Movie review: the Follower

We have another movie review for you! We were asked to review the Follower. And after watching the trailer, we decided that we wanted to see the movie! The Follower is a 2017 horror/ thriller movie directed by Kévin Mendiboure. It's his feature film debut. He directed 4 short horror films before, which featured in lots of horror websites. 

David Baker is a vlogger. He is invited by Carol, an eccentric and lonely woman, to investigate supernatural occurrences in her home. He accepts her invitation and goes over to her house. They talk about the filming and interview: He is allowed to film everything except for her grandmother's room. At first, he sees nothing. But he discovers that things are more complicated. Nothing is what it seems..  

The Follower was made with a very little budget. It was written, directed &edited in four and a half months, including only 12 days of shooting. It was a nominated for “Best International Film,” “Best Thriller” and “Best Editing” at the 2017 FANtastic Horror Film Festival, in San Diego and it got an Official Selection for MACABRE FAIRE FILM FESTIVAL 2018 (NY). Main roles in the movie are for Nicholas Shake (David Baker) and Chloé Dumas (Carol Anderson. 

When I started the movie, I saw a guy talking to the screen. I figured someone was doing some sort of intro since this was a screener. But the movie had already started. It was Nicholas Shake as David Baker preparing for his visit to Carol. I liked that beginning. I was a bit afraid for the 'vlogger' as the main person, but it worked very well in this movie. Nicholas Shake does a great job and portrays a believable character.  A big plus is also the camera work: David uses a decent camera to vlog. This makes the movie nice and easy to watch. In a lot of found footage movie, there's a terrible camera quality with a constantly shaking camera.  It works that David is a vlogger and knows how to handle a camera. 

Things already get a bit strange when David arrives at Carol's place. I noticed her peculiar accent. She's also very weird... At the point where I thought 'Well, this is way too weird. I'm not buying this', she smiles and says "See, I also have a sense of humor." Well timed haha. I have doubt about Chloé as Carol. In some scenes, she's very strong. Other I found less convincing. There's a scene in the Follower where she and David are arguing. When she gives him a small push, that didn't convince me. Nicholas saved the scene with a good response to that en the rest of the fight was better. Her mood change after that was also strong again.  

The overall story line of the Follower is surprising and well thought off. I really enjoyed watching the movie. I was afraid it would be a bit predictable. But the movie succeeded in surprising me. Some details were very predictable (Don't go into my grandmother's room..) but the overall story had way much more to it! Halfway, the Follower already went into another direction than I'd expected so that's a good thing. 

In the details, there are things to improve. Acting could be a bit more subtle in some scenes (also the scene where a friend of David is coming over). And some small parts are very predictable. But the overall story is good and surprising. And it was definitely worth the watch. I love the camerawork and how it's different from a lot of found footage movies. I also like the structure of the story. And the way the suspense is built. So yes, the Follower did stand out for me.