Follow Me (2020) stars Keegan Allen (best known for his role as Toby in Pretty Little Liars), and Holland Roden (best known for her role as Lydia in Teen Wolf). I knew nothing about the movie before going to see it, I just knew these two were in it and that basically sold me on the idea. Other cast members include; Ronan Rubinstein, Pasha D. Lychnikoff, and Denzel Whitaker – just to name a few.
The premise of the film is pretty simple, Keegan plays Cole Turner (hello Charmed) as a popular and successful vlogger. Always searching for something unique and exciting, his friends set up a once in a lifetime Escape Room that he must solve while the audience watches. At first, everything seems pretty standard until the dangers start looking quite real.
This sounds pretty familiar right? That’s because the writer/director/producer of Follow Me, Will Wernick was also the writer/director/producer for Escape Room in 2017 – not to be confused with the other Escape Room that was only released last year by director Adam Robitel.
So without a doubt, the premise of this film clearly isn’t that original – but like most horror movies, it’s suspenseful and that is what the audience members signed up for. The story, while simple, is enjoyable despite the many plot holes you can throw bricks through, and the tiny annoyances that can present itself even though the duration is only 90 minutes long.
Firstly, a lot of the movie is in Russian – with no subtitles. I can understand why they went with this direction as Cole clearly doesn’t know Russian so we are in the same mindset of him, but there is also a lot of the film where they are speaking russian for only the audience to see and Cole isn’t witnessing the conversation, so maybe that would have been appropriate to add subtitles. Of course with saying that, once the movie is over – there is another clear reason why the audience is left in the dark.
Secondly, consistency doesn’t exist very well in this film. A man can easily break through a steel door but not a plank of wood?
Thirdly, Cole is pretty annoying, but his friends are even worse. OK so maybe that’s not a huge problem with the film but it’s hard to feel sympathy for the characters when you dislike them all.
You must be wondering if the film is worth seeing with how many issues I’m listing, and well the answer is yes! While it’s not the best film in the world, any horror/thriller fan is going to get enjoyment out of it. Plus, Follow Me is easily the definition of ‘sometimes the ending is what makes the film’. So while I desperately want to save you from spoilers, it has to be said. Sometimes you need to sit through some garbage to find gold.
Follow Me is currently out at the cinema, if you can go out and support your local cinemas!
Review written by Sandra Porter
