"Hi. My name is Rebecca. AND I AM A SUPERHOST!"
Superhost is a 2021 horror movie produced for Shudder, starring Sara Canning, Osric Chau, Grace Phipps, and Barbara Crampton.
Teddy and Claire, a vlogging couple, are planning on renting a house for vacation in the woods in the desperate hopes of vindicating their recent subscription fall. There, they meet their host, Rebecca, who is very, very happy to meet them. She seems harmless and is willing to do just about anything to get a positive review. All seems well until the vloggers notice strange occurrences happen.
Why is the security code to the front door not working? Why is the toilet not working? Why is the vloggers' channel suddenly suspended? And what is up with their new host?
This film contains examples of:
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: Rebecca not only killed Betty and Lou, but their pet cat.
- Agonizing Stomach Wound: Teddy receives one during the climax and is able to escape from the house, but inevitably dies from blood loss before he can call for help.
- All for Nothing: Claire films a video for their YouTube channel asking for someone to send help, which takes a while to upload due to the house’s slow internet. Not only are Claire and Teddy dead by the time it finishes uploading, but it’s immediately dismissed as clickbait when it does.
- All Just a Prank: Rebecca and Vera pull a prank on Claire and Teddy as they leave, with Rebecca “stabbing” Vera before they reveal it to be a prank. Then Rebecca stabs Vera for real just minutes later.
- Apocalyptic Log: Claire's final vlog begging for help.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Rebecca stops dead in her tracks when Teddy asks her what happened to the real owners of the house.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Rebecca kills Vera, Teddy, and Claire, and nobody believes Claire's final video telling them that Rebecca is trying to kill her. While her victims will be reported missing eventually, this buys Rebecca enough time to change her identity again and get off scot-free.
- Bad Influencer: Teddy and Claire are a downplayed example. While they're not the villains, their vlog is built on extremely unethical, clickbaity practices that come back to bite them multiple times.
- Berserk Button: Rebecca didn't take it well when the real owners of the house asked her to leave. She didn't even remember the details of her rampage. She "just kind of... snapped".
- Black-and-Gray Morality: Rebecca may be a murderer, but the main characters themselves aren't exactly saints either. They've made a living of gaining fame and attention through rumors such as spreading lies about a house, which was how Vera went bankrupt. It really shows from Claire, who cares more about their reputation than her relationship with Teddy, though Teddy, while more idealistic and willing to commit to their relationship, is still involved in their schemes. The least rotten person in this movie is Vera, who, while undoubtedly angry, has a very good reason to be.
- Broken Pedestal: Rebecca is obsessed with giving the vloggers anything they want for a positive review. But once she learns the truth about the vloggers from Vera's side of the story, things turn rather grim.
- Cassandra Truth: Claire's SOS video has her saying that Rebecca is not a host at all and is in fact a murderer. Unfortunately, no one believes this.
- Crying Wolf: How the commenters on Claire's SOS video see it due to the channel's reputation.
- The Darkness Gazes Back: On the first night at the house, Teddy takes a walk outside to look out. He then sees a silhouette resembling Rebecca with seemingly two glowing eyes.
- Dead Person Impersonation: A variation. Rebecca's screen name is bettylou52. Betty and Lou are the names of the real owners.
- Downer Ending: The movie ends with Rebecca slashing Claire’s throat, with Teddy attempting to call for help before eventually succumbing to the stab wound he received earlier, leaving Rebecca to clean up after the mess.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: When Teddy proposes to Claire, she is as overly excited as Teddy is. That is, until she reaches for her camera complimenting Teddy that the proposal would be great for their vlog, much to his annoyance. She then realizes that it wasn't just for show.
- Fake Video Camera View: Parts of the movie involving video cameras, such as scenes that involve Teddy and Claire’s vlog and Rebecca filming her chasing Teddy and interacting with his dead body during the ending, are filmed like this.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Right at the very beginning when Teddy and Claire are announcing their rental vacation, Claire advertises to check out their most recent video, which is titled "Is This House Haunted? You Won't Believe It!". This foreshadows Vera, a previous superhost, who verbally attacks the vloggers and says that no one will now live in her rental home for what they posted.
- He Knows Too Much: Vera wonders what Teddy means when he asks for the whereabouts of Betty and Lou. Rebecca doesn't hesitate to tie that loose end.
- Hope Spot: A couple.
- It looks like Teddy is about to make an escape towards the car, but he succumbs to his wound even further. He didn't even have the strength to call 911 before Rebecca finishes him off.
- Rebecca finds that Claire's SOS live video is uploaded after the couple was killed. It looks as if Rebecca's goose is cooked... until the video's comments are loaded with disbelief, with most believing it to be clickbait.
- Karma Houdini: Rebecca is never caught.
- Large Ham: Rebecca is insanely entertaining. Teddy and Claire immediately recognize that they have ratings gold on their hands, and play up their host's eccentricities.
- Make Sure He's Dead: After stumbling upon Teddy barely alive and slumped on his car’s tire, Rebecca stabs Teddy once more to guarantee his death.
- Not What It Looks Like: Rebecca mockingly references this trope when Ted throws open the storage room door and sees Claire on the floor with Rebecca on top of her, about to cut her throat.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Rebecca.
- Stepford Smiler: Rebecca displays an eccentric grin whenever she appears to the vloggers. When something goes wrong, she usually says "hope this doesn't affect the review." Also made big during the interview scene. It's a rather unsettling scene when she talks about a past experience of having an older couple rent her house during the holidays. She starts to get teary, but she goes back to a beaming grin. Her pauses are accompanied by complete silence while she's grinning widely. Of course, it's heavily implied that the older couple she's talking about is Betty and Lou.
- Suddenly Shouting: Again, Rebecca. On occasion, she'll go from happy-go-lucky softspoken to psychotic screaming.
- Too Dumb to Live: Claire, after seeing that Rebecca clearly isn't the real owner of the house, decides to follow Rebecca into the woods without knowing what or where she's taking her and Teddy just for the sake of their video.
- Wham Shot: When Teddy and Claire return to the house after a walk, they notice letters addressed not to Rebecca, but the real owners of the house.
"This is bettylou52 signing off. Don't forget to like and subscribe!"
