10 Horror Movie Opening Fakeouts We All Fell For
2. Influencer
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.