Social media content videos have become increasingly popular on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and OnlyFans, which has caused privacy invasions to reach overwhelmingly higher levels over the past several years than it used to be. Lives that were completely up-ended by video clips lasting just a few seconds or minutes, leading to job terminations and even death threats in extreme cases.
In her new film Follow Her, Sylvia Caminer (An Affair of the Heart) brings these dangerous topics to light with Dani Barker playing Jess – who also wrote the script. Others cast in the movie include Luke Cook (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Eliana Jones (Hemlock Grove), Mark Moses (Platoon), and Cristala Carter (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin).
The film has won 20 awards at different film festivals including the MidWest WeirdFest for Best Horror Film, Albuquerque Film & Music Experience for Best Actress, and Austin Film Festival for Dark Matters Feature. It has been nominated 30 times for various awards including Nashville Film Festival’s Best Graveyard Shift Feature and American Independents Competition at Cleveland International Film Festival.
Jess is a young woman who finds herself more successful when she secretly documents herself conversing with bizarre people about their outlandish internet job postings but is looking for her passion as well as a full-time writing career. She records strangers’ conversations without any permission and blurs their faces before they are uploaded on YouTube where they earn clout and money at once. In one of Jess’s most daringly explicit videos ever made with great success however, the blur censor fails to work properly exposing her audience to the real person behind it.
Instead of deleting it from her socials platform, she chooses not only to keep it there but makes more profit as well as gains many followers. As soon as this occurs, Jess accepts an offer asking her to write an erotic thriller novel alongside another writer whom she follows to his secluded country home. But things do not go as planned after that.
Follow Her does a good job of keeping viewers guessing what might come next. While the plotline was somewhat obvious, the writing took an indirect route to get there, eliminating some of the predictability. We all know Jess should not go and meet a strange man in this isolated farmhouse for this random job listing but the capitalistic society makes us all desperate for money so at least it sounds plausible.
Moreover, this is not your typical thriller story; thus, refreshing life into a genre that often recycles through same stories again and again. By the time you get to the reveal of Follow Her, you’re asking yourself “What just happened?” rather than “I saw that coming.” Kudos to Dani Barker for some incredibly innovative writing!
A big difference between Follow Her and other thrillers from this particular type is that none of its characters including the protagonist are likeable. However much one may wish nothing bad happens to Jess, it is hard to sympathize with someone who takes joy out of getting rich off of other’s misery without their permission from day one.
Jess’s actions could be considered as wicked, heartless and downright spooky but so can the actions of those who might want to teach her a lesson. So what we have here is an uninteresting thriller in which the audience doesn’t care about who wins, only that somebody does, that even takes away from its thrill.
It was true both Barker and Luke Cook (in the role of Tom Brady… but not that Tom Brady) were very good at their parts as shown by numerous acting nominations and victories they received throughout the festival circuit. They just don’t play characters you can get yourself lost in.
Starting with a terrific build-up and remarkable pacing for most of its part, Follow Her got terribly confused after revealing its final twist. The film ends uniquely in terms of how it connects with the rest of Follow Her, but essentially tosses out all the fire it had built up between these two leads during the previous hour. It’s one of those moments wherein not only was there somewhat a departure from the social commentary on board altogether but also it is something that hurtfully affects its rewatchability.
A fantastic thriller will include a reveal that leaves viewers pondering if they missed anything. Unfortunately, Follow Her belongs to more of a one-hit-wonder category within this genre. The movie is good for one watch and serves as an outstanding debut feature for Sylvia Caminer and Dani Barker though probably would not be regarded as everlasting like other people think about it. Still worth watching though.
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