Influencer: Where’s the ‘Unsubscribe’ Button?
Contains spoilers!
Some background on this movie: my wife and I ordered a deck of Top 50 Horror Movies: Scratch Off Movie Night Ideas. It’s a blind selection game, allowing you to randomly pick the horror movie you’ll be watching. The cards offer several clues, though, for at the bottom, it tells you the release year, rating, runtime, and a few subgenres. The cards have a silver part that you can scratch off to reveal the movie you’ll be viewing. Influencer was the card we selected for this viewing. Now, on with the review!
2022’s Influencer, directed by Kurtis David Harder, is a clear product of its time, complete with a total lack of stranger danger due to social media and easily influenced (pun intended) idiots. The film tells the story of social media influencer Madison (Emily Tennant), who’s on a solo vacation in Thailand after her boyfriend Ryan (Rory J. Saper) backs out. She befriends CW (Cassandra Naud), but a strange series of events begin to unfold, culminating in Madison’s disappearance. 3 weeks later, Ryan travels to Thailand to look for her and realizes that something is amiss.
The lack of stranger danger in this film is astounding. After befriending CW, Madison and her new buddy go on several excursions together, ranging from cave exploration to a boating trip; during the latter, CW abandons Madison for dead on a remote island. I understand that Madison is eager to make friends, but when you’re in a strange place on your own, one would hope that she’d be careful and cautious. She throws caution to the wind and never questions how CW can afford to do all these fantastic, fun things. As I watched this movie, a line from Incredibles 2 (2018), another movie when an alleged ally is revealed to be the villain, kept coming to mind:
Elastigirl: I counted on you.
Evelyn Deavor: That's why you failed.
Elastigirl: What?
Evelyn Deavor: Why would you count on me? Because I built you a bike? Because my brother knows the words to your theme song? We don't know each other!
After leaving Madison for dead, CW assumes control over Madison’s life, using AI (to recreate Madison’s voice) and Photoshop (pasting Madison’s face over her own in pictures) to continue posting on her social media accounts. It is unnerving to see how someone could easily do such a thing, given today’s technology and how easily people can be and are fooled by AI. It also shows the lengths some people will go to for attention, even if they’re acting as someone else.
Though he’s presented as our default hero, it’s difficult to root for Ryan. During a conversation, Madison tells Ryan she wants to break up with him, but he tells her that she’s only upset and doesn’t mean it. Disregard her feelings: check. Furthermore, during that same conversation, he blames her for losing her passport, believing this is part of a grand plan she’s concocted. Gaslight her: check. He then travels to Thailand, proving that he could’ve made the trip in the first place. Go on vacation when it’s convenient for him: check.
The movie does sell me in a few aspects. First and foremost, Cassandra Naud’s ability to switch from sweet and outgoing to dark and manipulative is a great piece of acting and easily the most enjoyable part of the film. The house that CW stays at is beautiful, and Thailand does appear to be an incredible to visit and tour. On a technical level, there are a few shots during Ryan’s death scene that are cool.
This is a movie that’s a one and done for me. I’d not heard of this movie when my wife and I started watching it, and it’s not one I would’ve picked for us to watch. Regardless, this was a fun movie to make fun of, and we were both intrigued with how the story was going to go; we were disappointed with both the character’s decisions and the execution. This is an Instagram story I won’t be following any longer.
Cast
Cassandra Naud as CW
Emly Tennant as Madison
Rory J. Saper as Ryan
Sara Canning as Jessica
