Followers (2021) Review – A Cringey and Uninspired Influencer Slog

Welcome back to Knockout Horror. Today we are reviewing social media themed, British horror movie Followers.

More social media themed horror

I won’t beat around the bush here: Followers is straight up bad. One of the worst movies I have covered on this site, to be perfectly honest. It follows posh social media influencer Jonty Craig (Harry Jarvis). A recent bigoted rant of Jonty’s was caught on camera, leading to his influencer status diminishing and him becoming disgraced. Desperate to get his popularity back, Jonty begins presenting his life as an online reality show.

“I won’t beat around the bush here: Followers is straight up bad. One of the worst movies I have covered on this site, to be perfectly honest. “

After moving into student accommodation with a couple of other people, he learns that the house has a sordid past and may just be haunted. Keen to profit off of the situation, Jonty sees an opportunity to regain his fame, whatever the cost.

Followers is a mix of found footage and traditional style horror. We mainly follow the rather annoying Jonty around but we also see social media style videos, interviews with fans, footage from the other characters and everything else you would expect from a movie like this. Jonty lives with a bunch of walking, talking, stereotypes.

We have annoying, obnoxious, posh English boy Jonty. Angry Scottish mature student Pete, the busty Northern English chick with daddy issues, Amber, and the smart and sensible one Zauna. It’s something of Scooby Doo-esque presentation of characters with each having a clearly defined, and predictable, personality. These characters are only really placed together to clash and little else. Pete wants to party and fight, Amber wants attention and love, Zauna wants logical explanations and Jonty wants to profit. Simple!

Shoehorned in social media aspect

At its heart, Followers is a rather traditional haunted house story. The social media stuff is shoe horned in purely to make the movie appeal to a younger audience. It is a bunch of recycled horror tropes but if it was done well this movie may have stood out. People may have lauded it for taking a different approach to traditional horror, much in the way that Deadstream did earlier this year. That just isn’t the case, there is very little that this movie does well.

“The social media aspect feels both cheap and inauthentic. Like it was made by someone pushing 50 who thinks they get what the kids want to see. In the words of Gen Z, it all feels a bit cheugy.”

The movie’s main hook, the social media aspect, feels both cheap and inauthentic. Like it was made by someone pushing 50 who thinks they get what the kids want to see. In the words of Gen Z, it all feels a bit cheugy; and I say that as a millennial. The presentation style here is extremely try hard and a little bit off-putting. The crazy thing is, the rest of the movie is so bad that the social media aspect is all the film has to hang its hat on.

The movie is devoid of scares and the plot feels painfully familiar. A story that starts in a fairly interesting manner, quickly falls foul of confusing writing and an overactive narrative. Horror tropes abound. Bangs on the walls, a town with a history of murders, a haunted house, shadows and spectres caught on camera, night vision explorations of basements. You have seen it all before but rarely done this poorly. The stereotypical characters are keen to play to type offering little to care about. There is no subtlety and not an ounce of nuance.

Genuinely awkward at times

Scenes range from being a little poor to laughably bad. A couple of segments stand out for just how ridiculous they are. If I was to say “Ghost dancing on a table complete with excessive strobe lighting”, I am sure I wouldn’t be spoiling too much but you would get a nice sense for just how embarrassing some parts of this movie can be. No amount of editing or special effects could have made some of these scenes work.

Indeed, Harben occasionally touches on important subjects of intimate photo theft and institutional racism. But these themes also fall foul of the lacklustre presentation of the movie. It all feels a bit tacked on and insincere. Followers can, however, evoke a few chuckles here and there. Pete, in particular, earns a giggle or two. There are some clever observations of the vapid and pointless nature of influencer content, as well.

Acting is areal mixed bag

Acting is a mixed bag. Harry Jarvis is a bit awkward as Jonty but maybe that is intentional? He’s a nepo kid: his parents are producers on Followers. Still, he’s acting in a Tubi movie as we speak so it can’t all be bad. I think Loreece Harrison, as Zauna, stands out for her performance. She almost feels a bit out of place compared to the rest of the cast for just how good she is. Daniel Cahill does nail the angry Scottish dude role as well.

“Followers is devoid of scares and the plot feels painfully familiar. You have seen it all before but rarely done this poorly. There is no subtlety and not an ounce of nuance.”

Erin Austen does as much as she can with her very poorly written, and somewhat misogynistic, role. It seems as though she was added for titillation and little else. Rarely do you see so much cleavage in a horror. Veteran actor Nina Wadia is spot on as the quirky, slightly cringey therapist Becky. A fleeting appearance by actual English influencer Tanya Burr is sure to please fans of hers.

A tragic production

Followers has a bit of a tragic history attached to it, a history that I think bears mention. During production of the movie, writer and director Marcus Harben was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. He sadly passed away not long after diagnosis and never got to see this project through. It’s probably fair to say that the death of Marcus impacted the final product that we see here.

It’s a true tragedy. I have lost a number of relatives to cancer including both of my parents. It really sucks and I wish I could praise this movie more but it is what it is. We’ll consider this paragraph as a tribute to Marcus Harben. Rest in peace dude. Harben collaborated with illustrator Dave Turbitt when he received his diagnoses. Together, they made the comic Weird Things That Happened When I Got The F*****g Cancer. I thoroughly encourage you to check it out, it is both touching and hilarious.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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