"If I was to do a top ten of 23 list right now, this little gem would certainly be on it".
You know when you're considering cancelling a streaming service you haven’t touched in a while and you're like “hey, I’ll just give it one more look”. Then you find something that looks interesting, you watch it and it turns out to be great, and you’re like “guess I’ll keep it for another month then”. This is basically my relationship with the horror streaming service Shudder- and the film that earned them an extra $5.99 next month is a brand new fantastic horror/thriller called “Influencer”.
Influencer is directed and co-written by Kurtis David Harder whose previous film, 2019’s “Spiral”, I didn’t love, but thought showed a lot of promise. This is a massive step up from that, both in ambition and the overall quality of the production. I’m also a huge fan of obsession thrillers so I was keen to give this a shot, and needless to say that I’m very glad that I did.
On the surface, the film is about an influencer named Madison on a solo trip to Thailand after her boyfriend Ryan bails on her. In stark contrast to her social media posts, Madison is having a pretty crappy time until she meets the free spirited CW. CW seems quite familiar with Thailand, and takes her on a couple of adventures. Everything seems peachy, until we find out CW may not be who she says she is, and her interest in Madison could be sinister.
I must admit that I was a little on the fence after the first 5 mins. The whole “shallow influencer” trope felt heavy handed and a little on the nose. Stick with it though as this is definitely a misdirection, and the film reinvents itself a few times throughout the 90 minute runtime (basically after every act). I don’t want to say too much about the film narrative wise, otherwise I’d be heading into spoiler territory. I’ll just say that Influencer has one of the best cold opens I’ve seen since Cabin In The Woods, and once those title cards hit, the film turns from an obsession thriller into something else entirely!
Maybe this wasn't the best career choice?
Aside from the excellent narrative structure, the film is also technically well done. The cinematography is stunning and the editing is really on point. The shooting locations that they chose in Thailand were non cliche and quite beautiful. I actually stayed on that limestone lake in that little lakehouse and explored those same caves on my honeymoon. Such a dope spot. Anyway, they really take advantage of these locations, and even Bangkok is shot in a way that you often don’t see in other films.
The score is another massive technical highlight for me. It’s modern electronica that at times leans into breakbeat hip hop. The more uplifting almost euphoric techno really suits the whole young person travelling vibe, and the dark pulsating industrial synths help drive the suspense scenes. Extremely high level work from composer Avery Kentis.
I wasn’t familiar with any of the actors prior to watching, but across the board the performances were fairly solid. Cassandra Naud who plays CW was definitely the standout, but in fairness to the others, she was by far the best written of all the characters.
I look forward to seeing more of Cassandra Naud in the future, as she absolutely crushes it as CW.
I love a film where you’re not quite sure who the protagonist and/or antagonist are. This film blurs the line several times in that regard as you are not quite sure who’s a hero, antihero or villain right up to the final act. And to be honest, it still may be unclear by the end to some, depending on who you are as a person I guess.
Like I said before, I really can’t say too much else without heading into major spoiler territory. I suggest going into this one as blind as possible, and hopefully you’ll get as big of a kick out of it as I did. Influencer has a similar vibe to last year's excellent The Watcher, and if you like films about obsession or even cat and mouse type thrillers then I think this one's for you. If I was to do a top ten of 23 list right now, this little gem would certainly be on it. Highly recommended.
Four out of Five stars.
Nice review homie! Might have to re-sign up to Shudder 🤓