'Your Host' Review: Jackie Earle Haley Shines in FrightFest’s Gory Game-Show Horror
- Becca Johnson
- 18 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Becca Johnson - August 23, 2025
At last year’s FrightFest, director D.W. Medoff both impressed and traumatised audiences with I Will Never Leave You Alone, a grim look at grief and depression with a supernatural twist. This year he returns again, with actor Jackie Earle Haley (Shutter Island) in tow, with a slightly more digestible but equally sinister watch. Your Host follows a group of four friends who wind up trapped in a sadistic game show, forced to outwit a twisted serial killer while racing against time. Every move brings them closer to either freedom or a gruesome fate.
Featuring a knockout performance from Haley and plenty of intriguing body horror to impress audiences, Your Host is quite derivative in overall plot but delivers the scares and stakes regardless.
When reading the plot synopsis of Your Host, one long-spanning franchise in particular comes to mind, and it cannot avoid this in execution, either. It can’t help but feel familiar, with not just the overarching plot but specific scenes, set pieces and locations feeling ripped straight out of the Saw franchise. It treads ground we’ve explored before, and there are plenty of instances in which a little more flair would’ve improved things and helped it stand out. However, what it lacks in imagination in some areas, it boasts plenty of in others - especially its kill scenes and torture methods.
Blood, Gore, and Body Horror: Why Your Host Still Delivers
The gore and body horror on display is wildly effective from start to finish, with blood aplenty and multiple ways of harming our teens that give it the unique feel it so desperately needs. Whether your trigger is eyeball injury, your insides winding up outside or even your deepest, darkest secrets being shared against your will, its hard to get out of Your Host unscathed - horror fans are in for a treat here. The location is dingy and gross, leading you to crave a warm shower afterwards, and the villain is creepy and menacing enough to stay with you long after viewing. It may be derivative, but it sure is effective.
Your Host wouldn’t be as successful as it is without the lead performance from Jackie Earle Haley. He is simply outstanding. Fully committing to the gameshow host narrative with energy, charisma and effortless charm, whilst simultaneously coming across as cold and frightening with the proclivity to do just about anything to his victims, he is an absolute marvel. Learning his backstory as the run-time progresses certainly helps, as we get to find out how he went from well-renowned gameshow host to sadistic serial killer. This not only means that Haley gets to show off his range by tapping into many areas and emotions of his character, but gives the film further depth to help it feel eerily real.
The discourse it provides on the topics at stake are all too relevant which gives Your Host edge, and although this social commentary can sometimes distract from the reason we’re all here - the fear factor - it does add a notable layer to the script that prevents it from just becoming a torture fest. The cast making up the friendship group gives good turns too, particularly Ella-Rae Smith (The Commuter) as Anita.
Final Verdict: A Brutal and Memorable FrightFest Highlight
Short, snappy and incredibly gruesome, Your Host is a FrightFest standout that solidifies Medoff’s place on the map as a notable name in horror. It does have a feeling of familiarity that holds it back, and there’s some initial dialogue and scenes between the friends at the start of the movie that give it a rough beginning, but it easily overcomes this and excels as it progresses. Inventive torture and killing methods, fantastic performances, plenty of gore and a tight run-time ensure a great watch.
'Your Host' premiered at Frightfest London 2025 on August 22
Want more film reviews from Frightfest London 2025? Check out more from the "Dark Heart of Cinema" on our website Film Focus Online!
