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#Horror (2015)
Social media and bullying are scary enough to be the perfect backdrop of a challenging horror film. Last year's Unfriended took that idea, mixed it with a revenge story and an inventive use of storytelling to create a stirring horror film about the effects of cyberbullying. Then there's #Horror, a failed satire of social media that feels more like a slap on the wrist than the provoking it was trying to be. #Horror follows six preteen girls who live in the high society of money, success and comfort. One night, their compulsive addiction to social media turns a moment of cyberbullying into a night of chaos. The movie is exactly as preachy as that synopsis sounds and just as annoying as the middle schoolers in it. What #Horror never quite figures out is if it's trying to be an allegory for the dangers of social media, an actual horror film, or a lesson on why pre teen girls are bitches. Those themes never mix with each other in a cohesive way and instead battle each other throughout the whole movie. One moment will have smart phone animations barraging the screen, the next scene will have some random act of bullying, and then the movie remembers it's supposed to be a horror film and for two seconds, you see the girls being filmed by someone. I mean, the movie is called #Horror. There should be a little more horror than a couple of shots in the first hour and then a few poorly filmed kill scenes at the end. What Unfriended did right was not let up on the social media aspect of the film during its scarier moments. #Horror just sends mixed messages about what movie it's trying to be. Director Tara Subkoff presents timely themes and a glimmer of potential from her confident direction. Unfortunately, instead of being provocative and subversive, #Horror just ends up being annoying and pretentious.
3/10
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