Influencer culture and Vloggers are having their moment in found footage, that’s for sure. I have mentioned before how found footage movies seem to have cycles that reflect what’s happening in the culture. Vloggers and Influencers seem like a really good “in” for found footage because these are folks who are always streaming and filming, taking away the excuse as to WHY they are filming, an old issue that’s always plagued the subgenre. The trouble with using these folks though is that, let’s be honest, most of them are insufferable. It’s hard to root for folks who are portrayed as egotistical as the characters we’re often given. Which isn’t to say that these movie reflect the reality of the culture, but an aspect of them, blown up to fit the widescreen.
DON’T PEEK drops the viewer into the lives of the Winters, a young couple who have a streaming channel and who seem to make lifestyle content. After they purchase a house from an estate sale they soon discover a cache of VHS tapes hidden within it and decide to make them part of the content they are offering. They will slowly watch the films and let their viewers watch with them. What they find though, is that these films may be giving a glimpse into the actions of a serial killer. We see a masked man speaking into the camera, telling us about his philosophies before seeing him then stalking and sometimes attacking a woman. As we see more of the tapes we see that something else may be at work here, as it seems there is something supernatural at work in the house. As everything plays out the dynamic between the couple changes and they face a perilous question – can they end the streaming now, before things go to far, or is it already too late?
Here we once again have one partner who is obsessed with the channel, attention, and the money, and another who wants to pull back. The ethics of showing the tapes seems secondary to the buzz they are generating. The core idea here is an interesting one, taking what was done in POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES and adding the element of vloggers revealing the tapes. There are definitely creepy ideas here but there are just too MANY ideas at work. Vloggers, relationship issues, the supernatural, and a serial killer. It’s a whole lot for any movie to tackle and for a bare bones film it’s really asking a lot.
Too much.
There is no logic to the film, sadly. The idea that NO ONE found those tapes before, and that these two knuckleheads were showing them without reviewing them all is a lot to ask (we get a hint that the husband has been looking at them but we don’t get much insight). Then there’s the fact that with the advent of all thia murder media out there and true crime podcasts watchers would have been telling the cops all about this stream. They try to explain away things – after pulling a stunt, the cops won’t believe them (which, being that there are missing women here, it seems a heavy ask to think the cops don’t care). The husband is such a jerk it’s hard to believe his wife would remain with him. He constantly betrays her trust and the trust of their viewers.
As I said, there’s some interesting wrinkles, and a fun twist, but by the time the film is winding down it’s all just a LOT. With unexplained elements, pushing what the viewer will buy into to the very limit. They really go for it here, and there are creepy moments, and great ideas, but things just don’t really coalesce and in the end they’re just asking too much of us. At its heart, there’s a really creepy idea, they just weren’t able to mine that ore to its fullest potential.
1.25 out of 5
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 