‘I made a new friend…’
The concept of an ‘influencer’, something that would have been absurd a decade ago, is ripe for a horror film. It’s a horrifying, vapid world wracked with mental health problems, greed and rampant consumerism. Influencer approaches this topic with subtlety and nuance and the result is a film that continues a strong year for horror streaming service and production company Shudder following the huge success of Skinamarink – a film that is very different to this one…
Madison (Emily Tennant) is a wildly rich and successful Instagram influencer who is suffering a crisis of confidence partly because of a faltering relationship with her boss Ryan (Rory J Saper). After travelling to a luxury resort to get away from the grind, Madison meets CW (Cassandra Naud) and the two strike up a friendship that will have huge ramifications for everyone involved.
Filmed on location in Bangkok, Influencer takes full advantage of its beautiful surroundings and this only makes the more brutal scenes more jarring and effective. That being said, writer-director Kurtis David Harder shoots Influencer more as a thriller than a horror film. The horror is often psychological and implied rather than in your face and that makes Influencer stand out in what is a crowded field. It helps that Naud gives a strong performance in the leading role, always leaving the audience guessing as to her true intentions, and if she had had a stronger supporting cast to work with this could have been a minor classic. As it is, CW is the film’s only interesting character, and the Influencer falters in the third act when it becomes clear that we have nobody to root for here. All of these characters are awful.
Influencer is a slow burner but I was gripped by the end and Naud’s enchanting performance is worth the entrance fee alone. A good movie.