Rating: 3.5/5
Madison is a social media influencer with a massive following. She travels to Thailand to do some promotional spots and get good travel photos. Initially, her boyfriend Ryan was supposed to come with her, but he bailed at the last minute. She keeps in touch with her best friend, Jay, but the glamor of her trip distracts him from noticing that she isn’t having a good time.
While at the hotel bar, an older man attempts to flirt with Madison. A woman named CW intervenes, inviting Madison on a walk to escape. CW warns Madison about men like him — they seem harmless at first, but suddenly your drink tastes funny, and you’re waking up somewhere unfamiliar.
CW and Madison hit it off as CW showed her several tourist spots and vistas where she could do social media posts. CW, however, voices her disdain for social media and warns Madison that no one cares about her or where she is. That she could disappear tomorrow and no one would notice.
I won’t say more from here because the movie takes some detours. I’ll talk more in a spoiler section below.
The pacing and energy shifts between scenes are impressive.
The performances are all solid, especially Cassandra Naud’s performance as CW.
My major complaint is the abundance of small, seemingly important text on the screen. I could not read it on my bedroom TV. Not all of us are watching on the biggest screen possible!
Since the film is on Shudder, you may anticipate the direction of this movie. Still, the journey is quite fun.
** SPOILERS **
At twenty minutes in, we get the opening credits after CW has abandoned Madison on a remote island to die — a great take on the Psycho structure.
Thematically, the movie explores the self-centeredness inherent to social media — how we can turn any experience into a story where we are the main characters. Madison believes this is her story. Then, it becomes CW’s.
In the first act, we see CW’s scheme from Madison’s perspective. The second act portrays CW tricking another woman from CW’s perspective.
But when Ryan shows up, the power dynamics shift again. The movie continually twists in small but believable ways.
The end feels a tad farfetched, but the film mentioned that Madison was a Girl Scout, so wilderness survival wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. Ryan wanted to turn Madison into a social media influencer, further obscuring her story and reality.
The film serves as a reminder that social media can create a false sense of knowing someone.