Influencer

Influencer

Director – Kurtis David Harder

Writers – Tesh Guttikonda, Kurtis David Harder

2022, USA

Stars - Emily Tennant, Rory J Saper, Cassandra Naud

 

Harder’s credits show a reliable name in smart, low-key thrillers whether as a producer, writer or director, and ‘Influencer’ continues this brand. Although starting by promising to focus on one of those contemporary and grating social media “stars”, it quickly evolves into something that maybe looks like a serial killer scenario and then evolves into something different.

 

It starts with the kind of opening that typifies many annoying self-assertive dramas of the social media age: pop culture editing and condescending voiceover of cod-poignant platitudes about, y’know, life. But rather, having given influencers as designated worthy targets, Emily Tennant soon colours in a more melancholy, thoughtful performance for Madison as an influencer hanging around in Thailand for her somewhat gaslighting boyfriend. And no one is thoroughly stupid here: we’re not talking about the kind of characters skewered in ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’. You can sense the Red Flags going off in their heads, even if they don’t immediately take heed and you can see CW half-duping them. It’s this insistence on treating their personalities as having depth instead of just as horror airheads, however archetypally they are presented, that sets ‘Influencer’ above average. This layering of characters even acts as a subtle but strong rebuke against CW’s sociopathic and psychopathic war against the vacuity of social media culture. She insists that no one will care when you’re gone from a social media existence, but she has to spend a lot of time covering her tracks in the real world, faking her victim’s personality and keeping the illusion going. And with her obsession clouding her vision, patting herself on the back, she underestimates how reality always comes calling.  Even a dodgy boyfriend will put himself out to genuinely care about a lost girlfriend. 

CW’s motivation is never clearly stated (some may see that as a weakness; I say we don’t always need a backstory), but even if we assume it’s the same as ‘Sleep Tight’ (just sociopathy, nihilism, jealousy of well-adjusted others) or simply her venting of a general resentment at influencer culture, Cassandra Naud’s facial birth mark plays into that horror trope of the antagonist being outside of the normative, and therefore homicidally resentful of it; and that’s the impetus. Superficially, we may assume the face mark makes her aggrieved of the Beauty and Best Life manufactured by influencers, but the film never makes play with this, the characters never mention it and the nuance of Naud’s performance gestures to something more and unknowable. If we can easily put 'Sissy's troubles down to conforming to mainstream looks, it is murkier here. And Naud is beautiful.

 

But mostly, it’s a fun, slick thriller that doesn’t let up, runs on some excellent performances and character shading, throwing in some twists, and all set in gorgeous Thailand locations. And it’s true that this is just another example of low-level horror tiring of just shallow-stupid characters and providing great female performances.