Followed is a 2018 American supernatural horror film written by Todd Klick and directed by Antoine Le, in his feature directorial debut. The film is told almost entirely through a single screencast, in which a sequence of vlogs being watched on a website chronicle the events of the plot. It stars Matthew Solomon as DropTheMike, a controversial vlogger and social media celebrity, who is haunted by strange forces when he takes his weekly vlog to a reputedly cursed hotel in order to gain more subscribers. It stars John Savage, Sam Valentine, Tim Drier, Caitlin Grace and Kelsey Griswold, and is produced by Viscape Arts in association with Branded Pictures Entertainment. The film had its world premiere at Burbank International Film Festival on September 7, 2018, where it won the award for Best Horror/Thriller Feature Film. It was released in select theaters and drive-ins in the United States on June 19, 2020.
Plot
A controversial vlogger, DropTheMike, goes missing and whose last vlogs chronicle his stay at the Hotel Lennox, a reputedly haunted hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Before his stay, Mike recruits three of his friends, Chris, Danni, and Nic, to help him document a Halloween-special vlog at the Hotel Lennox. After a visit with Wallace Fleischer, an author on the subject, the four drive to the hotel where they attempt to stay for three nights. Mine shows his subscribers where some historically famous deaths took place, and reveals that they will stay in the same room that 1980s serial killer, David Olmos lived while committing his murders. Mike also unsuccessfully attempts to break into the hotel basement where just three years earlier Canadian tourist, Meghan Kim's body was found dehydrated and burnt in the hotel's heating system. There they meet a security guard who is a fan of Mike's, and promises to steal the basement key from the manager so that Mike can vlog in the boiler room. Mike researches and plays "the Elevator Game," an urban legend that if one enters an elevator alone and goes to different floors in a specific sequence, they can communicate with, or even find themselves in, another dimension. Mike plays the game alone and encounters what seems to be Kim's ghost. Unsure if the encounter was really a ghost or a joke, Mike returns to the hotel room where he shows Danni and Chris the footage. As the friends debate the authenticity of the sighting, a phantom stranger bangs on their doors immediately followed by Mike getting a video chat call from his fiancée Jess, telling him she's pregnant. After a brief celebration of the news, the crew hear what sounds like fingernails digging into the wall from next door, where Nic has been secluding herself to edit the vlogs. Chris investigates, finding Nic in a disturbed, self-harmful state. Nic tells him to leave her alone and when he returns to Danni and Mike, the team are haunted by a succession of increasingly hostile entities. Chris, Danni, and Nic leave the hotel one-by-one as their lives become increasingly in danger and by the third day, Mike is left alone at the hotel while still holding onto the hope of finishing the series to procure a high subscriber count. The security guard provides him the key to the basement and in a live recording, Mike descends to the lowest level of the hotel where he finds a laptop watching his live broadcast in real-time. Mike is pursued by what seem like ghosts in the basement and escapes through the lobby. In one more live broadcast recorded a few days after his stay at the Lennox, Mike announces he will take a sabbatical from filming the vlog to pursue filming a documentary on the homelessness issues in Los Angeles. Mid-apology the lights shut off and Mike hears a banging on the door. The entities that pursued him in the basement appear at the door, holding a severed head in hand. The live feed is cut short. A teen vlogger who goes by the handle TerribleTyler crosses police tape into Mike's house, promising his subscribers information on what happened to DropTheMike. A user subscribes to the channel and types in the comment section: "Can't wait to meet you, Tyler :)" with the handle TheRealDropTheMike.
Producers, Antoine Le, Todd Klick, Matthew Ryan Brewbaker and Greg Berlant developed the story together basing Followed's fictional Lennox Hotel on the Cecil Hotel, famous for its many instances of death and violence, including the death of Elisa Lam, as well as murders by serial killersJack Unterweger and Richard Ramirez. The producers were also inspired by Creepypasta, and based the main character, DropTheMike, on famous vloggers such as Logan Paul and PewDiePie, who seemingly use controversy to attract subscribers to their platforms.
Casting
In order to accurately depict realistic personalities, the producers auditioned and cast Matthew Solomon as DropTheMike, Caitlin Grace as Nic and Tim Drier as Chris before the script was written. Once these roles were cast, writer, Todd Klick, then used the actors' specific mannerisms and approach to the characters as a guideline for his script.
Filming
Followed was filmed in 12 days on a 144-page script. Two separate hotel locations were used to depict the Hotel Lennox: the Hayward Manor Apartments in Downtown Los Angeles, and the Hotel Normandie in Koreatown, Los Angeles. Locations also included Skid Row where homelessness was used as both a literal and thematic backdrop for the story.
Release
Followed had its world premiere on September 7, 2018 at the 2018 Burbank International Film Festival in Burbank, California. It was subsequently selected into the 2018 Hollywood Independent Filmmaker Awards and 2018 Sydney Indie Film Festival where it won Best Horror/Thriller Feature Film at both festivals. It was acquired by Global View Entertainment and its US-nationwide drive-in theater release is June 19, 2020.
Reception
Box office
Followed grossed $152,825 from 44 theaters in its opening weekend, finishing first among reported films. It finished in second the following weekend with $77,609.
Critical response
Reviews from initial critics were overall positive, praising the film for its social commentary on Millennials and social media as well as its unique take on the genre. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 76% based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10.
