Starring: Jordan Ver Hoeve, Colin Bates, Makenzie Vega, Andrew Matthew Welch
Director: John Abrahams
Country: USA
When Brian (Ver Hoeve) arrives in college he discovers that the previous owner (Bates) of his school-issued laptop was a webcam performer who was murdered on camera by a mysterious hooded figure. As more students continue to die across campus, Brian and his friends begin to receive messages from the same figure, who seems intent on wreaking havoc across the school community.
This trashy teen horror is trying to titillate and thrill in equal measure, but its whistle-stop pace means that it forgets to actually build suspense. The killer pops up regularly without fanfare or build-up, while the characters engage in gratuitous soft-core impressions of sex that feel like they were imagined by a seventeen year-old. Scenes are short and our attention-spans even shorter.
The plot is absurd and not a single responsible adult seems to exist in this university. People die without people caring or police even investigating. The only thing that seems to matter to the filmmaker is the high-gloss of the frame, that every victim is dispatched quickly and every boy at least a little bit gay.
In terms of sexy and sanitised murder, this teen pulp fiction does deliver, but it’s little more than well-lit froth. It doesn’t even have a youthful edge to make it feel fresh. Instead it’s like a frantic Pretty Little Liars with added webcam.
UK Release: Out now to watch on VOD on Dekkoo.