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Dog killers, social media influencers, and family matters — Shudder’s new horror movie Shook seems to have all the makings it needs for a unique, eclectic horror movie. Directed by Jennifer Harrington and written by Alesia Glidewell, the 2021 horror movie Shook follows Mia, played by actress Daiyse Tutor, a social media influencer whose life takes a terrifying turn when she agrees to watch her sister’s dog for the weekend. Twists, darkness, and bumps in the night make this movie seem like a great addition to the horror genre, but does it live up to the expectations it sets?
Shook tries to make social commentary on the harmful impacts of being too self-obsessed in a modern society that values looks and social media prowess over everything else. Mia seems to be attacked by an anti-establishment mastermind who doesn’t agree with the choices she’s made in life, mainly the ones when she chooses social media over her friends and family. Still, Mia is not so easily taken down. She fights for her life in this twisted thriller, and as the story unravels, it’s difficult for audience members not to think about their own overuse of social media. At times hard to watch, Shook serves up a unique blend of horror flavor. The movie is at the very least memorable and might just be worth the watch.
Shook Seems To Have It All
In social starlet fashion, Mia is never alone. Her three social media influencer friends and her sister, Nicole, seem to always be around. But when Mia cancels plans for a live-stream with her friends to instead watch her sister’s dog, Chico, her friends aren’t too happy, but they understand why Mia cancels — or so it seems. Mia needs to watch Chico while Nicole is away, especially with a dog killer running ramped in the streets of Nicole’s neighborhood. Mia winds up alone in Nicole’s house with Chico as her only company, ready to spend a weekend by herself — until she gets a call from Nicole’s neighbor Kellen.
Kellen calls Mia from an unknown number and proceeds to torture and steal Chico, revealing he is the notorious dog killer. He then reveals he has Mia’s three closest friends held captive. Forced to make choices between her friends, her sister, and her sister’s dog, Mia becomes helpless and ultimately breaks down as Kellen slowly kills off her friends, or so it seems.
It is later revealed that her three friends plotted the entire terror campaign against Mia. They wanted to get back at Mia for canceling the livestream, a livestream that, due to Mia’s high social media status, would have made their audience grow. Without Mia, the three angry friends set out a plot to livestream Mia’s torture, hopefully gaining an audience in the process. The plot seems to have it all, but an oversaturation of twists and turns, a misconstrued representation of social media, and the overarching cringe of dead-dog imagery might make you turn your nose up at this new horror flick.
The Dangers Of Social Media
About halfway through the movie, the plot seems to wrap-up with a bow, and an ‘it-was-all-a-joke’ resolution comes to a head, but the movie doesn’t stop there. Another antagonist exists on the horizon, but the social statement the movie tries to make misses the mark. Shook tries to make a statement about how distracting social media can be, but realistically, social media is more than selfies and vanity these days.
Mental health accounts that aim to destigmatize mental illness, artists seeking to gain an audience, remaining close to friends, family, and otherwise far away connections — social media is so much more than the vain monster Shook paints it to be. Even worse, the movie seems to almost create a teachable moment for those who abuse social media for the wrong reasons but misses it by making the plot way too complicated.
After Mia finds out her friends were behind the curtain the entire time, she demands they come out from their hiding place and show themselves; but the action doesn’t stop. It turns out the true mastermind behind the entire act was her sister all along, and her intentions were questionable. According to the story, Mia and Nicole’s mom was sick with a horrible, fictional disease. Too popular and self-obsessed to notice, Mia left the responsibilities of taking care of their mom to Nicole. Angry and frustrated, Nicole plots her revenge, which starts as a joke but becomes twisted and more complicated. During a choice in the terrible, twisted game Nicole created, Mia chooses to save one of her friends over Nicole, and Nicole can’t handle it.
Nicole is understandably upset to learn her sister would choose her friend over her own sister, but Mia seems to have made an informed decision. You see, Nicole has the same diagnosis that killed their mom, or at least, that’s what Mia thinks. It turns out, Mia and Nicole’s mom didn’t die from the disease. After Mia discovers the body of her mom wrapped up and preserved in the closet of Nicole’s house, Nicole not only reveals herself as the murderer of her friends, the neighborhood dogs, and her own dog Chico, but she also reveals that she suffocated their mom to death in an attempt to guilt-trip Mia.
There are a few other twists and turns that I won’t reveal here, but ultimately, this movie comes up short at guilt-tripping social media stars. Similar to Joe Keery’s debut horror movie Spree, the ending of this movie pulls the carpet out from underneath any leverage they have over a statement on the dangers of social media with the swift-but-quick knife of an overcomplicated plot.
Hoping to teach Mia a lesson, Nicole’s efforts wind up making her the bad guy. Even if the plot had stopped at the ‘joke-murderer’ plot point, Nicole still would have set up the entire hoax by slaughtering a bunch of innocent dogs. No matter how you spin it, Nicole is the bad guy, and no amount of Mia’s vanity on social media will change that for the audience.
Watch It Or Skip It?
The dog-murdering is probably enough to skip this movie, but if you are unscathed by that kind of thing, the overcomplicated plot should keep you miles away from flipping it on. The movie is confusing at times, hard to believe, and the ending debunks any social commentary the movie was trying to make.
The demonization of social media stars makes this movie feel outdated and written by people who are trying to make a point about the better, simpler times when people didn’t choose Instagram over their dying mothers, but that plot point makes the movie so much harder to watch. That being said, it isn’t all bad. In defense of this movie, the concept is unique and the dog-murdering does add an element of shock to the viewing experience.
Some people might be touched by the sentiments of the movie, and some might really enjoy watching dogs be murdered. Maybe I am too much of an animal advocate, but in the end, it’s absolutely a ‘skip it’ for me.