Followed Review: A Charismatic and Creepy Found Footage Vlog

Release date: September 1, 2020 (VOD Release)
Running time: 96 minutes
Starring: Matthew Solomon, John Savage, Tim Drier 

When aspiring social media influencer “DropTheMike” (Solomon) is offered a lucrative sponsorship to grow his channel, he's joined by his video crew on a visit to one of the most haunted hotels in America, where he'll give his audience a horrific night of thrill-seeking the likes of which they have never seen before. What begins as a fun investigative challenge including the infamous Elevator Ritual quickly descends into a personal hell of true evil, begging the timely question: how far would you go to pursue internet fame?

Followed is a found footage film, but it feels decidedly modern.  The movie is told through a series of DropTheMike legacy social media videos, as well as some new footage that was uploaded recently.  This gives a modern take on the found footage genre that feels made for the Internet social media age, with influencers, likes and followers, and the race to become famous.  And a lot of this is thanks to the stellar performance of Solomon.  He is thoroughly convincing as a social media influencer, and I enjoyed just watching his videos for their funny content.  These videos had very high production values and definitely felt like something you might come across on a regular YouTube channel.  The rest of the cast are good, but they generally don't get as much screen time as Solomon, nor do their characters have the natural charisma that DropTheMike has.  But each other character in the crew add something to the overall production, and their experiences in this creepy hotel are fun to watch.

However, what starts off as a really good found footage, social media film hurts itself when it moves to the scary part.  It starts off well and subtle, but early on starts to go for some large effects and set pieces.  I generally prefer this type of film to have more subtle aspects, building up to a larger reveal: a shadow here, something happening off screen there, but Followed starts with some easily recognizable and in your face scary effects.  I would have liked if there was more implied spookiness, rather than some of the straight up scares that happen.  And some of this is hurt by some CG that just breaks your enjoyment.  Certain spectres are noticeably CG which doesn't give you the same level of scare as something more subtle might.  The film is definitely scary, and I was on the edge of my seat many times during the movie, but it also felt like there could have been more done to not break the fourth wall.  In a genre that seems to try and stay more and more with traditional special effects, the effects in Followed sometimes break your escape into the film.  

Followed is a thoroughly modern found footage film with a charismatic lead who takes you on a social media odyssey in this creepy hotel stay.

Rent it.

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