234. Followers; movie review

 

FOLLOWERS

Cert 15

83 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language, violence, suicide, horror, sexually abusive behaviour

What a tragedy that director Marcus Harben didn't live to see the release of his directorial debut because has was taken by cancer.

Followers isn't the sort of movie which resonates with me but Harben's fight for it to be made, knowing he would not survive, certainly does.

To be fair, he poses an interesting question around how far social media influencers will go to increase their audience.

But I wish he had not gone down the found footage route because, as always, it results in glaring continuity errors.

His film centres on former TV reality show flop Jonty (Harry Willis) who is trying to reinvent himself as a YouTuber.

He is struggling to make an impact until he discovers that the student house he is sharing is haunted.

Loreece Harrison, Erin Austen and Daniel Cahill make up the quartet who come under sustained attack by ghosts and video cameras.

Yep, there has to be some explanation for why almost every conversation and action in the house can be  recorded from different angles so the others begin to have buy-in.

Forgive me for thinking any student would simply leave if they regularly heard things going bump in the night but, no, this bunch hang around even after horrors which would make anyone else run 100 miles.

Indeed, they try to discover the origin of the ghostly goings on - and consequently, more ghastly scenes follow.

Perhaps, I am too old to have enjoyed the blood-letting at a student house or understood the never-ending efforts for social media validation.

Combined with the headache-inducing found-footage-style camerawork, I just struggled to get on with Followers but I recognise that others will and that this was a poignant labour of love for a missed director.

Reasons to watch: A rare movie about the influencer phenomenon

Reasons to avoid: Same continuity issues as with all found footage films

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes - off screen

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 5/10

Did you know? Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie the most popular individual YouTuber in the world with 111 million subscribers. His Let's Play videos and comedic formatted videos and shows led to Time magazine naming him as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2016.

The final word. Harry Jarvis: "There are tons of big YouTubers out there right now who have done some really distasteful things and have gained fame but also a lot of criticism."

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