Movie Review: Shook (2021)
Synopsis: After one of her friends is murdered, a social media star, Mia, take a break by watching her sister's dog. However, she soon finds herself tormented by someone threatening to kill both her sister and her friends if she doesn't complete a series of challenges.
Who's in it? The movie stars Daisye Tutor, Emily Goss, Nicole Posener, Stephanie Simbari and Octavius J. Johnson.
Review: I decided to spend the extra $6/month to add Shudder to my YouTube TV lineup and, to break it in, looked for a movie to watch with my wife yesterday evening. This one looked interesting, so I decided to check it out. Overall, my opinion of it was a bit mixed.
The movie premise itself actually wasn't terrible (though I wouldn't exactly call it original). The antagonist wanted to punish Mia (Tutor) for focusing her attention on her social media friends and ignoring her dying mother and ailing sister (Goss) by either attempting to complete impossible challenges or choosing who would be the next person to die. I did like this part of the movie, mostly because it gave a much more in-depth picture of the type of person Mia was. Plus, the movie didn't exactly portray her friends as people who really deserved to be saved.
My biggest problem with this movie is the execution wasn't quite there. It started out OK but, once it reveals one of the big secrets involving her friends, starts to grow a bit predictable to the point it wasn't difficult to figure out who was behind everything. Also, while there were a couple tense moments, I didn't think the movie reached a point where I felt the need to be on the edge of my seat (it didn't help that most of the deaths take place off camera).
I was especially not a fan of the ending, which just felt drawn out and inconclusive. I get the point the filmmakers were trying to make in regards to internet celebrities but it felt like they spent too much time trying to drive home a point that had already been made and not enough time figuring out a way to end the film in a memorable fashion. Unfortunately, this film really could have used that memorable ending.
Final Opinion: It's not the worst movie I've seen and there are some tense moments early on. However, the film could have been significantly better if more of an effort was made on the plot rather than the anti-social media message. It was OK but also average.
My Grade: C
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