For better or worse, it’s a bit strange that mainstream horror hasn’t leveraged the online world more than ever as a springboard for tales of obsession and horror. Its elements are very clearly evident: invisible tormentors and stalking catfish, and the tension of notification chimes. Especially after watching The Influencer, a thriller about a mysterious woman who targets online influencers for her vacation posts.
While traveling in Thailand, Instagram influencer Madison (Emily Tennant) is left waiting for her boyfriend Ryan (Rory J. Saper) at a resort when a woman named CW (Cassandra No) befriends her. and will guide you through the city. Ultimately, Madison gets caught up in The CW’s eerie online game, things take a turn for the worse, and Ryan arrives in Thailand and finds himself caught in the web shortly afterward.
There’s something here that pokes at the unseemly truth about parasocial relationships in the digital age, but director Curtis David Harder (who co-wrote the script with Tesh Gatikonda) sees the film as an overt social affair. Avoiding twists and turns into a thriller, it prioritized scares and twists instead. It’s mostly a smart decision, but the film leaves a slightly flimsy impression in terms of exploring both the bigger idea and the characters and their motivations (most of all, this story has too much to do with The CW’s origins). blank).
Still, Harder makes an entertaining use of what could easily be a simple gimmick, and No and Saper prove to be strong leads as the characters try to read each other’s emotions. ing.
influencer
Unrated. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. Look at the shadder.
