(https://i.imgur.com/nZ7odCd.png)
Studio: Shudder
Release Date: 2/25/2025
Rating: NR
Film Grade: B
The Story: Ah, the life of a social media star. Days filled with glamorous shots of both the mundane and exclusive aspects of life. Exotic resort vacations, fabulous fashion, and sumptuous food are all vital ingredients used to promote vicarious living with the goal of keeping and attracting followers while hawking products.
Madison finds herself alone in Thailand, after her boyfriend, too busy with work, ghosted her. She tries to make the most if it, taking advantage of luxurious amenities while sharing smiling photos for her fans, even if it’s just a shallow façade. It turns out that real life isn’t always what it appears to be in the online world, and even thousands of admirers aren’t a substitute for true companionship.
To further complicate things, you can never be sure what followers you may be unknowingly attracting.
My Take: What sounds like a gimmick quickly becomes a solid idea for this tight little thriller. It’s readily apparent that the film has a cynical take on the world of social media, in spite of it becoming more and more influential. And while that’s one of the central themes, it doesn’t wallow in it or become pedantic. Instead, it uses it as a springboard for the events that follow.
I went into the movie blind, and glad to have done so, as the many turns and surprises kept my attention as the story unfolded. As the movie started, it seemed clear to where it was going but was pleased that it branched off in an unexpected direction.
Emily Tennant portrays young Madison with more than a hint of underlying melancholy. While she posts frivolously fun pics of her international trip, the mask quickly fades once the camera is off and loneliness creeps in, which is handled effectively and sympathetically. She’s soon joined by an exuberant Cassandra Naud, who plays CW, a local girl, oblivious and skeptical to the whole idea of social media. The two have a natural rapport with each other in spite of their differences, as they take in some of the lesser-known sites and attractions. She presses Madison into actually living in the moment rather than focusing on capturing it.
This builds up to a brisk series of twisting, escalating events that don’t cross over into the wildly outlandish. Key to this is how the movie incorporates how easily technology can create the appearance of reality. Hats off to the production team for using actual tools available to anyone in illustrating how trivial it is to manufacture events that never happened. Not only does it add a creepy level of authenticity to the movie’s events, but it also serves as an effective reminder for our daily lives.
Director Kurtis David Harder’s last film was Spiral, part of the Saw series. That effort was uneven, partially due to its dependency on the legacy of the earlier films. There are no such restraints here, as he and cowriter Tesh Guttikonda have staked out fresh territory. This is similar to how Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett were able to craft the superior Abigail compared to their work on 2022’s Scream. Maybe we’ll see more franchise entries used as a gateway for young creators to bring their own stories to the screen.
Visuals: The cinematography for this movie rises well above its budget. Shot digitally on small cameras, it captures both the vast wonder of the various vistas along with the more personal and close-up moments. Colors of the natural environments breathe freely from scene to scene, and stand in contrast to the glitzy, sophisticated domestic environments. The handheld camera work is smooth and flowing, giving an immediacy to the moments. There’s some interesting drone work, as well, that helps establish the various locations as is sweeps through the skies and follows the characters.
We also get some really nice framing shots, such as when a speeding motorboat passes through a natural divide in the water, one side featuring large, gentle waves, and small, choppy, white ones on the other. Those kinds of stylistic choices extend all of the way to the end credits where there’s a clever color shift as they scroll above the ocean’s horizon line.
There are only a couple of off moments, one where the drone work is a little jerky, the other is an underwater shot that displays some banding. Both moments are brief and not distracting enough to pull the viewer out of the story.
Audio: The basic 5.1 DTS-MA soundtrack works fine for the movie, capturing the ambiance of the different moments and surroundings. The musical score leans heavily on techno beats, shifting to more traditional tension-building riffs as needed. Dialog is intelligible for the most part, with the exception of some of the voiceovers that narrate Madison’s posts. This may have been intentional, indicating that her bland, trite sayings aren’t worth listening to, but the listener will struggle trying to make them out. Those instances are brief and infrequent. Overall, I’d rate it as acceptable, but the sound is not a standout quality of the movie.
Special Features: This disc is a treasure trove of information. The behind-the-scenes feature is unlike any that I’ve seen before. It starts months before filming and continues through to the end, with different stages shown in tiny segments. Some it is captured through time lapse, others consist of cell-phone footage, and all combined into a frank portrayal of the ups and downs of the process. Adding to the complexity of the shoot, this was all made in the midst of the pandemic. This is in contrast to the glossy, fluffy promotional pieces we usually get to see. The two commentary tracks offer additional insight into the making of the movie.
- Audio Commentary with Director Kurtis Harder and Cinematographer David Schuurman
- Audio Commentary with Director Kurtis Harder and Actresses Emily Tennant and Cassandra Naud
- Deleted and Extended Scenes
- Behind the Scenes Footage
- Proof of Concept Footage
- Original Teaser
- Original Trailer
Final Verdict: Shudder started in 2015 as a streaming service concentrating on horror films. In their need for new titles, they have often picked up new, smaller films to supplement older releases. In addition, some of their titles have made it to physical media. I’m glad to see that this was one of them.
I keep finding more and more of these low-budget films that showcase the talents of the next generation, giving hope to the future of the movie industry. It’s proof that huge budgets aren’t a requirement for producing quality entertainment, and that the concepts and storylines can be brought to life for modest amounts with creativity, ingenuity, and the advances of modern equipment.
If you’re looking for a smart little thriller that entertains from beginning to end and isn’t dependent on the typical characters-making-stupid-decision tropes, this is an easy recommendation. It’s unrated, but I’d say it’s somewhere between a very soft R and hard PG-13, with a minimal amount of violence and some brief, discrete nudity, neither of which are key aspects of the film.
My wife enjoyed this one as much as I did, and we’ll be finding a place for it in our collection.
Fun Fact: One of the likes Madison receives on a post is from Brandon Christensen, one of the movie’s producers.
I’m including the trailer here, but don’t recommend watching it. Like so many others, it includes shots that are better left unseen until you watch the actual movie.
https://youtu.be/max4YbL3idk?list=PL8xhUNMCRQu6-4hcaH8ZrI89oLLoKX1Y-
My Review System:
JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
Oppo BDP-93
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup