‘Influencer’ Review: Reading Between the Likes

For higher or worse, it’s a little bit of a marvel that mainstream horror hasn’t extra closely used the net world as a springboard for tales of obsession and worry. The components are so clearly obvious — invisible tormentors and stalking catfishers, the stress of a notification chime — particularly after watching “Influencer,” a thriller a couple of mysterious lady who targets on-line influencers as they publish all through trip getaways.

After Madison (Emily Tennant), an Instagram influencer touring in Thailand, is left ready for her boyfriend, Ryan (Rory J. Saper), at a resort, a girl named CW (Cassandra Naud) befriends her and reveals her round city. Eventually, issues flip awry for Madison as she falls into CW’s creepy on-line sport, and Ryan, arriving in Thailand quickly after, turns into wrapped up within the internet.

There is one thing in right here poking on the unpleasant truths about parasocial relationships within the digital age, however the director Kurtis David Harder (who wrote the screenplay alongside Tesh Guttikonda) avoids contorting the movie into an overt social thriller, as an alternative prioritizing frights and twists. That’s largely a clever choice, however the movie is left feeling a tad skinny — in its explorations of each its bigger concepts and its characters and their motivations (most of all, the story leaves an excessive amount of clean house in CW’s origins).

Even so, Harder has made good and entertaining use of a premise that might have develop into a easy gimmick, and Naud and Saper show sturdy leads as their characters attempt to learn one another between the likes.

Influencer
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. Watch on Shudder.