Deadcon (2019)

The horrors and isolation of being a social media influencer run rampant when a collection of YouTube and Instagram stars soon discover there are things scarier than thousands of teenagers armed with phones asking for selfies.

Review

Written by Scotty Landes (Ma) and directed by Caryn Waechter (The Sisterhood of Night), Deadcon is an oddity. It begins like an episode of Black Mirror - in the 80's, with the invention of some sort of rudimentary social network site. One that holds a spirit. Which is cool. It then flashs to the present day, and the film is full of vacuous teenage "influencers" who are lined up to die. It's there that the film falls down.

The premise is solid - if not a "could have been awesome" film - but so much lets it down. The film takes place at a convention for influencers where nobodies from Instagram are treated like celebrities, with hordes of children acting like smitten fans. The influencers are all unlikable douche bags portrayed by the film to be much like the Buzzfeed articles that keep appearing about them. Entitled, whiny, morally bankrupt, social leeches. These are our protagonists. Unlikable protagonists at a repugnant event.

Now, I'm as down as anyone else to line up terrible people just to watch them die, but the chilling truth is that the film makers can't even execute that well.

Could it have been saved by the acting? Well, it could have. But it wasn't. I assume that most of the cast are real life "influencers", because actors, they are not. Just clicking randomly down the cast on IMDB they seem to have been in films with @ symbols in them, or worse, Logan Paul. Of note are the two actors who play Warren, Carl Gilliard (24) and Mark Green (The Good Wife) who are both better than this, and if I have to choose a standout of the main cast, Keith Machekanyanga (Your Honor),

There is no horror to speak of, although the film tries. No gore as such. It isn't scary. The acting is poor for the most part. One to avoid, I think. It's not even so bad it's good, nor is it so bad it's funny.