Supernatural Social Media Serial Killer Horror Baby Blue (2023) Will Make You Feel Blue Too
Title: Baby Blue
First Non-Festival Release: June 24, 2023 (Digital/Streaming Platforms)
Director: Adam Mason
Writer: Simon Boyes, Adam Mason
Runtime: 93 Minutes
Starring: Ally Ioannides, Cyrus Arnold, Aramis Knight, Dylan Sprayberry
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
Teenagers JJ (Aramis Knight), Alice (Ally Ioannides), August (Cyrus Arnold), and Hutch (Dylan Sprayberry) struggle on find a new angle for their prank Youtube internet show. They decide to shift gears and cover true crime, opting to uncover the secrets behind the suicide of Kelvin Jones (Khylin Rhambo). The idea on the internet is that he was possessed by the spirit of Baby Blue (Anthony Tuprel), a serial killer who claimed the lives of over 30 people, and counting, according to their research that says watching the video of the killer’s death will curse you forever.
Rambunctious supernatural serial killer curse movie Baby Blue fails to juggle its various conflicting components effectively.
Its shaky cold open clues viewers in that Baby Blue is going to be a bumpy ride, and every scene that follows confirms that suspicion. Setting up what’s supposed to be a dark and mysterious film with a prison interrogation suicide, Baby Blue immediately transitions into an unserious moment in three teenage content creators [they never really specify what exactly they do at this faceless company they supposedly work for] getting fired by their boss while also getting advice on how to move forward. This confusion and tonal discordance becomes a theme throughout the film in a script that doesn’t know what it wants to be. It mixes up some interesting ideas on the internet culture of seeking out dark things in some scenes with some of the worst comedic timing in the following. These moments deflate the air out of the sails for the struggling indie. Not enough attention gets paid to all its threads, leaving the end result an unfurled mishmash of internet slang.
Diving into the culture behind uneducated true crime influencers, Baby Blue invokes needed commentary on the perils of stoking fires one cannot put out easily. Against all warnings, the group decides that heading down this rabbit hole will yield better results than simply finding another way to get views on the internet. Their commitment to uncovering the truth without fully understanding how to investigate leads them down a dark path. They also fail to see how they endanger others while they barrel full speed ahead at their murky objective. To get views? To find the truth? They don’t even know why they do what they do half of the time. What’s worse is this is all initiated by an incredibly hostile and confusing meeting with their [former?] boss that doesn’t really add up in the end. Regardless, it does nail the indictment of true crime influencers and the grey morality associated with that kind of content creation, so Baby Blue does deserve credit where it is due.
Overwrought performances drag down the convoluted screenplay even further. As is the case with many influencer-type of horror films, the characters are given impossibly big and grating personalities without much nuance or thought behind them. Cyrus Arnold’s August is the biggest offender, with the hapless teenager being used in the most obnoxious ways to progress the story along while finding every possible moment to irritate the audience. Balancing the tightrope between mocking and dopy most of the runtime, Arnold otherwise showcases glimmers of brilliance in some of his more emotionally vulnerable scenes. Other actors fail to add much either, opting to give melodramatic reactions to the onslaught of bizarreness. Not even the normally reliable Dylan Sprayberry can counteract the energy.
While Baby Blue fails to strike a chord with its ambitious script, it does manage to provide plenty of shocking imagery that will leave viewers with much to remember. Its central leather jacket serial killer steals every scene he is in thanks to both Anthony Turpel’s natural charisma and the shocking simplicity of his blood-soaked appearance. Baby Blue infects the mind with a variety of suggestive material that edges the characters, and viewers, along with the promise that greater violence awaits if one just gives into it.
The ambition behind Baby Blue is admirable even if the result doesn’t feel fully realized. Some genuinely great ideas get bogged down by irritating tropes found in social media-based horror and found footage films that don’t fully work to bring the story together. Rough performances and odd editing decisions disrupt the pace of the film, making what sets out to be a steady horror feel like a slog. You can decide to watch the video for yourself, but don’t say you weren’t warned either way.
Overall Score? 4/10
