

The actors and director all filmed in their separate homes and were in charge of all of their own special effects and stunts, using practical effects like fishing wire the actors would pull themselves in order to make objects appear as if they were moving on their own. Savage had recorded the prank and their reactions and after the short film went viral, Savage developed the story into a feature length film. The film started its life as an online prank that writer and director Rob Savage played on his friends while on a Zoom call with them in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Of all the Screenlife titles on this list, Host has perhaps the most unique production process. Similar in a lot of ways to Unfriended however, instead of being punished for the death of a former classmate, the demon haunting the film's ensemble cast doesn’t have any immediate origin other than being born through their ritual.


Host is a supernatural British horror film about a group of teenagers who inadvertently summon a demon while performing a séance online during a Zoom meeting. In addition, with the film taking place entirely through Emily’s various electronic devices, you develop a sense of tense helplessness as you watch Emily’s situation worsen with each scene, never being completely sure if you are watching her through the eyes of her stalker, or if her stalker is already somewhere in the room with her, and you’re just a fly on the wall unable to do anything. While not as bloody or viscerally upsetting as The Den, Ratter focuses more on the maddening paranoia that would come from constantly being watched. Her stalker's actions eventually progress from cyber harassment to cold-blooded physical violence. Right as her new life is beginning she is hacked and subsequently stalked both online and in person from someone whose identity remains elusive.

In Ratter, a college girl named Emily moves to New York after breaking up with her boyfriend. Ratter is a psychological thriller, based on the short film Webcam by the same writer and director, Branden Kramer.
