Cam (2018) by Daniel Goldhaber ***Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2018***


Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Year: 2018
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Psychological/Thriller

Plot:
Working as a cam-girl, a young woman determined to raise up the ranks of the website rankings suddenly finds her world turned upside down when she gets locked out of the account and a far more sexually explicit series of shows staring a doppelganger of hers at the center of the exploits.

Review:

This was a rather enjoyable horror/thriller. One of the stronger aspects of this one is the fact that there's a lot of enjoyment to be had within the confines of the webcaming community that's featured here. Constantly trying to get more visitors to her shows and the struggles with the other models on the site as they spend their lives trying to backstab each other and raise their own profiles which goes hand-in-hand with the sudden change into the stolen identity. There's the usual exploits here as they get involved with the various other shows featured, from the nudity and the different sexual antics that's usually brought up here which gives this a decidedly sleazy atmosphere capped off by the stellar finale where it all comes back around. There's a lot to really like here even though it does have it's flaws.


The main issue to be had here is the fact that there's no real explanation for what happens to the account in here. The realistic nature of the film beforehand, showing us how she handles the day-to-day aspects of her life against the gaudy life of the webstreamer is set-up to give this a truly grounded approach that clashes with the result of her account getting hacked. This is a supernatural-based explanation that doesn't actually explain anything anyway, as it never explains how it all happened or why it hasn't happened before which is a complete liability in how the mystery unfolds. The wrap-up never goes into detail about how it happened which really does make for a slightly lowered experience. The rest of the film is rather enjoyable without too many problems.


Overview: ****/5
With a few minor issues that come from the lack of explanations at everything, that's really all that holds this one back as it's overall pretty fun regardless of that aspect. Those that are intrigued by this one or find the kind of psychological imprint featured here should give this one a chance, while those that prefer more hard-edged horror elements should heed caution.

This ran as part of our series of reviews on the 2018 Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.

Comments