The Influencer Project

by Mike McGranaghan

It’s become a recent cliché to revolve indie horror movies around social media influencers. Deadstream, #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead, A Breed Apart, and the appropriately named Influencer are just a few examples. More often than not, these pictures don’t work well because they don’t have anything to say, other than obviously pointing out that some people will do crazy stuff for clicks.

The Influencer Project is different. Real-life influencer Chiara King plays a fictionalized version of herself. She’s got the requisite ego that comes from having millions of followers care about her every mundane action. Chiara is paid to fly to Copenhagen to make ten posts promoting tourism in the country. A documentary crew follows her. Not long after arriving, she starts receiving disturbing DMs from an anonymous figure called King Slayer. His messages threaten to kill her if she doesn’t “stop talking.” At first, she and her team brush it off as nonsense, but then King Slayer starts making it clear he’s stalking her wherever she goes.

Right there is the hook that makes The Influencer Project work. The movie turns the basic idea of social media influence – that you want as many eyes on you as possible – inside out. Because she’s all over the internet, Chiara becomes an easy target. She self-documents every move she makes, allowing King Slayer to stalk her with ease. Director Mike Nybroe, who also plays the documentary director, capitalizes on the hazards of making oneself an open book online, to an audience of total strangers.

Tension is built from that idea, the best example being an almost Hitchcockian scene where King Slayer starts a live feed of Chiara while she’s in public, meaning he’s nearby. She comes across the stream and has a panic attack. The documentary team frantically struggles to figure out where the guy is filming from. It’s a magnificently staged sequence. Another tense scene has Chiara reviewing the crew’s footage, looking to see if she can catch a glimpse of her stalker while he was taking her picture.

The movie evolves into more conventional horror during the last act – a bloody confrontation that comes complete with jump scares and shocking plot developments. It’s a little far-fetched, but the beauty of the genre is that it allows for reality to be stretched. Besides, what Chiara does is extremely clever, ensuring that the story ends with a bang. The ending puts a spin on the idea that social media can be used as a weapon.

Chiara King brings authenticity to her role, infusing the film with an important ground-level believability. King Slayer, in his weird mask, proves suitably creepy. They’re not a bad combo. The Influencer Project is slickly shot, suspenseful, and smarter than you may expect.