Douglas High grad films social media thriller

Social media and live streaming are popular for showcasing events, businesses, trends, hobbies and adventures for views, likes and fame. But what if someone used your streams to stalk and dictate your fate through their own live stream and for their own gain?

The movie “Follower” written and produced by 2014 Douglas High School graduate James Rich and his colleague Zachary Hersh captures that exact eerie concept.

Filmed in Northern Nevada and parts of California, “Follower” is about a group of friends who embark on a hiking trip to the woods to celebrate their forthcoming futures. As they make their way up the trail, they begin to fear they are being followed by someone who has been tracking their every move and uploading videos to an online forum where other followers can dictate their fate.

Rich said the story was loosely developed based on actual events and people that create a narrative with added levels of ironic realism. For instance, the killer of the film has characteristics from the Isla Vista attacks that occurred in 2014 and events that depicted along a trail in Nevada August of 2018.

“It is not retelling of any specific incident or person, we just built our villain around certain aspects of those characterizations,” said Rich. “It’s a similar technique to what is used in many horror films such as “The Strangers,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” and the television show “Fargo.”

The film explores modern voyeurism in the social media realm and how both antagonists and protagonists are attempting to find fame or infamy online.

“Our antagonist in the film was inspired by certain online subcultures that exist and we were trying to bridge the gap between modern horror realism and the classic slasher film structure. The Isla Vista killer, as well as several other perpetrators of attacks in the past decade, have had connections to online groups, and so we built our villain and mythology around that idea. “

Rich said this type of story was chosen because he has always been a fan of classical slasher films such as “Friday the 13th” and “Halloween” and he wanted to try and update the genre for modern times.

“It is a very visceral genre,” he said. “When watching a horror film with a group or with someone else you can watch the film working on the audience, whether they’re scared or excited or just anxious. I also really enjoy the process of making a horror film, as it’s usually a fun and creative process to figure out how to do believable effects convincingly and maximize the scare value of a scene.”

The film was shot within 10 days in August 2020. Rich said because of the closures caused by the Coronavirus and not so many people out, gave his characters a truer sense of isolation and the unknown.

“I grew up embarking the trails in Nevada and surrounding areas like Topaz Lake and Bridgeport, which is where we filmed a lot of the scenes, so I knew my surroundings, but not everyone else on our team did and it really added to their fear and captured a truer feel to how they were feeling about being followed,” said Rich. “And, the fact that really no one, but us were on those trials, really added to the feeling of alone and stranded.”

One reviewer on the film’s information site said if you are into true crime, this is a film worth watching.

“It reminded me a lot of the Gaby Petito, Crystal Turner and Kylen Schulte disappearance (and) murder cases,” said the review. “The making of the real-life Instagram and social media accounts is really interesting and I think a lot of movies will start doing that in the near future, to be honest.”

Starring Gigi James, Revel Carpenter, Molly Leach and Chris Scarciotta, “Follower” was released in March distributed by Freestyle Digital Media and produced by Smallertown Productions.

It can now be viewed through the streaming platforms; Itunes, Apple TV, Amazon, Spectrum on Demand, Vudo, XBOX, Hoopla, YouTubeMovies and Google Play. For a direct link to each of the streaming devices visit https://linktr.ee/followerfilm For a description and more information about the film visit https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7428374/