Clickbait

This is a horror satire film, which clocks in at under 90 mins. The pacing of the film is mostly on spec, but occasionally drags because the Toot Strudels adverts weren't always funny, but they are intelligently woven into each Str33ker's flashes.

This is a world where people vie for popularity over an app called Str33ker, which I guess is a parody of Twitter. And the popularity involves creating very short videos, which they call 'flashes' (or 'Vines' in the old days). Bailey and Emma are a duo - Bailey is the face, and Emma does the filming.

The satire mostly works, with only a few moments where I felt the humour fell flat. The film's budget must have been low because, well, the horror and gore moments are what you'd expect from a student film. However, as a horror satire it works absolutely fine.

The sound is a bit problematic at times... dialogue was sharp, but there were times when the sound was murky when I don't think it meant to be. Did I mention the film is a tad short? With the fairly fast pacing, the script could have added an extra scene or two - not to pad it out, but to extend the satire.

Last but not least, I feel the film title 'Clickabait' doesn't suit the film at all. The Str33kers don't seem to be using clickbait titles and, if anything, it's the Toot Strudel ads that hogs a fair bit of airtime. Nevertheless, I give the film a solid 7. Great performances, satire punches about its weight, and both lead actresses are excellent in their roles, especially Brandi Aguilar.

Silliness about a self-centered, college kid, peripheral, internet "star" who cares only about her viewership and does whatever it takes to increase it. When she goes missing her plain-jane bestie comes to the rescue. Some cartoonish elements are bewildering like the soft sculpture cadavers.

It's not a horrible movie. The film quality is really good, I thought the acting was really good by the 2 lead actresses, Colby Stewart and Brandi Aguilar. They are definitely 2 stars in the making, their on-screen chemistry was really good, and they're both cute. I was not a fan of fake commercials in the movie, I didn't get them? It throws off the plot of the movie and I got lost. So a lot of times the plot gets confusing. And while I will not give away any spoilers, the ending was a bit disappointing too. Like there needed to be more to give closure....so the ending was a bit of let down. All in all, the movie kept my attention, but there were some missing plot holes that I wanted to know the answer to...that we never really get to know the answers to. It's a cute movie though. It's entertaining. Funny at times. I think the 2 young lead actresses make the movie worth watching with their performances, with the otherwise just "okay" script and plot holes. I give it a 6 out of 10 for the reasons I said. It's a good movie to pass the time.

Clickbait is a searing satire of social media narcissism and the lengths people will go to promote their brand. Terrific horror elements mixed in with the comedy make it a fun ride for horror fans. But the true horror is that this may not be that far from the true world we live in today.

Clickbait is a very clever look at fame culture, but in a different light than most similar movies. It's not an indictment of the people caught up in it, but rather the society that forces them to participate in order to be successful. I saw a Q&A where the directors talked about how the whole movie is intended to get the viewer to reflect on their own choices about how they consume on the internet. That's an important message. And Toot Strudels are funny as hell!