Mike (Matthew Solomon) is a Youtuber with a love of the macabre in the new found footage horror pic FOLLOWED. His goal is to reach 50,000 subscribers by staying at his most requested haunted location on Halloween night. If I haven’t lost you at “found footage” I’m glad because while this film doesn’t break free from the same shackles that hold back movies of this ilk, it really comes up with some unique approaches that help it rise above others like it.

We are immediately introduced to Mike and his show “Drop the Mike.” where he visits the Pasadena suicide bridge and other locations with his trusty DP Chris (Tim Drier). We next meet high-strung editor Nic (Caitlin Grace) who greets each interruption with a middle finger. While the prospect of staying overnight at the uber-haunted downtown Los Angeles location known as Hotel Lennox, (an uncanny stand-in for the Hotel Cecil) might be daunting, Mike ups the money he pays his crew, convincing sound person Danni (Sam Valentine) to jump into the game.

Mike, Danni, Nic, and Chris check in to the Hotel Lennox to surreptitiously film an episode and the scares start slow. Of course, they do come, as Mike relentlessly chatters to the camera and explores areas of the hotel that three people, much less one person, would be instantly caught for venturing into. Rooftops, basements, stairwells, at one point they even fly a drone into a dangerous part of the basement. (I digress) That is not to mention, of course, that Mike chose room 1428, ( a sly reference to a horror classic) where infamous murder The Night Crawler, killed and dismembered his victims. Then the knocks on their hotel room door begin. Then Nic, who is staying in the room next door to edit, goes from raging workaholic to trembling tear fountain. Then they begin to see a maniac wielding something that is called a hacksaw but sounds like a chainsaw, (weird note) chasing them through dimly lit hallways.

The entire film has a rather novel framing device too. We watch a computer screen as an unseen figure reviews footage from Mike’s Youtube show before uploading the final video and live stream that delivers the finale of the film. I really have to hand it to writer Todd Klick for doing everything imaginable to keep the found footage conceit believable. He isn’t fully successful because there are those moments of exposition that a film needs, that are dubious in terms of the need to keep filming. Adding to that director Antoine Le‘s sharp eye for the internet celebrity aesthetic and his knack for building heavy silences and well-staged, natural action, and you might find yourself giving into the idea.

FOLLOWED isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s a darn good attempt at breathing new life into the found footage sub-genre. Mike is painfully watchable and his cohorts are believable. No, there isn’t too much that we haven’t seen before, but it’s a fun ride in the elevator to the 10th floor.

6 out of 10 stars