Review: ‘Shook’ rattles loose our collective desperation to be liked

Social media is perfectly curated life. We know this. And we’re all addicted to the game — constantly chasing likes and validation from strangers on the internet. Influencers epitomize that insatiable hunger to be liked; an entire industry has been constructed around peddling the perfect (read: fake) lifestyle. Jennifer Harrington’s Shook, based on a story by Alesia Glidewell, captures the paranoia, desperation, and mania around the online world through a concept that seems to marry Funny Games and Scream.

The film opens on Mia (Daisye Tutor), a beauty and makeup influencer, walking the red carpet of a posh invite-only event for Sekani Cosmetics. Footage switches between live coverage and glossy social media feeds, depicting the constant hamster-wheel to success and fame. The camera quickly pans out to reveal the exclusive, high-profile affair is actually taking place in some grimy back alley parking lot — immediately drawing the viewer into its exploration of online culture and obsession. Nothing is real, and shiny filters are simply masking deep-rooted pain and insecurities.

Another influencer, adorable dog in hand, quickly exits frame to attend to a stain on her dress. In true Scream fashion, her early on-screen death, at the hands of a so-called “dog killer” stalking the neighborhood, sets up the film’s high-stakes gamble. Later that night, Mia cancels an upcoming live stream with several other influencers and close friends, much to their dissatisfaction. Instead, she posts a heartfelt message to her thousands of followers, which, as another character later describes, was quite “on-brand” for her. Can we even trust Mia? Yes and no.

The night of the proposed live stream, Mia dog-sits her sister Nicole’s (Emily Goss) dog Chico while she’s out in San Francisco attending a clinical trial for an inherited illness called Livingston’s disease. An emotional backstory detailing their late mother’s slow death serves as the prominent backbone to Mia’s arc, allowing Tutor to command every single frame in which she resides. She contends with self-blame for detaching herself from the family, while watching her friends hold the live stream event without her. Harrington, with the help of cinematographer Richard Wong, utilize projections of text messages and videos on the walls to punctuate Mia’s inner struggles; missing out on just one live stream can set an influencer back days, if not weeks. Even more, disturbing physical manifestations of her paranoias sprout around her in the room, and it is such deep human fear that breeds much of the film’s nail-bitting terror.

Shook swiftly devolves into a home invasion-style flick, and Mia must now combat an outside entity that seeks to kill her. And here is where the review must stop, as the film packs on several unexpectedly thrilling twists that really elevate a film that could have sunk right to the bottom. Let’s just say: the trailer does not do this film any justice or favors. It’s way more than a shallow attempt to address the detriments of online culture. In fact, Harrington’s film digs its claws right into the veins, spurting blood, and highlighting how often we, as a society, take life for granted and lose ourselves and identity in trying to please everybody. Exploitation of tragedy and grief also plays a crucial part, particularly as Mia must confront her role in all this. Shook will have you shook.

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