★½ (1½ out of 4)
With movies suffering a downturn this week, from “Digger” on, I guess I can mark “The Influencer Project” on a curve and say it’s not as bad as it could have been. Put that in the critic quote ads if you dare. The logline calls this pseudo-doc whatzit “a found footage horror film” from the makers of “The Blair Witch Project,” including co-director Eduardo Sánchez serving as a producer. “Blair Witch” was quite the groundbreaker in the last century (1999 to be exact), but that ground has been squashed, pressed, flattened and trampled so frequently in the 27 years since that its fertility must be called into question.
So good on surrogate mother Chiara King, a real-life social media creator, and debuting director Mike Nybroe for going where so many have gone before. A fresh point of view would have helped, but apparently that wasn’t in the budget. The gimmick here is that King will travel to Copenhagen, which looks smashing btw, with a documentary crew promising “an unfiltered look behind the glamorous business of online fame. But as the cameras and her devoted fans follow her every move, someone else is watching, too. When an obsessive stalker begins closing in, the documentary becomes something far more terrifying, blurring the line between content and evidence, follower and predator, fact and fiction.
Sounds fake and is it ever. “Blair Witch” was a project that fooled us for a time. But the “Influencer Project” must face a world where even pre-teens are as wised-up to the game as wizened studio execs. The best alternative is to give in and play “let’s pretend” and go along for the ride. It works for a while—OK, for a few minutes.
Chiara herself seems up for the scam. An aspiring singer before influencing took hold, this twentysomething caught the gold ring when her “kissing video” went viral and pulled in 50 million views. That’s fame, baby. Kylie Jenner, eat your heart out. Of course, an entourage is next, starting with manager, Alice (Jazmine Summer), who practically salivates at all the product tie-ins coming with this Danish trip. Chiara will wine, dine, shop and drop with cameraman Mike, played by director Nybroe himself, catching every move and hair toss so she can post videos of herself until her eyes cross. Mine did.
A fresh point of view would have helped, but apparently that wasn’t in the budget.
Boring? You have no idea. What Chiara needs as much as her audience is a few creepy death threats. Not as good as paranormal activity, but they’ll do. Enter “King Slayer,” whose profile pic is a mask (how original). Then come the warnings that she—omg no!—stops posting. Disobey and Chiara will die in ways you’ve seen in every torture porn video. The cops aren’t enough to stop this fiend; Chiara needs ex-military goon (Eos Karlsson).
If you can’t figure out what happens next, you’ve clearly been kidnapped and blindfolded in your own home since puberty. Can’t she just leave wonderful Copenhagen? Don’t be an ass. There’s a movie that needs to be stretched to 97 minutes. And the filmmakers keep the jump scares and music cues coming in ever-switching camera formats until your eyes hurt. What we need is a sequel—don’t worry, it’ll never happen—that forgets the found footage trend was ever a thing. I’ve already forgotten “The Influencer Project,” so there is hope. Where’s King Slayer when you need him!