Most student films by first-time showoffs are boring examples of style over substance, but this one written and directed by exploitation veteran Jack Hill is an exception with a fully realized script that plays like a crude western-themed episode of The Twilight Zone.
In his screen debut, longtime character actor (and latter day horror star) Sid Haig plays a jail house escapee who stumbles upon a crumbling ruin inhabited by a strange Indian woman with a gruesome story to tell and a very scared Spaniard who's about to become the tale's latest chapter. Needless to say, the audience sees the writing on the wall long before poor Sid does!
The Host is pretty interesting, though judged by today's standards it's not as experimental or unique as it once was. The cinematography, Jack Hill's direction, and Haig's performance are all pretty good.
According to the DVD on-screen introduction, this was quite possibly the uncredited inspiration for the last act of (Hill's classmate) Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now!
In his screen debut, longtime character actor (and latter day horror star) Sid Haig plays a jail house escapee who stumbles upon a crumbling ruin inhabited by a strange Indian woman with a gruesome story to tell and a very scared Spaniard who's about to become the tale's latest chapter. Needless to say, the audience sees the writing on the wall long before poor Sid does!
The Host is pretty interesting, though judged by today's standards it's not as experimental or unique as it once was. The cinematography, Jack Hill's direction, and Haig's performance are all pretty good.
According to the DVD on-screen introduction, this was quite possibly the uncredited inspiration for the last act of (Hill's classmate) Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now!