I didn't expect much from this movie, but I was satisfyingly surprised. Not "pleasantly" surprised, of course, it's a horror story. The plot is straightforward: Leah takes employment as a webcam girl, teasing and stripping for online viewers. The world is full of nuts, and some of them are technologically savvy. One finds Leah. It's downhill from there.
The strength of this film comes from a great script, powerful acting, and engaging directorial choices. The result is an ever-increasing feeling of foreboding that stays 100 percent real-world believable, never flying off into the absurdity of Friday the 13th part 92. Initially, the use of two parallel viewpoints was mildly annoying, but as the situation quickly clarified, this approach created a fascinating insight into the characters and added to the overall sense of worry.
I loathe rap. And yet, as much as I hate to admit it, in this film the soundtrack added an appropriate sleaziness to the ambiance.
It's hard to believe the two leads have such limited resumes. A film like this could never win an Oscar, but the acting was as good as it gets: actress Jennifer Mae leaves each of Leah's fans no doubt that he's her favorite, even as we share her fear about the well-being of her lover. And Kristian Hanson's portrayal of Hal is truly disturbing; only politicians rival this character's ability to rationalize lunacy. In a webcam film, with stage names like Jennifer Mae and Victoria Fox, I expected the actresses came from porn, but no. ("Not that there's anything wrong with that.") And while their relationship and the webcam productions are shown in credibly adult ways, there's nothing even vaguely porn-like about this mainstream movie. It's not "provocative", just strong enough that you forget it's fiction.
If you're tired of slasher films and silly spoofs, take a stab at this reality.
