Welcome to Knockout Horror. We are taking a look at yet another Social Media themed horror movie today – Followed. Directed by Antoine Le, Followed is a mix of Found Footage and a little bit of Screenlife horror. Following a social media influencer as he investigates a haunted hotel. This movie feels a tiny little bit like the very watchable Deadstream. Only, it preceded it by a couple of years.
A Familiar Story
Followed follows the story of social media influencer Mike. Mike runs a successful vlogging channel where he investigates the paranormal. After hearing about a young woman who died in a downtown LA hotel, he becomes inundated by viewer requests to investigate. The hotel appears to have a rather sordid past, having been home to a notorious serial killer years before as well as being the scene of many unexplained deaths. With a sponsorship deal on offer and his fans desperate for him to go. Mike assembles a crew and heads to the hotel, a decision he may come to regret.
Followed adopts the stories of some real life tragedies, boldly claiming, in its trailer, to be based on true events. This isn’t strictly true, Followed isn’t based on true events. Followed simply takes some true stories and clumsily weaves them into its plot. The hotel the group are investigating is called the Lennox. Which is actually modeled after the very famous, and very notorious, Cecil hotel.
Inspired By Harrowing Events?
The Cecil hotel was afforded a terrible reputation. Not only was it located in the deprived area of Skid Row and the scene of numerous suicides, murders and assaults. It was also home to the serial killer Richard Ramirez, AKA The Night Stalker.
The Cecil Hotel’s sordid past has been the inspiration for a number of horror movies. The continual misfortune of the building, and the people associated with it, offer a never ending source of real life terror for those looking to write horror stories. It isn’t just these said real life events that haunt the Cecil hotel, though. It is widely thought to be inhabited by the spirits of the unlucky souls who have passed there. Whether by malicious intent or simple misadventure.
The Cecil Hotel was most recently brought to the public’s attention, however. In the death of Elisa Lam. Lam was a sufferer of Bipolar Disorder who found her way to the hotel’s roof and entered a water tank, sadly drowning. The famous elevator footage associated with her death is referenced here and her untimely demise is exploited, once more, by greedy content creators. Followed references a case so similar to this as to almost be a verbatim copy. While also making mention of a serial killer that draws a striking resemblance to Richard Ramirez.
Social Media Influencer Horror
Followed feels just like every other found footage that came before it. The only major difference is the social media influencer theme and some of the YouTube style presentation. Unlike Deadstream, which followed our protagonist live streaming events, the things that happen in Followed are shown retrospectively. Our cast of characters are at the hotel investigating the haunting. While there, they film scenes for videos which are edited and uploaded shortly after. We watch the videos in sequence, as played on a computer screen by some unknown person.
Our lead character, Mike, is an utterly obnoxious person. He is, basically, Logan Paul turned up to 11. Completely unlikable and incredibly difficult to care about, he frequently indulges in the type of humour that wouldn’t even appeal to 12 year olds. He is loud, annoying and, generally, a bit offensive. When you are about to spend over an hour with this person, this is an enormous problem. Especially when you are expected to actually give a shit about them.
Mike really doesn’t develop as a character, either. He remains unlikable throughout and really hampers the story progression. I found him impossible to care about. Robbing the movie of much of its horror element, which is a big shame, really. There are a couple of decent scares in this film. One scene in particular could have been especially effective had it simply featured a character that wasn’t completely detestable. As it stands, so much focus is placed on Mike that the movie suffers massively for it. On top of that, much of the story isn’t fleshed out.
A Poorly Fleshed Out Story
So much of the story’s background is drawn from actual real life events that, when it comes to crafting something original and effective, the writers simply seem to give up. The actual lore is barely established and poorly explained. Events that take place seem disconnected and inconsequential. On top of that, an ending that hints at something intriguing doesn’t really end up going anywhere and, basically, shrugs its shoulders at the viewer. You can’t help but feel a little bit underwhelmed.
There’s a distinct feeling of laziness with Followed, as if the makers had no desire to really get balls deep into the story crafting. Instead content to use one to one copies of real life events to establish plot. The writers were far to eager to jump on things that were popular in internet circles at the time, foregoing actual storytelling.
Despite all of this. Followed is a fairly watchable movie in parts, if you can make it past the detestable main character. Some of the horror is quite effective and the group’s dynamics are pretty compelling. The cast of characters has distinctly different views on what is happening. There is an underlying sense of tension between the characters and the use of prescription sleeping aids adds a reason to question what is happening. The ultimate dissension between the group adds a few layers to the horror, dividing our characters and increasing the level of threat.
Social Media and Found Footage
The social media aspect works pretty well. These types of movies are a little bit marmite and likely to divide but if you enjoy them then Followed does a good job. It doesn’t go too over the top with the YouTube style video editing, leaving most of the movie to play out like a standard Found Footage horror. The parts that feel like social media videos work well and feel pretty genuine. I did notice a massive problem with the sound mixing, though. The music is way too loud in parts drowning out the speech in a big way.
Camera work is okay. It gets a bit shaky here and there which can be a little off putting. Still, this movie came out at a time when Found Footage had long since been mastered. There are far fewer of the issues that plagued early movies from this genre. There are some very nice shots of the LA skyline at night, some of the visual effects work quite well, as well.
Acting is fine. Mike is a loathsome character but Matthew Solomon nails the delivery. He was, obviously, supposed to play the character like this and he does a good job. Sam Valentine and Tim Drier, as Dani and Chris, are decent, playing as something of a logical, calm, foil to Mike’s eccentric and impulsive nature. The cast is fine, overall, and does a decent job.
Should You Watch Followed?
Followed is one of those movies that may just scratch a very particular itch. If you are looking for a found footage horror with a strong social media leaning, this might do it. Followed is competent enough as a movie in this niche. It has a few effective scenes, the social media elements feel genuine and aren’t overdone and some people may enjoy the references to real life events. Many of which the internet is utterly obsessed with. There are a bunch of issues but if you can get past them you might find something to enjoy.