Befitting the inescapable social media and selfie culture it derides, the British-made Followers is instantly forgettable. Like a Snapchat, you watch it and — #poof! — it’s gone, snuffing itself out.
Although I hate to speak ill of the end, I doubt that’s what the late Marcus Harben had in mind for his first feature. He knew how to go about it, though, for economy’s sake: as found footage.
To view Followers is to be forced to, er, follow the YouTubed antics of the idiotic, immature, obnoxious Jonty Craig (Harry Jarvis, The Dare). Cap askew, the 19-year-old documents himself getting on the nerves of his college housemates — and hopefully into the bed of comely roomie Amber (Erin Austen, 2021’s The Kindred).
Jonty’s M.O. of pranks and other “influencer” BS undergoes a content overhaul when they discover the house is haunted. From a ghost in a laptop to all-out poltergeist havoc on the kitchen cupboards, Jonty’s thrilled for the exponential boost in likes and subscribers. Hell, he even gets sponsored!
Followers has the makings of a raucous, vicious satire, but not the drive to take the proper piss out of anyone. Too toothless to function as a comedy, too by-the-numbers to be scary, the movie Harben left is half-cooked — full of ideas without quite bringing a single one to fruition.
Unless one of those ideas was to have viewers abhor its lead character, in which case, well done, good sir. —Rod Lott