The world is beginning to open up a lot more following three years of living in a pandemic-addled world, and movie studios are ready to make you scared of travelling the world again.
Horror-specific streamer Shudder has acquired the distribution rights to a travel-themed thriller called Influencer, which sees a young woman (Emily Tennant) travel through Thailand. After her boyfriend canceled his part of the trip, she befriends a charismatic backpacker (Cassandra Naud) who shows her around like an ultimate tour guide.
Unfortunately, there might be a few skeletons in her newfound friend’s closet as they venture into the unknown off the coast. The film looks as though it’ll be a satire of influencer culture, as well as the tropes of Western travelers going through Southeast Asia.
There was a similarly-themed slasher in 2022 which more overtly parodies influencers in the Australian flick Sissy. While Influencer will likely poke fun at backpackers, it probably won’t be on the same level of sheer goriness and violence of Sissy, well, as far as we know.
The film is directed by Kurtis David Harder, who directed a segment of V/H/S/94 and several well-reviewed horror films from under the radar.
Influencer has already seen a limited theatrical release, with critics giving glowing reviews for this indie horror flick. Sitting at a strong 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences will be able to stream it from Shudder very soon. The Deadline report stipulates a northern hemisphere Spring release, so get ready for bloody backpacking fun.
