‘Your Host’ (2025)

‘Your Host’ follows a group of four 20-something year olds as they head to a cabin in the woods to celebrate a birthday. Unbeknownst to them, sinister plans are at play as they are targeted by an unseen figure who wants to exact his own sinister schemes.

With all the trappings of more than a familiar horror film, the movie opens to a paint-by-numbers rundown of familiar tropes, - there’s a group of young people, they’re away for a break in a cabin in the woods, they’re by themselves and they find a creepy camcorder in the woods nearby, pointed at the house.

With a more than cavalier approach, the more loutish of the group – James (Jamie Flatters) takes it upon himself to drag the camcorder into the house, much to his own amusement. With Anita (Ella-Rae Smith) voicing her dismay, and Matthew (David Angland) and Melissa (Joelle Rae) backing her up, the group break out into an argument, with each scattering to their own corners to gather themselves.

Once separated, the group are sedated one by one as a shadowy figure takes them down without any issues. Awakening in a windowless dungeon of sorts, the foursome are exposed to Barry (Jackie Earle Haley) a deranged game show host with a hidden agenda and no moral qualms. What ensues is an obscene display of body horror and gore only to be paired with menacing themes and scarring revelations.

Setting out with little to grab the attention of viewers familiar with horror films, ‘Your Host’ initially seems to offer little to nothing in terms of voice, vision or theme. What ensues however is unexpected. Leaving behind a muted and unimpressive opening sequence, the film quickly ramps up and exposes both the group of youngsters and the viewers to Barry.

Easing himself into it, Haley’s Barry introduces everyone to his underground game show. Performing to the audience of plastic mannequins, our host quickly sets the tone of the evening by challenging the group to simple games. With unexpectedly violent outcomes, the group soon learn that not winning will result in either losing a finger, being stabbed in the eye or even having someone take a drill to your head.

Increasing the intensity, the film also provides for one of the more brutal practical effects that can be seen in contemporary horror films, as Melissa meets her demise by having a hydraulic press with a spike lowered onto her head, exceeding in delivery beyond anything that could have been anticipated from the film on the outset.

Like a shining star Haley illuminates every scene that he is a part of. Embodying the fragile and shattered ego of a broken man, our host carries out his brutal and violent antics with both glee and a hidden agenda. Unlike common psychopaths, not suffering an aimless journey, Haley’s Barry is revealed to have a purpose under which he labours both with surgical precision and immaculate planning.

Revealing to us through flashbacks that Anita used to work for Barry when he was a reputable game show host, the young woman was in a dire situation. With her mother needing surgery and Anita struggling to secure the funds, aided by her conniving colleagues, Anita chose to accuse Barry of sexual misconduct. Conflicted, as there was no misconduct, Anita felt guilt for her actions, justifying it all for the wellbeing of her mother. Having had his life destroyed, Barry lost his job, his wife and children, being reduced to a social pariah. Tracking Anita down to exact his revenge, Barry rationalises his actions as justice.

Culminating in a confrontation between the two, Barry succeeds in killing Anita, with the film concluding on additional material where Barry can be seen executing another known TV personality who did commit sexual misconduct, but got away with it as he paid off everyone involved.

Raising a lot of interesting moral quandaries, ‘Your Host’ succeeds in bringing up complicated ideas, exploring them and facing one difficult question off against another. By contrasting Anita’s actions to Barry’s, the film does not choose a side to stand on, rather it pairs uncomfortable topics with disturbing imagery, making viewers uncomfortable both on a moral and physical level.

Save for a few inconsistencies, such as all four of the group perishing when it was only Anita who had wronged Barry, the film delivers on cringe, gore and brutality forcing us to watch the group face off against an inescapable trap designed by an unhinged and insane host.

Forcing the young people to deal with the consequences of Anita’s actions, ‘Your Host’ leans slightly towards Barry’s ideology eventually, that retribution needs to be obtained where the life of one individual is essentially traded for another. Cause and effect are examined with excruciatingly uncomfortable games as the youths are picked off one by one, hammering home the message that no one is above justice. Forgoing also the very reminiscent visual style that screams ‘Saw’, ‘Your Host’ manages to eke by on the familiar whilst making the scenery wholly its own.

Score: 3/4