‘Influencer’ Movie Review: Like And Subscribe To This Craftily Plotted Film
Photo from AMC
From Jeremy Kibler
Influencer is one of those movies where the less you know, the better, so we’ll tread lightly. Director Kurtis David Harder returns with another Shudder feature, following his effectively creepy and provocative Spiral (no, this was the good Spiral, not the “Saw” reboot), and proves that the dangers of social media is still a well worth going back to when done well.
“Traveling is all about experiencing new things!” The opening of a cheerily robotic influencer would be satirical if it weren’t so dead-on. Then we see the dichotomy of upbeat social-media presence Madison and downbeat, lonely real-life Madison, portrayed by Emily Tennant. On a solo trip in Thailand that was supposed to be spent with her boyfriend Ryan (Rory J. Super), she documents all the sights for her Instagram followers but isn’t actually venturing outside of the hotel resort. Once Madison ends up getting rescued at the hotel bar by another young woman, CW (Cassandra Naud), she actually gets to experience Asia. After a day and night of adventure with CW, Madison finds her hotel room ransacked and her passport stolen, leaving her stranded for another week. What to do, CW knows a really cool island not far from the resort.
To say anything more would ruin the surprises. All of this setup lulls us in before the opening credits, which don’t come until the 26-minute mark (okay, so Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car still has it beat). As soon as one character says, “We are one hundred percent in my story,” the film changes course with almost a knowing wink. With convincing, compelling performances by Emily Tennant and Cassandra Naud and a tight script (co-written by director Kurtis David Harder and Tesh Guttikonda), this craftily plotted thriller has other playfully diabolical plans to upend our expectations. It will get compared to Single White Female and The Talented Mr. Ripley, only as a cautionary tale for Gen-Zers, but Influencer goes about itself in devious, unexpected, technologically savvy ways. Like a wolf in sheep’s bathing suit, you think you know where it’s going, but you have no idea.
Influencer is currently available to stream on Shudder.
