Shook opens with a pair of social media influencers attending an exclusive event that, when viewed as a whole, isn’t what it looks like. One of the girls has an unfortunate accident involving her small dog, while in the restroom, she meets her end at the hands of the “Dog Murderer.” We then jump to Mia, the influencer who didn’t end up cancelled. She has decided to agree to dog sit for her sister while she goes out of town, instead of going to a party with her boyfriend and friends. What follows is a night of being stalked and forced to play a game where lives are at stake.

If this all sounds familiar, you wouldn’t be wrong. Lead who seems more interested in their social media then their responsibility? Check. Creepy house with poor lighting choices? Check. Scary voice taunting our protagonist? Check. While it may not tread new ground overall, this is one of the cases that it does what it does so well that it comes off as comfort food but for horror.

Daisye Tutor as Mia does incredibly well as the lead. She was able to convey hopelessness of the situation but not devolving into the cliched hopeless girl. Another notable member of the cast is Emily Goss as Mia’s sister, Nicole. She took a surprisingly nuanced approach to the character that could have been rather standard and elevated it. The rest of the crew is very middle ground though. Compared to Daisye and Emily, everyone else just seemed mediocre at best. Not awful or downright bad. Just meh.

So far so average. Where Shook really shines though is the writing and editing. The script is tight and pointed. Though some of the commentary about current views of social media including, doing it for the views and making your life look better than it is, comes off as a bit on the nose, it doesn’t take away from the overall film. The dialog feels natural and is funny when it wants to be.

Then there is the editing. The choice of super imposing DMs and texts was a great choice. Yes, it’s been done before but it only helps to make the movie be even better. While the use of split screen is used to the same effect. The scenes are easy to follow and not overly dark which is a problem that a lot of horror movie can’t seem to overcome. One area that seems to faulter is the audio mixing. Though not bad, there were times that dialog would become almost too quiet to hear. The soundtrack and background were consistent and well done though.

Shook surprised me. At first, I thought it was just going to be another slasher flick. But as the run time counted forward, I noticed myself becoming more and more interested in the outcome. Daisye and Emily were an absolute treat to watch while the script and production helped lift the entire movie. Is it perfect? No, not at all. Messaging is a bit on the nose and the supporting cast is just there. It also doesn’t bring anything groundbreakingly new to the table. But that’s okay. Sometimes it’s okay to do something for the Likes.

Content Warning: Horror means different things to different people, but it should be up to the viewer to decide if it crosses a personal line. Shook speaks of dog deaths but doesn’t go into specifics and only shows the end results briefly via pictures and “news reports.”

8 out of 10