Review: Shudder’s ‘Shook’ is an Innovative but Convoluted Murder Mystery

March 21, 2021

As YouTube and Instagram has shown us over the last few years, it pays to be a social media influencer. The right person posting the right video at the right time has opened the door to achieving low-tier celebrity status, while typically using a follower base to plug some kind of product. Shudder’s original film Shook, directed by Jennifer Harrington, shows us that being a social influencer isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, especially if someone’s trying to expose all your darkest secrets and end your life.

Shook follows Mia (Daisye Tutor), a social media influencer that specializes in plugging makeup to her hundreds of thousands of followers. When another high-praised influencer is murdered at the same event she attends, Mia uses this as an opportunity to gain recognition for her “caring personality” by backing out of a party and watching her sister’s dog while her sister leaves for an important doctor’s appointment. While dog-sitting, Mia starts to receive various red flags on her social media from the creepy guy that lives across the street. After ignoring them, she starts to receive strange calls, with threats that if she doesn’t play a sinister game, her other influencer friends that attended the party will die.

Something I’ve never understood about horror films like this (Saw, Would You Rather), is the decision to make every single person in the film mean-spirited and unlikable, including the lead character. I’m not saying the performances were bad at all, but at no point did I find myself caring about whether Mia saves her friends or herself, because there were no emotional connections established with the audience. The closest we get to really understanding Mia’s character is when the film reveals her response to her mother’s death. Even then, the backstory is choppy, and really offers nothing to connect us with the lead. Her friends that have been involved in this deadly game have even less development and might as well be nameless mannequins. The only emotional connection I got was from Emily Goss, who played Mia’s sister Nicole, and is suffering with the same heretic illness their mother had.

The strength in Shook lies within the storytelling and the technical execution of the film. Where I wasn’t really invested in the characters themselves, the film quickly turns into a whodunnit of sorts, and keeps the audience bouncing from character to character, trying to solve the mystery. There were a few moments where I really appreciated the twists and turns the film was making, but unfortunately almost just as many moments where I thought it was getting too complicated.

I was extremely impressed with the layout of the scenes. For many years now, when text messages are sent in a film, a small pop-up appears on the screen to show the audience the conversation. In Shook, a lot of the moments that involved videos, livestreams, texts, etc. were displayed as part of the set, appearing on the walls, floors, or ceilings, while still keeping Mia front and center. It was a truly innovative idea that I don’t think I’ve seen elsewhere. There were other scenes that jumped to the point-of-view of people that were communicating with or live-viewing Mia. Although it sounds like it could be distracting, I enjoyed it a lot. Major kudos for that decision.

I thought the reveal was good, but maybe given away a little too soon. After the reveal, something changes in the film, and moments of intensity are replaced with silliness, although the theme of the film doesn’t really change. It’s extremely strange and didn’t bode well for a complicated ending that never gives the audience the closure the film has built up over its 88-minute runtime.

I was extremely mixed on Shook. There were technical aspects of the film I thought pulled it across the finish line, but overall, I couldn’t cheer for or relate with any of the characters, and it felt unnecessarily convoluted. I’m not in the business of telling people not to watch films, so I still recommend you check it out and make the decision yourself.

Shook is streaming exclusively on Shudder in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as via the Shudder offering within the AMC+ bundle where available.