Kurtis David Harder is one of THN’s favourite Canadian filmmakers. A person of many talents, Harder produces, writes and directs, and has had a hand in some of the best Canadian exports in years. He has produced What Keeps You Alive, and Harpoon, wrote and co-directed Summerland, and directed 2019’s Spiral to name just a few of his stand-out projects. Now comes his latest project, on which Harder serves as producer, director and co-writer – Influencer.
Harder’s previous thriller offering, Spiral, was a dark and brooding affair. In contrast, Influencer is a much sunnier and brighter piece, or at least the setting is. Set and shot on location in Thailand, Influencer joins social media star Madison (Emily Tennant), a young woman not having nearly as much fun as her posts to her followers suggest. Instead, she is lonely and fed up. All this changes however, after meeting fellow traveller, CW (Cassandra Naud).
After analysing the dangers of air BnB’s as a producer in Superhost, Harder turns his attention to international travel. If Speak No Evil taught us one thing this year, it’s not to talk to strangers on holiday. Madison has clearly not been forewarned and throws herself into her friendship with CW. After having her passport stolen, she goes one step further by moving in with CW. Madison is throwing caution to the wind, but in doing so opens up opportunity for trouble.
A hard to film to write about for fear of spoiling anything, Influencer’s enjoyment comes from not knowing where it’s going to wind up next. The narrative structure is flexible, shifting from character to character. This presents the opportunity to unbalance the viewer and allow them to discover where the truth of the story may or may not lie. It’s a nifty trick and one that lends itself perfectly to the concepts that Harder is playing with. There is a lot of depth hiding just beneath Influencer’s immaculate surface. The title itself refers to Madison’s profession, but also points to the capability that we all have to influence and persuade those around us. As Influencer progresses, and more characters are introduced, this idea gains more traction and the interplay between those on screen is fascinating to watch unfold.
As glossy as the most refined Netflix thriller show, and as compulsive as any CW network show, Influencer is much more than the social media star in peril that the name might suggest. This type of protagonist has become something of an industry standard; Superhost also placed characters with that profession at the heart of the story. Though that story heavily relied on their determination to be a star, Influencer keeps this aspect on the backburner. It becomes more of a personality trait for characters than their only defining feature. The move is a refreshing one as, given society’s unwavering interest with online ‘celebrities’, there are many more stories still to come. The aspect of the internet that Influencer does focus on is the falseness of it all. Harder demonstrates the ease of distorting the truth online and opens up new ideas around the concept of catfishing.
The perfect companion to Spiral, Harder has created a film that works as day to its predecessor’s night. There is plenty of darkness contained with Influencer, it’s just played lighter. This is a zippy sun-soaked thriller that rewards the viewer with its spellbinding blend of glitz, glamour, and mystery.
Influencer
Summary
Another hit from Kurtis David Harder, Influencer spins conventions on their head. In doing so, Harder crafts a tantalising thriller that would fit in head and shoulders above most similarly pitched offerings on the likes of Netflix.
Influencer was reviewed at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. Influencer arrives on Shudder on 26th May.
