This review contains spoilers.
I saw the low ratings for this movie but decided to watch it all the same. Why? Three reasons: I live in Los Angeles and always love recognizing movie locations, it is a found-footage movie which I generally like, and finally, it was only 90 minutes long.
I think, by going in with low expectations, this movie was not bad at all. There are English three women ("Sophie," "Jessica," and "Lisa") visiting California. Sophie is a travel vlogger. All three look about 25 - 30 but act like teens and the dialog is pretty silly. In my mid-30s, I regularly went on wonderful road trips with two male friends and freely admit that our conversations were just as silly, or worse!
The girls meet two guys near the iconic "Hollywood" sign and bring them back to their rental place to hook up. I would consider this risky, but again, plenty of people do it.
The Lisa character notices that her phone is missing. Where did she leave it? Maybe someone took it? Also, someone is leaving them strange, hand-written notes. Well, the theft suspicion is confirmed when they later start receiving incredibly obscure texts (meaningless combinations of numbers and peculiar riddles) from Lisa's phone.
They attempt to drive up to San Francisco but end up in a non-descript motel in the middle of the desert. It becomes apparent they are being stalked when they find a fresh note at the motel. An obnoxious man they meet there becomes the primary suspect... and they are murdered that same evening by a man wearing a spooky mask (a la Texas Chainsaw Massacre.)
The movie then ends with this message: "#JusticeForSophie ... The FBI believes the killer could be one of Sophie's two million subscribers."
I did not like this ending since there was no reveal. Who was the killer? What was his motive? He wore a mask and we don't know. But there again, even if he had removed the mask, it wouldn't satisfy us since the only men the women met were seemingly harmless (with the exception of the obnoxious guy at the motel.)
While watching this movie, I did notice two clues, if I might call them that. The first was when the women were leaving LAX (the airport.) Some guy walking the other way bumped into Lisa very hard, causing her to react angrily. It had the appearance of him taking something from her. Possibly her phone? It makes sense, and I think this might have been placed in the script as a clue, but was never fleshed out. The other thing was when the TV news was broadcasting a piece about the "Cryptic Killer" who was still at large after murdering many women. The numbers and riddles coming from Lisa's phone were cryptic enough... so the Cryptic Killer was behind this? But here again, it was never fleshed out. We have no idea who the killer was, or what his reasonings were.
I don't think this movie was terrible, but I would not watch it again. Also, I don't think I would recommend it. It's watchable, and it shows a lot of locations in and around Los Angeles.
I saw the low ratings for this movie but decided to watch it all the same. Why? Three reasons: I live in Los Angeles and always love recognizing movie locations, it is a found-footage movie which I generally like, and finally, it was only 90 minutes long.
I think, by going in with low expectations, this movie was not bad at all. There are English three women ("Sophie," "Jessica," and "Lisa") visiting California. Sophie is a travel vlogger. All three look about 25 - 30 but act like teens and the dialog is pretty silly. In my mid-30s, I regularly went on wonderful road trips with two male friends and freely admit that our conversations were just as silly, or worse!
The girls meet two guys near the iconic "Hollywood" sign and bring them back to their rental place to hook up. I would consider this risky, but again, plenty of people do it.
The Lisa character notices that her phone is missing. Where did she leave it? Maybe someone took it? Also, someone is leaving them strange, hand-written notes. Well, the theft suspicion is confirmed when they later start receiving incredibly obscure texts (meaningless combinations of numbers and peculiar riddles) from Lisa's phone.
They attempt to drive up to San Francisco but end up in a non-descript motel in the middle of the desert. It becomes apparent they are being stalked when they find a fresh note at the motel. An obnoxious man they meet there becomes the primary suspect... and they are murdered that same evening by a man wearing a spooky mask (a la Texas Chainsaw Massacre.)
The movie then ends with this message: "#JusticeForSophie ... The FBI believes the killer could be one of Sophie's two million subscribers."
I did not like this ending since there was no reveal. Who was the killer? What was his motive? He wore a mask and we don't know. But there again, even if he had removed the mask, it wouldn't satisfy us since the only men the women met were seemingly harmless (with the exception of the obnoxious guy at the motel.)
While watching this movie, I did notice two clues, if I might call them that. The first was when the women were leaving LAX (the airport.) Some guy walking the other way bumped into Lisa very hard, causing her to react angrily. It had the appearance of him taking something from her. Possibly her phone? It makes sense, and I think this might have been placed in the script as a clue, but was never fleshed out. The other thing was when the TV news was broadcasting a piece about the "Cryptic Killer" who was still at large after murdering many women. The numbers and riddles coming from Lisa's phone were cryptic enough... so the Cryptic Killer was behind this? But here again, it was never fleshed out. We have no idea who the killer was, or what his reasonings were.
I don't think this movie was terrible, but I would not watch it again. Also, I don't think I would recommend it. It's watchable, and it shows a lot of locations in and around Los Angeles.