Horror’s love affair with the internet started back when the producers of The Blair Witch Project leveraged a burgeoning online culture to build a viral marketing campaign around the low-budget film. Over two decades later, horror is now turning its attention to the potential terrors that await those met with massive online success. I give you the rise of the new genre of “influencer horror.”
Last year saw the release of three films I’d like to focus on: Deadstream, Sissy, and the aptly titled Influencer. Much like The Blair Witch Project, Deadstream is a found footage film, but this time instead of watching an ill-fated documentary, we are following a Mr. Beast-style livestreamer looking to resurrect his online career by spending the night in a haunted house.
One aspect of influencer horror that Deadstream helps establish is exposing the main character to potential risk. Key to much of good horror is justifying why our characters don’t simply leave. Few things are quite as immersion-breaking as realizing your protagonists are only proceeding further into danger simply because the script says so.
In Deadstream, our livestreamer has built his online following around recording himself performing outrageous and often dangerous stunts. One of those recent stunts ended tragically, and now our main character faces being “canceled” unless he can pull off his biggest stunt yet.
While Influencer doesn’t take place inside a haunted house, it also highlights how internet celebrity can force characters into inescapable danger. The film begins with influencer Madison traveling alone in an exotic resort and constantly posting her every move online for her scores of followers.
Madison’s opulent lifestyle is enviable and highly public. This makes her an easy target. Misery is the classic example of the sort of danger that comes with celebrity. Influencer updates that same sense of jeopardy for the internet age.
This theme was also touched on in the 2022 quarantine home-invasion flick Sick. Our main characters, isolating while on college break during the early days of the pandemic, wonder how their stalkers traced them to a remote lake house. They quickly realize they’ve posted everything about their trip to Instagram.
In Influencer, Madison and other social media celebs are stalked by a killer looking to steal their online personas in order to capitalize on the wealth and luxury that comes with said lifestyle. Much like Deadstream, our influencers are led astray by the personas they adopt online.
Sissy also features a protagonist whose reputation as an influencer serves to delude her from her true nature.
Sissy’s main character, Cecilia, is an online mental health and wellness advocate, but much like Deadstream’s protagonist, she is running from a dark moment in her past. If found out, she risks losing her online fame. As she is pulled into a group trip with some estranged childhood friends, the grisly result is Cecilia doing whatever it takes to make sure her past remains a secret.
Horror has a rich history of desperate characters doing whatever it takes — even sacrificing their true self — to hang on to the lifestyle they know. With the emergence of influencer horror, that desperation is more public than ever. As a result, our characters have nowhere to hide. Because some people will give up everything just to be followed.
