Hosts (with an 'S') just dropped on Shudder and is a wholly original, wholly independent, mean spirited, disgusting, gory, psychological Christmas horror. It immediately fell into the 'must watch' category for me. In fact, barely a half hour or so into this, I was on the phone texting my friends and insisting that they fire it up. And, of course, this has the potential to be confused with the singular 'Host' which took the quarantined world by storm in mid-2020. A bit of unfortunate timing Hosts creators, but for better or worse they stuck w/ the title that carried throughout their project (and actually carries multiple layers of meaning).

And far from being a knock-off, Hosts goes in a completely different direction as a claustrophobic home-invasion thriller. It also leaves the broader world and 'bad guy' motivations as enough of a mystery, with clues along the way, that let you piece together the story on your own. It's a fantastic ride, and a great pickup by Shudder. Please check it out and then give Adam and Richard a listen. What they managed to pull off on only a $20k budget is, frankly, fucking impressive and we should all be looking forward to their next project!