Despite his young age, awards-winner filmmaker Kurtis David Harder has made himself a name in the horror genre for being behind the titles Cody Fitz (2011), Incontrol (2017), and Spiral (2019), but he has also been the producer of interesting titles like Still/Born (2017), Fake Blood (2017), Knuckleball (2018), What Keeps You Alive (2018), Harpoon (2019), Z (2019), Superhost (2021), and V/H/S/94 (2021). His latest effort is the horror and mystery thriller Influencer (2022).
The movie tells the story of Madison, a popular social media influencer who is having a lonely and uneventful trip in Thailand despite what she tells her followers on Instagram. While reflecting on her boyfriend canceling the trip, she meets CW, a fearless and enigmatic traveler who offers to take her to some of the most Instagram-worthy locations. Together they share authentic meals and drinks with locals, discussing the differences between Madison’s online presence and CW’s lack of one. But CW’s interest in her takes a darker turn.
Kurtis David Harder is the producer, director, and co-writer of the film with Tesh Guttikonda, awards-winner with the short film Mom vs. Machine (2021), being also the co-writer.
The main cast in Influencer (2022) is formed by Emily Tennant, Cassandra Naud, Sara Canning, Rory J Saper, Paul Spurrier, and Justin Sams.
The movie was part of the line-up at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, Night Visions International Film Festival, Other Worlds Film Festival, and Victoria Independent Film and Video Festival where it achieved pretty positive reactions.
Shudder has achieved the distribution rights for Influencer (2022) and will release it on May 26, 2023. Shudder’s Emily Gotto says, “Influencer (2022) is a thought-provoking and suspenseful exploration of the world of social media, and we are thrilled to share it with Shudder members this spring as part of an already exciting lineup of some of the best in horror filmmaking”.
Watch its official trailer here.
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