the-thinning
via YouTube

An amateurishly inept dystopian dud that still got a sequel fails a life-or-death aptitude test on streaming

It was already relevant long before it had even been released.

It might sound like a fever dream, but Logan Paul really did headline a dystopian sci-fi thriller made exclusively for YouTube that ended up getting a sequel, even if the mere existence of The Thinning may come as a shock to many, never mind the fact second installment New World Order is a thing that was made and released… eventually.

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Arriving way too late too capitalize on the craze kick-started at the turn of the millennium, it wouldn’t be unfair to suggest that audiences had grown more than a little weary about seeing a boy and a girl fall in love in a cold, emotionless futuristic setting where society is split into two distinct camps by a plot-driving MacGuffin, never mind one that you could only watch by giving in and agreeing to fork out the extra cash to make those infuriating YouTube ads disappear.

the-thinning
via YouTube

In this instance, Paul and Peyton List headlined the cast in a world where population control is mandated by a high school aptitude test. If you fail, you die. Naturally, our two star-crossed protagonists end up escaping from their chosen fate to unravel a conspiracy that stretches all the way to the top, but you probably don’t even have to go anywhere near The Thinning to figure out the plot.

While the follow-up was shot in late 2017, it was put on hold for nearly a year due to Paul’s controversies in the Aokigahara forest, before it was ultimately sent out with a whimper. Despite being completely and utterly forgotten by almost everyone, though, The Thinning has mounted a remarkable comeback on streaming.

Per FlixPatrol, the eminently uninteresting sci-fi tale has ended up as one of the 10 most-watched features among iTunes customers in the United States, so don’t be alarmed if the sequel is next to emerge from the ether of irrelevancy.


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