Follow Me (2020) - Well... I didn't mind it!

I say it right away - I quite enjoyed this movie.  No, it was no masterpiece, but it was nicely entertaining for an hour and a half - and that was all I was looking for when I put on the horror movie I found on a streaming service.  Then, when I came to reviewing it, I found that it looked like most people seemed to hate it.  Guess I'm in the minority here then.

It's about a YouTuber - only he YouTubes on a fictional website which is basically a cross between YouTube and Instagram - who has attained reasonable fame on the platform and has been dared by his millions of 'followers' to do the ultimate scary activity.  His 'crew' therefore scour the internet and find an 'escape room' in Moscow for him to try out.

What follows is a bit of a mish-mash of various sub-horror genres.  There's a bit of torture-p0rn in there, plus a survival movie with a healthy dose of slasher thrown in there for good measure.  I guess it is a bit all over the place in terms of tone, but it didn't really bother me.

The major plus - in my opinion - was the main character.  I thought it would be very easy to make him a completely unlikable idiot who is shallow as a puddle and we'd never identify with, let alone root for.  But I found him quite balanced.  Yes, he enjoyed the fame, but was also quite normal when he needed to be.

I don't know how well this film will age as it's definitely a product of its time, what with it basing its whole premise on today's obsession with becoming either a YouTuber, or 'influencer' or both.  Hopefully, our culture will grow out of this fad and this film will remain a time capsule of 2020.

If there was one thing that bothered me it was the ending.  There were only so many ways this film could go once it was underway and I predicted what would happen. Plus there were a few scenes that, once you dissect the film after you've watched it, will make you wonder what would have happened if certain events didn't unfold the way they were supposed to.  Either way, I enjoyed the ride, but feel free to check out all those reviews talking about 'unlikeable characters' and how it's an 'awful film' before you decide to invest your time into it.

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