Call to Action: Superhost

When vloggers Claire (Sara Canning) and Teddy (Osric Chau) arrive at the latest entry in Superhost, their long running vlog of rental houses in remote locations, they are not in the best states of mind. Claire is concerned about the bleeding subscribers; maybe this has to do with the clickbait assault their videos played on Vera (Barbara Crampton), aka the Bitch From Draper, or maybe it has something to do with their lack of spontaneity. Teddy is less concerned about this, since his family is fine with helping the couple pay for rent and whatnot; he is way more anxious about his plan to pop the question at the right time this trip.

Well, first impressions of the rental house are great. The location is nice, the house looks cool. Unfortunately, a changed entry code prevents them getting access until the host, a woman who advertises herself as BettyLou52 online but who introduces herself as Rebecca (Gracie Gillam), shows up to let them in. The code had to be changed, unfortunately. Likewise, a toilet issue requires an actual plumber. Likewise, a problem with this, that, or the next thing will require this, that, or the next solution. Rebecca is constantly aware of the power of reviews, but she seems sweet enough. Eccentric maybe, but sweet.

Then, Vera shows up looking for a little payback and ends up throwing a rock through the window, Rebecca goes a little nuts, chasing her off with promises to cut the intruder if she dares come back on Rebecca’s property. This is when the couple discovers there’s something really off with her. Not just eccentric but broken somehow. She pauses a little too long when asked questions, not as though she cannot remember but perhaps because she is parsing the voices in her head, looking for the correct answer. Claire sees her as a possible tool for regaining subscribers—if Rebecca is authentically bonkers, then maybe exploitative interviews or other footage involving her can draw the crowds back to the site!

Of course, Claire and Teddy don’t realize the fire they are playing with until Rebecca reveals she is not quite the harmless thing she initially seemed. The house and its owner have been described by previous visitors as flawless and “life changing.” Claire and Teddy never counted on the latter term taking on an association with brutal murder until now. If they are to survive, the vloggers will have to gather their wits and make some hard choices, indeed. Writer/director Brandon Christensen delivers a chilling slice of psychological suspense infused with some black humor shots at the personalities that thrive on YouTube with Superhost (2021).

Alfred Hitchcock really did something groundbreaking with his 1960 adaptation of Robert Bloch’s Psycho. On the one hand, he breathed a lovely cinematic life into Bloch’s novel, taking all the best parts of the book and therefore giving the world a clever, taut little tale of the sorts of craziness that can live just outside of town. On the other hand, he accomplished with Michael Powell could not do with Peeping Tom released a few months earlier, which is bringing the psychological suspense subgenre of horror fiction to the cinematic world in such a way to enchant audiences and therefore build the fundamental model for what psycho killer stories could and possibly should look like. Everyone knows a motel when they see one, and most of the citizens in our travelling society have used one. Bloch and then Hitch took something utterly familiar and infused it with a sly, darkly comic evil. These days, everyone knows what a rental house/AirBNB/etc. looks like. Seems only natural that one can be run by a crazy killer type …

Some horror films succeed because of original plotting, a new idea, a unique spin on familiar material that breathes fresh life into it, an energy level we have never seen the like of before, and (in far fewer cases) a single brilliant performance surrounded by good performances. Hitchcock’s Psycho succeeds for a number of reasons, including technical excellence (the shower scene rightfully gets accolades; however, the death of Milton Arbogast is also astonishing in both its brutality and its resistance to venture over the line into gratuitous). However, the film also gave the world Anthony Perkins’ stellar performance as Norman Bates. Superhost might not have the technical chops that Psycho has. It has a good look, good soundtrack, good cinematography, and two perfectly rendered scenes involving all four characters, but it lacks anything quite as game changing as Psycho‘s most famous scenes. However, Superhost does give us one brilliant performance surrounded by good ones.

Gracie Gillam does a superb job as the sweet host who also happens to be seriously … wrong. She has the same sort of friendly face as Perkins, and the same ability to let everything human slide out of her eyes and leave just barren, cold emptiness behind. Mads Mikkelson accomplishes this in the Hannibal series (2013-2015), and Gillam matches both actors here. When she slides into the giggling madwoman for the final act of the film, it’s almost a relief because everything leading up to it is far, far more disturbing. Overall, this performance is nothing short of brilliant.

Which is not to pooh-pooh the other actors. Barbara Crampton does not show up for much of the screen time, but she delivers a memorable performance when she’s there. Also, she’s a central character in the picture’s finest terror sequence, one that manages to shift from tension to laughs/relief and right back into high stakes tension with fluidity and grace. It’s a scene that launches the film into its final act, and it does so with style.

Sara Canning and Osric Chau have the difficult job of being the “normal” folks, and though their characters are not necessarily always sympathetic, they both do a fine job of playing characters who must be snarky assholes, who must have high energy when the camera rolls, who are essentially manipulative jerks, but who also have to balance worries about career and the future alongside the challenges of surviving an encounter with a crazy person. There’s heart in their performances, which is often overshadowed by their characters surface level motivations.

In terms of visuals, Superhost features several good, creepy moments. One memorable bit occurs early in the film when a restless Teddy walks out onto the deck and stares off into the dark, he spies a figure in the night whose eyes seem to glow. Is this for real? Then, the figure raises a hand in that familiar Rebecca way. When he suddenly looks away and then turns back, the shape is gone. A classic moment that is nevertheless composed for maximum suspense through the art of music, sound, image, and performance. Likewise, there is a sequence where Teddy and Claire interview Rebecca on camera, and the answers she gives are not quite … reliable. The holes gape wide both in her stories as well as in her psychological state. The sequence starts off as rude, these two kind of making fun of the woman, and it gets disturbing when we see Rebecca in a new, disquieting light. It’s fascinating in its visuals as well as its use of an unexpected primal scream.

Where the film stumbles is in the actual story it tells. The screenplay has some fun with mashing together YouTube styles with an actual narrative, showing how these bouncy people can change into real folks with real problems as soon as the scene is over, about how much attention is paid to making the choices to manipulate the audience most efficiently before and during the rolling of the vlogging camera. However, the storyline itself veers a little too close to the Psycho model for its own good. It’s an easy plot template to apply, but apart from the vlogging aspect, it’s fundamentally the same as every carbon copy of Psycho to come down the pike over the last 61 years—even the movies penned by Bloch himself, such as the Amicus production The Psychopath (1966). There’s no Mother character, perhaps, but there are overlaps otherwise, not the least of which is using an industry intended to provide folks lodging while away from home.

Brandon Christensen has done some fun work that heaves a bit close to other material before. I was rather taken with the flick Still/Born (2017), though it borrows some qualities both from The Exorcist (1973) and J-horror movies. I enjoyed my time watching this one, as well. As a director, Christensen does a fine job of getting good performances from his actors.

Superhost might not be a brand-new, never before seen entry in the psychological suspense subgenre, but it does manage to serve as a vehicle for some fun twists and an absolutely riveting performance. If nothing else, the flick should be seen once for Gillam’s work. She mesmerizes.

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Superhost is a Shudder Exclusive and is therefore available to subscribers to that service. It is available in a streaming edition. No DVD or Blu-ray, yet.

Next, we take a look at the subterranean horrors of the Russian horror flick, The Superdeep (2020). That film is also a Shudder Exclusive, available for subscribers to that streaming service. It is also available on PAL version DVD, a B/2 region Blu-ray, and streaming editions.

Writing for “Call to Action: Superhost” is copyright © 2021 by Daniel R. Robichaud.

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