THE INFLUENCER PROJECT

No. While the movie has some merits, the extreme violence simply isn’t worth watching, especially in a theater. The intensity fits the horror genre, but the violence, threats, and language still go too far. The message could land just as effectively without such excessive content.

At its core, the movie asks what someone will sacrifice for money and fame while exposing a disturbing truth about humanity. When given the chance to look away, people often do, even when someone else’s well-being hangs in the balance.

While the internet can certainly be used for good, the movie portrays social media as a mirror of humanity’s worst impulses, turning sin into data in the pursuit of money, fame, and worldly recognition.

That worldview runs counter to Christian beliefs. Unfortunately, the movie buries a worthwhile warning beneath an unnecessary excess of violence, language, and darkness.

This found-footage horror movie follows Chiara King, a rising British influencer who travels to Copenhagen for a tourism promotion. Determined to reach 10 million followers, Chiara knows she needs to do something no one has ever done before. But shortly after arriving, threatening messages begin appearing online, leaving her increasingly fearful for her safety. Alone with a local film crew and $100,000 on the line, Chiara decides to stay and face the danger. But at what cost?

Two stars for a found-footage horror movie that delivers a timely warning about social media but goes too far to make its point. Much like a modern version of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, the movie makes effective use of the found-footage format, with online interactions that feel familiar to anyone who uses social media.

The gore and horror fit the genre, and the pacing works well despite some repetition. The acting isn’t always convincing, but the message proves stronger than the performances. Good horror should shock audiences, and this movie succeeds in making viewers think about how far social media can go and where the line should be drawn.

It highlights both the benefits and dangers of online culture while forcing audiences to consider their own choices. However, a worthwhile message can’t overcome content that goes too far.

This movie carries a strong Humanist worldview with light moral, feminist, Romantic, and anticapitalist elements. It raises plenty of hard moral questions about influencer work, a fairly new career, but never offers any real answers.

Does an influencer bear any blame when her words spark something worse, even if she never meant harm? Do online threats just come with the job? Recent research shows social media damages young minds and creates real consequences offline. Here, one influencer ends up alone in the real world while her followers hide behind their keyboards.

The internet exposes the worst of humanity, a place where money matters more than people and the metrics prove it. A twisted sense of justice shows up at one woman's door after justice fails to appear anywhere else.

So who deserves our sympathy? Maybe the influencer who sells out for money. Maybe the person who exposes her in their own warped way. In the end, the movie asks who stands in the right, then shrugs.

For all its smart use of found footage and its powerful points about social media, THE INFLUENCER PROJECT drowns its message in shocking, needless brutality. Its questions about fame, money, and online cruelty deserve a real conversation, but the movie buries them in gore that serves no purpose beyond shock. Skip it in theaters, and don't press play when it hits streaming, either. Your eyes and your heart deserve better.