Savage, who has directed multiple award-winning horror shorts, filmed himself while on one of those Zoom calls heading into his spooky attic. “Everyone who made the movie in front of and behind the camera, they were the friends that I was on Zoom with doing happy hours, quizzes, all that stuff, and I wanted to find a way to scare them.” How did it all come about? “Lockdown boredom,” says Savage over Zoom (of course), joined by Shepherd, producer Douglas Cox and cast members Haley Bishop and Radina Drandova. Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi has signed up to produce Savage and Shepherd’s next project. Cast and crew have been interviewed by breakfast TV in the US.

The finished result, which premiered on horror channel Shudder a fortnight ago, has created a viral sensation online.

What began as a prank borne from a WhatsApp quarantine film club with real-life friends ended up the subject of a studio bidding war. A group of six friends get together on the video conference call platform and, with the help of a medium who – of course – loses her internet connection early on, they call up the spirits.

Its writers – Rob Savage, Jed Shepherd and Gemma Hurley – have fashioned a chilling 57-minute movie from a two-word text sent by Shepherd to Savage at 4.34am on 24 April.

The host zoom horror movie