Like & Subscribe to Terror Films' New Influencer Horror Movie "SAPIEN"
The modern horror movie tends to utilize a lot of the same troupes that horror fans have flocked to the movie theaters for decades. They want to be scared, they want the occasional bloody mess (maybe a decapitation or two), and want to walk out with fond memories of the incredibly morbid moviegoing experience that they can’t wait to tell their friends about. The formula for this works, so why change it? We live in a world where it is rare to have an original storyline that will stand out among the millions of horror movie stories that have been told before it. On occasion, we will get gems that will redefine the genre itself and pave the way for the many horror movies ahead of it, so utilizing the foundation that a good horror movie has used in the past is usually a safe bet. There is always a risk when it comes to making any movie, especially horror. You also want to be current and with the times. One of the biggest things that is constant in our lives and the world that we live in is social media “influencers” and the impact that they have on the entertainment we watch. In the last few years, we have seen this bleed (no pun intended) into horror movies more and more. The question we all ask is if this approach is as successful as the careers these people have online.
Recently we here at Macabre Daily pulled up our social media pages, liked some posts, and prepared to watch the new Terror Films Releasing horror movie “SAPIEN”. TFR has recently teamed up with writer/director Jay Nuzman to release his influencer horror comedy for a new chapter in the horror genre filmography. This movie stars Madison Pine in the lead role and the synopsis for this movie is as follows:
“Abby Soulseeker (portrayed by Madison Pine) is a popular influencer as she documents her solo traveling journey for her fans after a sudden breakup. At first, the world seems like a new incredible place to explore, but she quickly realizes she has crossed the threshold of evil, where a demon-haunted world awaits, bend on her destruction.”
Focusing on the thing that stands out the most in this movie is the stunning cinematography that writer/director Jay Nuzman uses to demand your attention There are a lot of fantastically shot moments in this film that utilize an artistically gratifying approach with the establishing shots, close-up shots of our main character for her live streams, and also the dreadful fog-like haze that filters this movie as the intensity of the madness starts to unfold in front of us. There are a lot of great moments where you are shifting between Abby’s social media persona and the veil that gets lifted when the real world starts to invade the perfect world that she has created. Real life forces its way into her narrative with every crazy moment that she experiences throughout the entire movie. It is greatly done with ease and flawlessly executed with the transitions from each scene by Nuzman not skipping a beat on the true focal points of Abby’s dwindling sanity.
There are a lot of shots in this movie that make you feel like you are watching performance art onstage. It reminds you a lot of those amazing things that are put in front of you on screen while you watch this movie unfold. There are a lot of vibrant color schemes, and great transitional scenes from real life to the influencer live streams or videos the main character performs. There are a lot of gritty moments in this movie where the way it is filtered with the cinematography gives you a bit of an alert that something wicked may be on its way. Most movies don’t have that element of being very visually stunning with how the movie is filmed, but this movie very much does, and it is appreciated by anyone who gets a chance to watch it.
While a film is visually stunning, it doesn’t excuse the sacrifice of a good storyline or dialogue that makes sense. The story in this movie is hard to follow and makes you wonder if the main character isn’t going insane, but you might be. There are certain lines in this movie like calling being homeless “Housing Challenged”, or people who are doing well with their life “Privileged Automatons”, or someone who is married as “living with their arrangements”.
One of the biggest issues with the story of this movie is it is all over the place. One minute it is the story of an influencer possibly taking on a new chapter with the love of her life, then it is a story of being a “solo traveler” while not admitting they are homeless, then to an addiction storyline, then to a human trafficking storyline, and finally to a mental breakdown/murder plot. It is hard to know exactly what is going on with the main character. She seems to drag every one of her followers on this solo journey to gain sympathy rather than entertain (which unfortunately is the case with most influencers online).
Telling your story and sharing it with people is a great privilege that we all have in this age of social media. It is commendable to be raw, put yourself out there, and maybe connect with someone who is going through the same thing. With this movie, it paints the picture of the main character as a very unlikable, irritating, and also irresponsible person who blames others for her troubles. If the goal was to make the character this way and make you feel that her story was an insane hopscotch of terrible circumstances while throwing in some hip verbiage/terms on how people live their lives, then they nailed it. This movie makes you feel like you’re drowning in a jumble of mini subplots, trendy topics, and a wee bit of scary moments that seem to be over before they are explained. If one were to give an example of how this movie was, it would be like “Jakob’s Ladder” if Logan Paul starred in it and it was more about his social media career instead of an allegory for war.
With all that said, this movie may have something for someone out there to find some form of enjoyment. There are some pretty cool bloody moments when it comes to the death scenes, but you will wish that they were longer and more explained. This movie is a great reflection on the horror that comes with a world driven by the impact of influencers in the genre. Much like social media, there are some hits and misses. This movie certainly has some hits and misses, but when it comes to horror it is all subjective and has a way of finding its crowd. Surely this movie has a crowd out there for it.
‘SAPIEN’ from Terror Films Releasing will roll out across multiple platforms on August 30th including Watch Movies Now, PlayNow Media, UDU TV, Kings of Horror, and many more! For more in-depth reviews of all the fandom horror, stay tuned to Macabre Daily.
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