Quite a few movies in recent years have made internet personalities the target of their terror. DEADSTREAM, PAUL DOOD’S DEADLY LUNCH BREAK, and THE CLEANSING HOUR all look at live streamers who want to make it big but must first conquer the intervention of supernatural or real-world entities. Playing at Popcorn Frights festival, FOLLOW HER uses a similar premise: a struggling online fetishist attempting to crack the top ten of an OnlyFans-style streaming service. With no other occupation to fall back on and her father threatening to cut her off, Jess (Dani Barker) needs one big job to earn her some serious money and make enough of a name for herself to finally monetize her videos. She purposefully enters dangerous situations for the sake of money, choosing to stay even when every other instinct tells her to run, because she has nowhere else to go. Playing out as both a social media revenge plot and an exciting sexual thriller, FOLLOW HER explores the sordid world of live streamers and how the desperate desire for money and fame can push people into very real danger.
Jess runs a channel called Classified Crazies in which she responds to strange want ads and secretly records the encounters. She gets paid by the unsuspecting men, but also hopes to make her channel popular enough so that she can earn money off of exploiting others. The fetishes include a variety of acts, but one fairly harmless request simultaneously places Jess on the fast-track to fame and in the midst of danger. Jess live streams an interaction where she agrees to be tied up and tickled, but the face altering filter fails, briefly revealing her client’s face to tens of thousands of people. Jess hopes the mistake will go unnoticed and promptly ignores this invasion of privacy as she searches for the next mark. With sex and objectification at the forefront of the film, FOLLOW HER offers a unique perspective thanks to the female creative team behind and in front of the camera. Sylvia Caminer directed the film and Dani Barker serves as both the writer and the head character. Barker and Caminer do a brilliant job of making it hard for the audience to take a clear side with Jess. She claims her channel is doing a service to expose possibly dangerous men, but she also wants fame—not to mention her desperate need for quick cash. We empathize with her wanting to pursue her dreams of acting and writing but find it hard to approve of her methods.
Based off of our experience with the streaming revenge plots popping up over the last few years (and general knowledge of the horror genre) we know the next victim will complicate Jess’s plans. Luke Cook plays an Australian named Tom Brady (soft hands and all) who needs a female perspective to help finish writing his Hitchcock-inspired erotic thriller. The mention of the famous director should be clear enough of a red flag, but just in case you missed it, they say Hitchcock several more times throughout to really let us know we are dealing with a seriously messed up character. So, we get the hint someone is a psycho, but which character is it? And what are they up to?
Cook and Barker demonstrate some really strong chemistry on screen as the two characters start to mess with each other. Tom claims he wants the ending of his script to be improvised, so I am curious to know if the two actors did partake in any improvisational scenes as they play off of each other very well. And as the night goes on Jess continues to struggle with her need for fame and money, continually choosing to ignore the need to remove herself from dangerous situations. She seems exceedingly confident in her ability to control “crazies” and it takes her an overly long time to admit to herself she made a mistake coming to Tom’s secluded barn in the woods.
The interactions (whether playful or deadly) between Barker and Cook made the dialogue and character development fun and engaging, but the flow from the second to third act comes as a bit jarring. The low budget and almost single location setting allows us to focus more on the cast, which is honestly the highlight of the film. Streaming-revenge horror might not exist in a few years, so directors should do what they can with the subgenre now. And despite a few small issues with the leap in time towards the end of the film, FOLLOW HER is a strong addition among the ranks of fan favorites like DEADSTREAM and THE CLEANSING HOUR.
Tags: Dani Barker, Deadstream, erotic thriller, Film Festivals, Follow Her, Hitchcock, Luke Cook, Paul Dood's Deadly Lunch Break, Popcorn Frights, Popcorn Frights Film Festival 2022, Social Media, Sylvia Caminer, The Cleansing Hour
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