Follow Her – Frightfest 2022 Movie Review
Director: Sylvia Caminer
Writer: Dani Barker (Screenplay)
Cast
- Dani Barker (Benji, the Traveling Cat)
- Luke Cook (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2)
- Eliana Jones (Night Hunter)
- Mark Moses (Platoon)
- Cristala Carter (Jessica Jones)
Plot: An aspiring actress responds to a mysterious classified ad and finds herself trapped in her new boss’s twisted revenge fantasy.
Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Follow Her starts as an aspiring social media star and actress Jess (Barker) sees her latest work start to take off. Only there is a problem, the hidden face is revealed, leaving her questioning what she should do. Meanwhile, Jess gets a chance to help an erotic novelist Tom (Cook) who wants a woman’s perspective of a character in his novel.
As Jess accepts the job, she finds herself getting caught up in a romantic getaway in a creepy barn. It doesn’t take long before Jess finds herself in a situation she wasn’t prepared for, needing to understand what Tom really wants.
Verdict on Follow Her
Characters
Jess Peters is a social media star who dives into the fetishes people have. Her work keeps the clients hidden and her popularity is on the rise. She is also trying to become an actress, which sees her take any job going, including the erotic novelist assistant. Jess finds herself in deeper than she expected, as the man who hired her, has her own motivation.
Tom is an erotic novelist that hires Jess for assistance in his latest novel. He takes her back to his barn for the project, where he starts playing the mind games he has planned for her.
The supporting characters are the viewers of the channel. They come from different worlds and have different desires about what they are watching.
Performances
Dani Barker in the leading role is strong, she brings the confident yet insecure character to life. Her character goes through the most in the movie, as we see the different levels of uncertainty, she finds herself in.
Luke Cook brings us a creepy figure that has a friendly demeanour to bring Jess into his life. He brings a character we know not everything is right about, but we want to watch.
Story
The story follows a rising social media star who takes a job to help an erotic author with his latest work. Only things take a dark twist when she finds out she has bitten off more than she could chew.
This story tackles the rising demands of chasing internet fame, showing the consequences it could bring people. It shows the danger behind putting yourself out there with people always out to bring you down. There is also a highlight on what mistakes can be made on the rising fame.
The story keeps us on our toes as everything unfolds, and we are left in a position of wondering what is going on. It leaves you with surprise with what the bigger picture is too.
Themes
Follow Her is a horror thriller that shows the danger of the social media craving world. We have seen other movies target these dangers before, with this one doing enough to be different in the world. The dialog does highlight the bigger picture and the barn location is used well to create a trapped environment.
Follow Her was screened as part of Frightfest 2022. For more information on the festival, please visit www.frightfest.co.uk
Final Thoughts – Follow Her is a tense thriller that constantly keeps us on our toes.