For better or worse, we are living in the age of the Internet Influencer. Everywhere you turn, some young hopeful is trying to sell you their lifestyle and thoughts as the best and only way to live healthy, successful, fulfilling lives. Perhaps it’s merely the next step in consumer culture–the beginning of the age where the ads you see speak back to you directly. While there are some unmistakable drawbacks to the prevalence of influencer culture, there is no denying the Internet–and even this facet of it–has also allowed us a whole new avenue of potentially genuine connection. Still, think about it too much and you’re bound to find the uncanny valley lying just under the surface of it all. The performance of sincerity as a selling point has never been more rampant.
Naturally, along came influencer horror, almost as soon as the pathway began to carve itself. Every subgenre is at its most hit or miss when it’s newest, but the range of offerings at this year’s Chattanooga Film Festival has brought with it some heavy hitters. One such example of influencer horror playing its strengths is MIND BODY SPIRIT, directed by Alex Henes and Matthew Merenda and written by Henes, Merenda, and Topher Hendricks.
Anya (Sarah J. Bartholomew) is an aspiring yoga influencer looking for a fresh start and an open door to her truth. When she inherits a house in LA following the death of the grandmother she’s never met, she takes it as a sign to begin her journey to self discovery in a new place, far away from home but all the while connecting deeper to her heritage. MIND BODY SPIRIT follows Anya on her way to finding the balance between success and sincerity, and when she uncovers a secret that she thinks will help her connect on a genuine level with her viewers and her past. It quickly becomes apparent, however, that Anya is in over her head, dabbling in rituals she doesn’t understand.
MIND BODY SPIRIT proves itself a unique standout in the wave of influencer horror not just for its tense found-footage style shooting (though it does pull out some of my personal favorite tricks of the genre to achieve its scares), but also its fresh perspective: the rituals and scares come not from the usual urban myth or Christian-fear tinged tales, but from Slavic culture origins. This opens the door to the possibility that, even though it follows the possession-narrative formula, there may be twists those unfamiliar with the culture do not see coming. Most of us are in the same boat as Anya, reading only through translations, unable to decipher the true meaning of the text. This in combination with the tried and true tactics of the rotating camera and leaving spirits just to the edges, unaddressed for the audience to discover independently, make for a nerve-shredding ride.
The story’s biggest selling point, though, is Sarah Bartholomew’s performance as Anya. Her vulnerable hunger for connection to anything makes her the perfect vessel both for the audience and the horrors she unwittingly unleashes. She’s the meek but persistent voice for genuine desire amid a city and culture bent on maintaining peace and perfection only at the surface level.
The Chattanooga Film Festival is going strong, and you can still catch MIND BODY SPIRIT on its virtual platform with a Back Half Pass
Tags: Alex Henes, Anna Knigge, Chattanooga Film Festival, Found-Footage, influencer horror, influencers, KJ Flahive, Kristi Noory, Madi Bready, Matthew Merenda, Mind Body Spirit, Possession horror, Sarah J Bartholomew, Topher Hendricks
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