Directed by Jennifer Harrington
Written by Jennifer Harrington and Alesia Glidewell
Starring Daisye Tutor, Emily Goss, Nicola Posener, Grant Rosenmeyer
Unrated – violence, language, doggies in peril
1 hour 29 minutes
Streaming on Shudder starting Feb. 18

by Audrey Callerstrom, Staff Writer

Shudder, like most streaming services, is starting to drift more toward producing original films than showcasing old ones. Browse Netflix right now for a movie you’ve heard of and are curious about and you might come up dry. Netflix will bump up its original content so it’s what you’ll see first. I’ve reviewed a number of Shudder original films, most of which I enjoyed. Impetigore, an Indonesian film about a mysterious village with no children, stands out as the most memorable and disturbing. La Llorona did some interesting things with the myth of the film’s title, and is nominated for a Golden Globe. Hunted was stylish, but flawed in its focus.

Now we have Shook, a Shudder original about a Los Angeles social media influencer named Mia (Daisye Tudor), who is stalked and tormented by Someone on the Phone as she dogsits for her older sister, Nicole (Emily Goss). Shook is an utter misfire, uninterested in its own characters and setting and almost childish in its messaging. I guess Mia and friends Jade (Stephanie Simbari), Lani (Nicola Posener), and boyfriend Santi (Octavius J. Johnson) are all L.A.-based “influencers” of one type or another. Mia is a makeup influencer, in theory. The opening sequence finds her and other influencers in a photo shoot at what looks like a red carpet event but is actually a backdrop and lights staged near an alley. One of the influencers, after her dog is kidnapped, is killed with a stiletto to the face.

I make this sound more fun than it actually is. Nothing is ever intended to be funny. Not even a Doggy Reaction Shot, including a shot of a puggle named Chico standing in a doorway. The plot is unnecessarily convoluted – someone is killing dogs in Los Angeles, and no, this isn’t the beginning of an L.A. noir-mystery like Under the Silver Lake. It’s an unnecessary plot point that it revealed later on in a lazy “here are my motives” monologue. Tasked with watching Chico while Nicole undergoes treatment for Livingston’s Disease, which also killed their mother, Chico goes missing and Mia starts getting tormented over calls and texts from an unknown number. Soon all her friends are involved, and the tormenter is pitting her against them, making her choose which ones live, and preying on her insecurities. Nicole’s clear resentment toward Mia for not being there during the end of their mom’s life, which Nicole explains in an exposition-heavy phone call, is something you will bet comes up later in the film.

The narrative of L.A.-based influencers, who are starved for followers and exposure, is not only vapid but completely lost here. This was done better in 2017’s Ingrid Goes West. At no time does Mia every act or look like what I would consider to be an “influencer.” Mia dresses modestly, in black jeans, a lilac-wrap shirt, white tank top, and non-descript necklace. At face value, I would guess she taught middle school, and wasn’t someone with a popular social media account. Actress Daisye Tudor isn’t up to task in this role. As a final girl, it’s hard to root for someone who can never convince us that she is truly scared, and not just sad.

At no time does the voice on the other line sound ever sound remotely threatening. It sounds like someone calling you about your car’s extended warranty. Is it the neighbor Kellan (Grant Rosenmeyer)? Is it someone using a voice disguiser? Does it matter? I got confused and lost interest. I suspect, but cannot confirm, that Shook was shot during the pandemic, given that people are rarely in the same frame together, and that most revelations happen over text message, phone call, or by way of recorded video. It doesn’t make a difference – the whole film is already so uneven and ill-conceived. Is it a mystery about murdered dogs? A commentary on social media? A portrayal of degenerative disease and what it does on the mind and body (which was done better in Relic anyway)? Shook struggles to pick a lane.

There is one thing this film does well, and it owes nothing to the actors or script. With the omnipresence of text messaging, we’re left shots of people’s phones and their reactions (including, in the case of this film, made-up social media platforms that are supposed to look like Instagram but, for legal reasons, aren’t). Here, when Mia is using her phone, images of the texts, videos, or photos are often displayed on the wall behind her. It opens up the frame really nicely. It’s a clever tool in an otherwise unclever film. Like many unclever films, Shook decides to end mid-shot, abruptly, like it suddenly ran out of energy and ideas.