Web of Lies

I was not familiar with the 2018 Lifetime thriller "Web of Lies" from director Terrence Hayes prior to sitting down to watch it here in 2025. As I virtually never heard about and thus didn't know what I was in for. But truth be told, after reading the movie's synopsis and seeing it was about a social media influencer, then my expectations went from slim to none, as I have absolutely zero interest in social media influencers real or imaginary.

Writers Blaine Chiappetta and Russell Hainline put together a script and storyline that didn't prove particularly entertaining or enjoyable, but then again I do have an aversion towards social media influencers in general. But the narrative was sluggish and without much of anything thrilling.

The character gallery in the movie was bland, and I have to say that I didn't care one bit about the main character, nor what happened to her. It was pretty much a generic character gallery all together.

I was actually not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, but I will say that the acting performances in "Web of Lies" were actually fair.

If you enjoy thrillers, then you're time is better spent elsewhere, because this movie was boring. This is definitely not a movie that will grace my screen a second time.

My rating of director Terrence Hayes's 2018 movie "Web of Lies" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

Terrible. Unreal. Do people really behave like this in a permanent mobile phone bubble? Is this the world we've created, if so I'm glad I'm old. Technology is great but this? Definitely OTT.

An Influencer is a model that works for a company to sell that companies items. Nothing less, nothing more. That's it period. You are a model so why is the word Influencer even being used here? It has become apparent that no one using the title of Influencer knows what it means and now Hollywood is neck deep in the same Balogana.

Influencers do face some creeps out there so it's a pretty current topic for a thriller. Soshana Bush has a few Lifetime thrillers in her resume. She is likeable enough as a influencer who moves back home. Next door is the hot and helpful neighbour who isn't quite what he seems. Spencer Neville is the neighbour. As in all these thrillers there is a concerned sister who thinks he is a creep in sheep's clothing.

The formula is familiar but the execution and cast make it fairly watchable. Also it avoids irritating situations that some Lifetime movies have.

There's a freshness to the staging, the settings and locale that I found appeasing. The actors look pretty -including the male headliner, and all represent the millennial demographic so it seemed quite fresh and easy on the eye to begin with. However there emerged huge sinkholes below the surface - like what seems to be a machine-made screenplay, and stilted dialogue throughout. The plot started to look so transparent I began to wonder about some clever bluff which had me sticking it out to a disappointing vacuous ending. There are so many odd incidental characters (alive and dead) and general story threads not properly developed. Contemporary tech & cultural references, and the relatively high production values keep this lightweight from sinking much further down the rating scale.