Coming up with an original title is something that all movies should strive for, regardless of whether or not it’s self-explanatory or deliberately vague. However, opting for the easiest nomenclature available can often create mass confusion and accusations of laziness, which leads us to the case of The Influencer, The Influencer, Influencer, and Influencer.
Incredibly, the quartet have all been released since the beginning of 2021, and each occupies a fairly different genre for good measure, just to hammer home the problems that arise when anything comes bearing a moniker either similar or identical to that which came before.
Meghan Weinstein’s satirical thriller The Influencer follows a social media star who discovers her home has been broken into by a rogue band of activists, who hack her online empire with plans on stealing her fortune. On the other hand, Louie Ignacio’s sexually-charged The Influencer follows a one-night fling that descends into obsession when promiscuity rears its head.
Then there’s Kurtis David Harder’s Influencer, a horror that sees a social-friendly travel blogger descend into darkness, death, and despair when a backpacking trip goes wrong, and we can’t forget about Peter Marcy’s dramedy Influencer in all of this, which focuses on a wannabee musician and a loan processor end up on hard times with an estranged child caught in the middle.
If you want to watch a film called Influencer, then you’re hardly short of options, but how in the hell are you supposed to find the right one with only a title to go on? Surely there was other options available, and with influencer culture continuing to blight modern society, it’s doubtful they’ll even be the last.