Horror Movie Review: Followers (2017)

Followers aka Followed is a 2017 found-footage horror from director Ryan Justice and starring Amanda Delaney, Justin Maina, Sean Michael Gloria and Nishant Gogna.

The plot surrounds a young couple named Brooke (Delaney) and Caleb (Mania). Who like nothing more than to put their entire life on social media. From the moment they wake up, to taking a piss to eating in a diner and until they go to bed, they vlog their lives.

It’s as infuriating to watch as it sounds, made all the worse by the cliché trip to the woods to celebrate their one-year anniversary. The couple are wholly unlikeable from the moment they appear on screen. Brooke is the main social media influencer who just happens to be cheating on Caleb. Whereas he wants to film them having sex and takes advantage of Brooke hearing noises in the night to try and scare her.

They’re awful to watch which makes the events that befall them more enjoyable then they should be.

The introduction of a second set of characters, Jake (Gloria) and Nick (Gogna) is where the movie briefly gets interesting. As this pair reveal they are planning to make a movie about the dangers of sharing your life online. To do this they are targeting Brooke and Caleb. The goal being to prove they could have followed and killed the couple with ease.

It’s an intriguing idea with a message that is hilariously abandoned in the final third for a cult to enter and become the villains. It’s so stupid that any goodwill built up (not much but there was some) is dashed to the wind. The movie was struggling for believability even before it gets to this point and once it does, it’s gone completely.

It can’t be understated just how badly this movie goes off the rails. A feat in itself as up to that point it was hardly going to win any awards.

If you’ve seen any found footage ever, you’ve seen it all here. Shaky camera work, up close and obnoxious shots of characters, pointless stuff being filmed and everyone’s favourite, filming while fleeing for their lives.

Stop sharing so much online folks, you could end up in a movie like this!