Horror movies that made everyday things terrifying

“Unfriended” and “Host” both take a look at the age of digital communication through the lens of horror. In many ways, the internet has always been portrayed as dangerous, as seen in the 1995 cyber-thriller “The Net” starring Sandra Bullock. However, given the ever-changing nature of the internet and technology, movies have had to keep up with changing trends and horror has been one of the most successful and interesting genres to do so.

In “Unfriended”, we meet Blair and his group of friends who are on a Skype chat and find themselves threatened by a mysterious user. Soon they determine that this user – known as Billie – might be the ghost of Laura – a former friend of theirs who died by suicide. Now Laura begins to pit the friends against each other, while slaughtering them one by one.

In “Host,” we’re immersed in a 40-minute Zoom call, in which an international group of friends chat during the COVID-19 lockdown. To pass the time, the group participates in a socially distanced session, where things go awry. Within moments, each participant soon finds themselves haunted and threatened by an unseen supernatural entity.

Both films use the online video chat format in interesting ways, even using computer glitches as a visual motif, and although many people might have thought Zoom’s happy hours were the scariest thing to come out of this technology, both “Unfriended” and “Host” showed the terrifying potential of video chats.

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or callingg 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

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