Shook

While the concept has been done before, there was reason to hope going into this movie. A movie that promises to stretch out the opening scene of Scream to feature length could be done well, given the right care and feeding (so to speak). After all, Ready or Not was a great movie, but at its core, it was just a new take on The Most Dangerous Game.

Alas, it was not to be.

Shook made me sad.

While there are some nice twists and turns as the plot unfolds, Shook is woefully underwritten. At no point do we feel anything resembling empathy for our main character, her friends are nothing more than by-the-numbers stereotypes, and the pacing is off. I don't know if the director was trying to do a slow burn in some scenes, but if so, she didn't execute well at all.

And to add a little insult to the viewer's injury, there are continuity issues all over the place, the most egregious happening in the opening minutes of the film.

I give it a 4/10 because there's a good movie hiding in here. As I said, there are some nice, effective twists and turns. But underdeveloped characters and bad pacing doom this one to the bargain bin, if those still exist.

I like going into movies not knowing much, and I met up with "Shook" under my false assumption it's a found-footage type movie... I think it was the poster, and the reminiscing of Shudder's "Host". No worries, a modern slasher will do. However, it is one full of flaws and implausibilities, despite all its social commentary and effort in innovation.

Mia is a social media influencer, leading "Makeup by Mia" with enough followers so that all of her friends would be impressed. She skips an evening with her friends, stays home (where most of the movie takes place) and soon becomes the target of an online terror campaign, where she'll have to solve a series of games to prevent people she cares about from getting murdered. Is it real? Who is the killer? What kind of game is this?

An effortfully twisted one, it is. Director and writer Jennifer Harrington has served us a slasher where all of the characters are low-level social media influencers, hungry for attention, willing to sell out morally, confused in their constant chase for fame. Exhibitionism, sensationalism. These technology-dependent guys are an easy prey for the killer that has made their gadgets into his surveillance. Social commentary, often heavy handed, is present throughout "Shook" and seems to be one of the main tasks for director Jennifer Harrington. A horror satire of Instagram lives. For much of the movie, Mia is in the webs of the mysterious killer, the phone calls, the messages, her tools and her life turned against her. Suspense games resulting in very little suspense. "Shook" is an all-around lackluster when it comes to scares, and atmosphere, which is often damaged by simple realisticity issues. One of the most commendable parts of "Shook" is Dayse Tutor's performance as Mia, well emotional and believable, despite the character never truly resoluting in anything, but suffering for her millennial ways. The second half of "Shook" is twist-heavy, and it feels like the movie crumbles after each next one, for they can be underwhelming and/or improbable. The highly typical ending made me sigh without thinking. "Shook" also shows hit&miss stylistical effort, photography can be creative, Mia's thoughts are sometimes shown in cool ways, text messages and videos appearing on surfaces etc., eventually making it aesthetically feel slightly like "all over the place".

"Shook" is a passable flick, in both senses, it passes as a decent low-budget modern-problem slasher that kind of crumbles under its own weight, and also, You can just pass it, skip it, for it is flawed horror which often feels very lackluster, and improbable, especially because of its wanting-to-be-real setting. The chance that you'll be shook, is little. My rating: 4/10.

Interesting movie with an ever so common theme that being online is pointless ever if that's where you make your living from..

Bit boring with the majority of the film being one girl in a house.

Has some pretty good acting and somewhat intense scenes!

The main actress puts so little effort into her performance that you are hoping she is one of those that are murdered! There is not one character that has enough depth for you to actually give a damn about whether they make it or not, don't bother with this as it is a colossal waste of time.