10 Recent Horror Reveals Nobody Was Ready For
7. Madison Was Still Alive - Influencer
A Shudder Original that arrived this past May, Kurtis David Harder's Influencer has several twists and turns across its brisk 90 minutes. Not least, in how it has one of modern-day horror's great final act reveals.
With a clear message about social media and the never-ending quest for likes, the movie initially focuses on Emily Tennant's Madison, an influencer in Thailand to garner more online engagement and to please her plentiful sponsors. While Madison is all smiles for her content, the depressing reality is that she's bored, lonely, misses her boyfriend Ryan, and spends most of her day killing time in a lavish hotel room.
That is, until Madison is befriended by CW (Cassandra Naud).
An outgoing sort, CW encourages Madison that not everything has to be done for social media purposes. For example, isn't it better to eat your food when it's hot, rather than it be lukewarm because you've spent time taking photos of it?
One such outgoing adventure sees the pair take a boat out to a remote island, where CW ultimately abandons Madison and takes over her life. The shocked social media sensation is life to die barely 25 minutes into the film, and from there the attention switches to CW doing the same to another influencer and then eventually killing Madison's boyfriend.
After an hour of underhand shenanigans, CW heads back out to the previous island to dump Ryan's body... only to shockingly realise that Madison is still alive nearly four weeks after she was left to die in isolation. This brilliant reveal is followed by Madison turning the tables, stealing CW's boat and leaving her on the remote island.