OMG,
y’all. Tubi is the new home for horror.
We found
two of the best movies we’ve seen this year on Tubi, which came as a surprise
because the streaming service is still free. (For now.) And, yeah, it’s only
the beginning of March, but both movies were better than anything we had to pay
for.
(I mean…
could Nosferatu be any more disappointing?)
Clickbait:
Unfollowed (2024) looked
just interesting enough for me to recommend it to Jay and, after the riot that
was Slay, he agreed without complaint. If anything, I’d say that he
enjoyed Clickbait even more.
Clickbait:
Unfollowed is
about a group of influencers who are invited to a competition at a remote
mansion. They all have roughly the same number of followers and, their
mysterious “host” claims, whoever gains the most followers during their stay will
earn $1 for every new one. Pretty cutthroat – and that’s before the
actual throat cutting starts.
The
influencers seem pretty generic at first, but their characters develop as the
movie goes on, growing from vacant stereotypes to, you know, genuinely horrible
people. (Not passing judgement on influencers or anything… people in general
are just horrible.)
Ax$el (Charlie Bouguenon) is your typical tech bro who talks a lot of shit he can’t back up while fitness coach, Kyle (Luke Volker,) inspires (mostly disgust in the women who actually know him.) The most natural contestant are Shermin Hassan‘s Ami is the anxious celeb who hides her insecurities behind humour and Roberto Kyle‘s Peach, who’s mistrust of the “game” marks him as the film’s final gurl! early on.
The narrative revolves mostly around the unhealthy relationship between Julie (Jessica Leigh Stanley) and her “ten-year-old” son, Parker (played, as far as I can tell, by Skylar Ball,) and it’s scathing about parents who use their kids to gain popularity. I mean… seriously, right? I hope you’re putting some of the money you earn away for therapy because they’re gonna need it, you narcissistic freaks.
Not to judge or anything…
There’s
plenty of backstabbing and snark between the contestants, even before their host’s true motives are
revealed. As the film goes on, the contestants go from battling each other for
likes, to battling each other (and the diabolical sisters who have them
trapped) for survival. Surprising alliances (and not-so-surprising alliances) are made,
which rarely end well.
The deaths
are fun and inventive, (which is a strange thing to be able to say,) and tailored
to each influencer’s unique schtick. I hate to think of what my influencer
death would be… bet it would involve a pile of books and a bottle of rum,
though! 🤣
Underlying
all the fun blood and guts and glorious gore is a serious message about social media, which is that the thing invented to unite us mostly just drives us apart. Funnily
enough, it was only last week that I was saying to Jay that when social media
was becoming a thing, it helped my generation find themselves and other people
like them. Now, it feels like everyone is trying to fit into these people-shaped holes we hammered out all those years ago and all the interesting bits that make
them them just get sliced off in the process.
Dang, I’m
showing my age again.
Or, you know, my disillusionment. Whatever.
Like Slay,
Clickbait: Unfollowed is just plain fun. The production is clean and crisp, with a good
(if not instantly recognizable) cast, strong plot, and interesting twists. It
surprised me a couple of times and kept me wondering what would happen, so it
comes highly recommended.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5 stars)
