'Superhost' is a horror thriller that follows Teddy and Claire, - a travel vlogging couple who are out on a trip, documenting their stay with their latest superhost - Rebecca. Unbeknownst to them, Rebecca has more in store for the pair than just providing a quiet getaway.
The film sets out by establishing Claire and Teddy as content creators and the image that they project to their viewers, - a happy and fun couple that are living their best life, traveling around and documenting their stays with superhost. Behind the camera however, it is revealed that their followers count is dropping and the two are unable to live independently of their parents financial support. As the couple arrive at their new getaway house, they are greeted by Rebecca, - a somewhat peculiar individual who seems eerily keen on making the pairs stay as great as possible.
As the couple settle in and make videos of their time at the place, Claire and Teddy experience odd happening, as one night they suspect someone to be in the house. Matters are further exacerbated as they come across all the cameras inside the house and discover Rebecca making breakfast for them one morning, having dropped in without notice. Soon after, Teddy and Claire are confronted by a superhost they had stayed with before, Vera, and had produced a review that seemingly destroyed her small business. Having tracked the pair down, Vera confronts the two, only to be scared off by Rebecca who threatens her. In the meantime, Teddy is planning to propose to Claire, and arranges for a hike in the surrounding forest and to a nearby hill, at the top of which he plans to pop the question. All goes according to plan until Claire seemingly plays up her reaction for the camera, prompting a frank discussion between her and Teddy. Having decided to leave, the pair are faced with Rebecca who leads the two in the forest to reveal she has tied up Vera, proceeding to stab her, terrifying Teddy and Claire. After revealing it to be a prank, Teddy goes on to question Rebecca about the old couple she had mentioned earlier to have stayed at the house with. Revealing to have killed them, Rebecca now gives chase to the pair who retreat to the house. Terrified, Claire finds the basement to be the where Rebecca has been monitoring the two from, seemingly also living there. Claire then uploads a video to their channel, pleading for help. Having gained access to the house, Rebecca proceeds to kill Claire and Teddy. Afterwards, seeing the uploaded video, Rebecca laughs as the viewers presume Claire's uploaded video to be click-bait and staged.
'Superhost' is a fun and sinister look at the streaming and content culture that has developed around people recounting their travels, presenting seemingly perfect trips and producing evermore extravagant and exaggerated images of reality, reconciling the need for this type of content due to a saturated market and to ensure a greater following to be able to establish a sustainable income and way of life. The film does not hold back in showing the facade that is made for the production of the travel content that Claire and Teddy create, with its opening serving as a stark reminder that once the camera is off, the creators can drop the overly hyped and positive attitude and reveal their true personalities, presenting that the content they are creating is to cater to the wider audience and intended to sell an idealised image of who they are.
With the dwindling subscriber count, Claire and Teddy clearly highlight the nature of their work, with it being just that and that they have to drum up more followers in order to be able to remain afloat financially. The clear illustration of vlogging as possibly an unsustainable way of life and a highly competitive market shows the viewers the harsh nature of that way of life.
As a thriller, 'Superhost' is effective in delivering Rebecca as an unstable and alarming individual, with her darting all over the place, making her next move unpredictable, making the audience suspicious of when and where she may pop up next. Her actions may seem exaggerated for the purpose of the film, however, Gracie Gillam who portrays the antagonist goes all in and delivers a hysterical and insane persona of a psychopathic murderer. Rounding out the rest of the cast are Sara Canning and Osric Chau as Claire and Teddy respectively, providing for a solid foundation for the audience to rely on in terms of keeping the film somewhat grounded and for providing an excellent conduit in terms of questioning the odd happenings around them.
'Superhost' is a frantic yet entertaining feature, aiming to provide for an easily enjoyable horror feature without making the audience overthink things and just allowing us to have fun in the mindless bloodshed. As the film does not aim for higher ground than a cheap thrill in terms of the horror it provides, not concerning itself with delivering high-brow themes or ideologies, the story is fun while it lasts and does not linger long after it concludes.
Score: 3/4
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