MicroReview: Selfie from Hell (2018)

After her cousin comes to visit and falls ill, a woman starts to receive strange cell phone messages.

Review

Written and directed by Erdal Ceylan (feature debut), Selfie from Hell is based loosely on a short of the same name (as featured here a couple of years back on For the Love of Shorts). It's obviously riding the idea Lights Out had, and trying to capitalize on a great idea from a great short. Sadly, it doesn't work anywhere near as well.

All involved are trying. The story holds together well enough, even if it is a slightly bonkers premise about the dark web, looking at thirteen selfies, and supernatural beings. The talent both on and off screen do a pretty good job. The two protagonists come from Alyson Walker (Burning Kiss) and Tony Giroux (Cadence) neither of whom have a slew of experience, but do the movie proud.

The film faces several problems - the largest of which is that the story isn't fleshed out. It's under explained, and even bland. But with a run time of only 73 minutes, what can you expect? The film is woefully low budget too, with, possibly, a director that didn't know how to handle that.

It's not unwatchable by any means, but certainly not great.