10 Horror Movie Opening Fakeouts We All Fell For

2. Influencer

Influencer Movie
Shudder

One of the standout horrors of 2023, Influencer was picked up as a Shudder Original earlier this year - and boy, does it lull you into thinking it's something vastly different to what it becomes.

From the get-go, Influencer centres on Madison, the titular social media star who's vacationing in Thailand and presenting on online persona of someone having the best possible time. In reality, Madison is lonely, bored, mainly stuck in a hotel room, and simply turning on her happy face once a photo opportunity presents itself for those likes, shares, and subscribes, or to appease one of her many sponsors.

One sparkle of sunshine in Madison's world of rain is CW, someone she meets at her hotel and who manages to pull Madison out of her slump and show her the sights. So, what's the fakeout element here? Why, that's that Madison was to be the focus of this feature.

Instead, Madison is taken out of the equation after 20 minutes, with CW stranding her on a remote island to starve to death. From there, Influencer's prime focus becomes CW as she literally takes over Madison's life and finds herself trying to cover her tracks once Madison's sister and boyfriend arrive on the scene.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.