Influencer Horror isn’t for everyone. From Deadstream to Super Host and Livestream, the subgenre applies exploitative behaviors to horrifying situations to explore the deterioration of humanity, social trends, and our complicity in brainrot. Writer/director Alexander Watson fits his new film, Demonetize, playing this year’s Panic Fest, snugly into a similar thematic box. The film’s title, a play on both getting a video demonetized and a literal demon, teases what’s to come with the outrageous and surprisingly bloody story. The feature sits in the realm of The Parenting (complementary) with its irreverent humor and silliness.
Aging paranormal investigator Martin (Sean Carrigan) needs a win, and we all love a comeback kid. He wants—no, he needs—to reclaim his golden days and prove he’s still at the top of his game. He gathers together a group of influencers, including obnoxious prankster Paul Cory (Chad Lebaron, known to millions of fans as Cherdleys), Brie (Alice Wen), and Spencer Adams (Juliano Hodges), for a night of ghoulish mayhem. Then, there’s Jane (Janine Hogan, also co-writer of the script), who had traded her influencer career for something more traditional. She, too, looks to step back into the spotlight in a big way. Influencer agent Hunter Zollinger (Doug Jones) believes a stunt like this could be quite lucrative for all involved.
The group must spend the night in a haunted house. Martin believes that ghosts are particularly receptive to influencers (you know, phones), and this is the only way to put a stamp back on the paranormal arena. Of course, he locks them inside for good measure, which turns out to be a deadly mistake. As the night wears on, Paul Cory acts a fool, and Jane considers what it could mean to regain her following. In tandem, ghosts start filleting them one by one in truly gruesome ways. No one will get out alive.
Watson and Hogan craft a deliciously campy blowout that’s not only an essential commentary on influencer culture but humanity’s sick desperation for validation. We all want to be liked, and Demonetize looks closer at what that means in a ghost context. Does validation even matter when you’re dead? Well, the film proposes that it does. Perhaps, it’s one of the last lingering traces of what it means to live. There’s an old saying that goes: you’re only alive as long as the last person who remembers you. If you’re internet famous, there will always be someone somewhere who remembers what you did in this life. Thus, you’re forever immortalized.
Alexander Watson’s Demonetize doesn’t skimp on the gore-core. In fact, it delights in it. Moments of blood-curdling nausea mingle with Paul Cory’s twisted humor, making for a perfect midnight experience. If you’ve ever spent any amount of time online, you’ll see several popular creators mirrored on screen (coughLoganPaulcough), and you’ll both cringe and chuckle. Such is the way with influencer culture. It’s always fun to see the most loathsome people get killed.
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