple as just flinging yourself at the camera. ‘Is There Goblins Now?’ is the original prank video which went viral, where Savage intercut scenes from [REC] into his trip to the loft, while ‘Kate Scare’ was a dry run reaction test, and the original Host Team Séance they’ve all been talking about is also included.

Finally we have the BFI Q&A with Savage, Shepherd and Hurley, then some of the cast and editor Brenna Rangott (‘When I got the call, I thought only Rob would have the idea of doing a séance in lockdown!’). And the appearance of Savage, Shepherd and Hurley again on the Evolution of Horror show (another Zoom call, appropriately… Host Mike: ‘I’m hoping nothing creepy happens today!’).

But perhaps the most interesting extra here are the shorts Savage made before Host, Dawn of the Deaf – in which a cataclysmic event leaves only those who cannot hear untouched – and Salt, a demonic vignette where Alice Lowe (Prevenge) attempts to get her child to safety. Both would make corking features in their own right, if the director ever chooses to expand. As for the packaging, you get a rigid slipcase featuring new art by Thomas Walker, a perfect-bound booklet with the original story outline and new essays by Ella Kemp and Rich Johnson, plus 6 collectors’ art cards.

Top marks all round, miss this one at your peril!

Verdict: ‘Spirits, we invite you to use us…’   10/10                                                 

Paul Kane