Reviews

This is basically your standard bad found footage film. It's got the usual trope of film makers investigating a local legend only to run afoul of said legend. The villains are the usual creepy kids wearing masks, except that kids just standing around isn't really creepy anymore. The film includes the required "Oh my god, run away!" scene of the actors running like idiots through the woods. There are no scares to speak of in the film, not even anything that would qualify as a jump scare.

In a nutshell, there's NOTHING to differentiate this film from every other ultra-low budget found footage movie ever created and no reason whatsoever to watch it.

Don't be mislead by any attempts to categorize "Arctic Void" as sci-fi and/or horror. There are no special effects, no thrills, no chills, no monsters, no aliens, and very little in the way of make-up effects. Any suspense in the film comes from the loneliness of the environment and the unexplained mystery... and the explanation is really nothing exciting. Said explanation is basically the only tenuous connection the film has to sci-fi at all. In fact, there's not really a whole lot to this film except what little drama exists between the characters and with their various internal struggles. It's a good thing that I usually put movies on in the background while I do other things, because this one was kind of a waste of time.

This is a light psychological thriller about a couple who crash a party and spend the evening.manipulating their hosts to some nefarious end. What carries the film is largely the acting -- as anybody with half a brain or a modicum of social experience would spot the gaslighting and manipulation from a mile away. There are simply a TON of "coincidences" in the dialogue that would make anybody suspicious. Some of the coincidences had me thinking that the party guests scouted out or researched their hosts ahead of time, but this doesn't quite gel up with the explanation given towards the end of the film. Chalk the inconsistencies up to lazy writing, I suppose.

The "B" portion of the plot involving the other pair of friends was pretty well useless, and I'm not even sure what narrative purpose it was supposed to serve other than to simply break up the "A" part of the plot. I'd argue that it was the weakest part of the film.

Other random thoughts: I think Timothy Granaderos has got a pretty strong Elijah Wood vibe going in this film -- kind of a weird off-kilter feeling, something that comes across as an intensity just barely cloaked in a veneer of casualness. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing kind of thing. I dunno, maybe I'm wrong, but it worked for me.

Overall, I'd say this is a pass for hardcore horror fans, but if you like lighter fare, you might be the target audience. A little thin on content but not bad in execution.

...is the epilogue where the survivors have to explain to the cops at the end of the movie why there are several dead people across two neighboring houses. No physical evidence remains of any monster. If I'm a cop, I'm thinking that the most likely culprit, despite any protestations by other witnesses, is the disturbed kid who burned his house down a few years earlier. What follows is some jail time, a lengthy investigation, and possibly a prosecution. The neighbors' dad certainly is going to want to know who decapitated his kid. I'd bet that a media circus follows and the disturbed kid ends up serving life in prison.

Other reviews discuss the twists at the film's end. I feel ambivalent about these events myself, to the point that my overall reaction is WTF, and more or less why I give this one 4/10.

There are really no worthwhile scares to speak of. If you're looking for a horror fix, this one is a pass.

I thought this was going to be a movie about time travel and space monsters and whatnot. I guess it was, but the space monsters literally do absolutely nothing for the whole 10 minutes they're on screen, and wholly cow I was bored crazy through most of the film. Shortly after the funeral scene, I paused the film and was surprised to see that I was an hour in with nearly an hour left. Who the hell though this movie needed to be this long?! It should have been 1 hour 40 minutes tops.

Shortly after the 1 hour mark, the film took a hard left turn, moving away from the adult versions of the characters, and tried to turn into Stranger Things or something similar. Like, seriously, I didn't care about the whole storyline with the kid versions of the characters AT ALL, and it wasn't until the 1 hour 42 minute mark before the whole time travel thing actually STARTS AFFECTING THE STORY. Literally 86% of the film is a bunch of boring setup for about 10 minutes of payoff that was just nonsensically bad.

I was going to give the film 2 stars because I liked the design of the alien monsters (even though the CGI was not that great), but the ending of the film achieved absolutely nothing. This is definitely one of the worst time travel films I've ever seen. I suppose I should have been tipped off by the reference to Miskatonic U, but I figured we'd at least see some unspeakable horror devour someone, BUT WE DON'T EVEN GET THAT! I've seen a LOT of bad movies over the years but I'm actually angry I watched this. Do yourself a favor and just skip this one.

I've been a horror fan for 40+ years, so my opinion of the genre is informed by an awful lot of experience. "Hosts" is by no means the worst film I've ever seen, not by a long shot. It's also not the best, either. Reviewers that state the former are engaging in unjustifiable hyperbole; reviewers that state the latter are probably shills for the film. If this was the worst (horror) film you've ever seen, then you haven't seen many films, and I wouldn't trust your opinions.

As for my take, this is definitely one where the first half falls into the slow burn category -- too slow, I think, as the film makers could have pared down the first 40 minutes by at least 10-15 minutes and still maintained a good build up to the pivotal scene. I thought the acting was serviceable, and the directing competent if not inspired. There were a few shots here and there that would make for pretty cool movie posters, but, overall, the cold glowing blue eyes thing doesn't hold the creep factor.

Where the film really falls flat is the script. The story is pretty well nonsensical and basically just serves as a vehicle to inflict a bunch of violence on an unsuspecting family. The possession angle isn't explored to any significant degree, we never find out WHY anything is happening, and the end of the film isn't satisfying in any way. The best scenes would have been much more powerful in a better film.

If I had to break down my review as to why I give it 4 out of 10, I'd say 1 star for the actors, who did well with a not-great script, 1 star for the directing / cinematography, 2 stars for that pivotal scene in the middle of the film, which could be truly shocking for less experienced viewers.

I enjoyed the first 2 acts of the film, but it unfortunately falls into the realm of cliches and one-liners in the final act. I think the film makers missed an opportunity to ramp up the fear by really taking advantage of the titular setting more. Instead, the film just sort of degenerates into barricade-the-house-and-kill-the-vampires at the end. Overall this turned out to be a fairly average vampire flick -- watchable, but ultimately nothing special.