Follow Tedious Social Media Horror in Follow Her (2023)
Title: Follow Her
First Non-Festival Release: May 11, 2023 (Theatrical Release)
Director: Sylvia Caminer
Writer: Dani Barker
Runtime: 92 Minutes
Starring: Dani Barker, Luke Cook, Eliana Jones
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
Many people have plenty to say about the direction of social media in today’s internet economy. Decrying the “uselessness” of influencers and the ethical concerns behind content creation, Follow Her asks the audience what does consent mean in the internet age and is that the end of the conversation.
Aspiring actress and current social media star Jess (Dani Barker) answers acting ads on a Craigslist-esque website with the hopes of landing real gigs. Sometimes, her would-be bosses ask her for a different kind of service. She obliges only because she has a back-up plan. She secretly records the interaction and shames them online for tricking women into obviously vulnerable positions while still giving them privacy by blocking out their face and not releasing their details. Her latest prospect is a writing gig that takes her to a secluded park outside the city where she meets the charming Tom (Luke Cook). From there she discovers that this latest job might end her luck of only running into harmless creeps.
Obvious and eyebrow raising, Follow Her fails to add anything new to the social media horror cannon while also failing to rouse audiences.
Another influencer set horror thriller, Follow Her attempts meta commentary without putting in the work of crafting a compelling narrative or interesting characters. Setting up a typical man versus woman battle of wits, Follow Her puts its protagonist in a twisted roleplay, one where she is unaware if it is real or not. The narrative interjects commentary about the state of modern thrillers with the goal of deconstructing the cliches in the genre, at least during this moment. Commenting on the gendered nature of the genre and the need to continually escalate the stakes for the sake of audience boredom feels uninspired. The generalities don’t amount to much in the end, especially when eschewed for its stale observations on social media.
Through the lens of its flawed protagonist, Jess, Follow Her makes some choice comments on women that feel dated at best and malicious for worse. Throughout her ordeal, Jess is appropriately chastised for her decision to film others without consent. This is something that Follow Her consistently beats the audience over the head for its entirety. For some reason, however, it loses the plot when failing to address why Jess created her channel in the first place: to shame the men who put women in vulnerable positions through deceitful advertisements. Without even going into the victim blaming and stereotyping of influencers as inherently vapid, Follow Her has an obsession with putting attractive young women “in their place,” especially when the final plot twist reveals the intentions of Tom before giving Jess one last choice. Each narrative beat goes down the path to showcase Jess as manipulative, shallow, and dumb.
Surface level commentary on influencers and social media leads Follow Her to an appropriately eye rolling conclusion. To what amounts as “influencers are bad,” Follow Her doesn’t say much that hasn’t already been said. Voyeurism, ethics in content creation, and boundaries of privacy are all on display without much interrogation. For instance, Jess is labeled as “fake” for choosing to wear hair extensions, a topic that is brought up repeatedly as a sin of content creators. Of course, each time it is brought up it is the deception aspect that makes Jess deserve the abuse she endures and not because hair extensions are a beauty product that is marketed and used primarily by women.
It isn’t necessary for female directed/written films to tackle misogyny but when it takes such a central role in the motivation of the antagonists it feels odd to leave it out without even focusing on anything of substance. Jess’s channel tackles the ways in which men use money to put women in vulnerable or dangerous situations. Her decision to subvert that power dynamic is shamed because of what it might do if it comes back to those men she filmed. The interrogation stops here with Jess’s final decision, making a statement again on the intentions of its protagonist.
The dark humor shines through the murky script, making for some entertaining moments throughout the odd story. Despite the serious themes and horrific setup, Follow Her manages to squeeze in a few moments of genuine comedy. This is especially noticeable in the second act of the film when Jess and Tom roleplay his script and later when the tables turn. Jess and Tom take a few good jabs at each other but occasionally Tom pulls one on Jess that absolutely does hit the point the film is trying to make.
A tepid investigation into the psyche of social media use and users, Follow Her adds nothing that hasn’t already been said before while actively taking the subgenre back a few years. Shallow characters and cringeworthy monologues amount to little in entertainment or intellectual food for thought. Unconvincing performances and a general staleness of the filming give the film a decidedly unpolished made-for-TV feel. It is hardly the worst horror foray into the internet but Follow Her isn’t a film that people will remember that long after its final irritating frame cuts to credits.
Overall Score? 5/10
