Cam - Nice little contemporary attempt

I must confess to being a bit of a sucker for films which make some attempt at being different.  Even if 'being different' simply means trying to incorporate the latest fads in our world into the story.  But, to be fair to 'Cam,' this film would simply be classed as 'science fiction' probably only around twenty years ago.  Once upon a time, the prospect of being able to speak to someone on on the other side of the world via a screen from the comfort of your bedroom sounds like something from 'Star Trek' (let alone interact with them and make them do what you want!).  However, everyone knows about webcams these days and - technically - even have them on our phones.

Therefore, when a film uses perhaps what could be considered as the 'darker' side of webcams as a central theme, I thought I'd give it a go.  It's about a girl called Alice who 'works' on one of those 'adult' webcam websites (you know the ones - you probably have a hundred emails from them in your junk mail folder right now!).  Every night she, er, does things online for money (I'll leave the details up to your own imagination!) and her audience 'tips' her for her services.  This makes her a reasonable income and her only goal is to get into the 'Top 50' girls on this website (and maybe then one day to number one).  However, things - naturally - don't go according to plan when her 'feed' (I think you'd call it) gets 'cloned' - and so does she!

Cam' is a bit of a 'straight-to-DVD' film (albeit in this day and age 'straight-to-DVD' means 'straight-to-Netflix!'), so don't go expecting any major stars or budget here.  In fact, most of the film takes place in one location - Alice's bedroom.  However, just because it could hardly be described as 'big budget' doesn't mean that it doesn't work.  First of all Alice is portrayed by Madeline Brewer and she does a good job at portraying a 'sympathetic' character that we can root for.  Secondly, the 'style' in which it's shot is very 'contemporary,' i.e. expect plenty of emojis and 'text speak' scrolling up and down the screen as Alice's viewers interact with her.

I won't go into the plot too much as it's actually not that predictable and it uses technology in a way that we might not expect.  I will however mention that there is a strong 'supernatural' presence involved, so don't go expecting any 'real world' kind of endings here (think 'The Ring' here).  It's quite a short film, so you don't need to invest too much of your time into watching it.  If you like your spooky films spliced with a bit of social commentary and technophobia (ala 'Black Mirror') then you should get something out of this.  Plus it does offer a bit of an insight into the life of someone who uses the internet in this way (or at least it felt like a realistic portrayal of a woman who does this - I have to confess I haven't researched the topic that thoroughly!).  The only thing I felt let it down a little was the ending.  Although it had a resolution, there was never much of an explanation as to why this sort of thing happened.  Although, I'm guessing there will be those out there who feel that that's a bonus, as it does leave a lot up to your imagination.  Unlike the film itself - so expect strong language and nudity.  Overall, a decent little film to add to your watchlist on Netflix.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights