Review of Cam (2018) by Thee P — 30 Dec 2018

Ah, the wonderful and weird world of webcam modeling. Isa Mazzei's extensive experience as a cam-girl shines through in her new (and first) horror film, Cam, which centers around the behind-the-scenes aspects of what it's like to be a sex worker in the age of the internet.

To be honest, when I was going in to this film, I was almost hoping the movie would be so bad that I could fill this review with witty quips about how I want those two hours of my life back. But the truth is I was very pleasantly surprised by how amazeballs Cam turned out to be. In all honesty, this is probably one of my new favorite little horror films.

When the credits start to roll during the intro, the film's writer (Isa Mazzei) and director (Daniel Goldhaber) are introduced in a single line of text, which is something that's fairly unusual to see in the realm of Hollywood entertainment. Little did I know that this would be a precursor to a mind blowing original horror flick. Everyone at Blumhouse must be just over the moon about Cam's success.

The film was written by Isa Mazzei, a 24-year-old former webcam model. In an interview with GQ magazine, Mazzei says, "No one took us seriously because we were 24 and 25. No one took us seriously because we had never made a movie before. And no one took me seriously because I was a woman, and no one took me seriously because I was a former sex worker.".

Something tells me that being taken seriously is not something that Cam's writer or director have to worry about, anymore. Although Cam presents itself as more of a psychological thriller horror than an all-out gore-fest, it does have its blood bath-y moments, and they do not disappoint. The majority of the film focuses more on mental terror than that of a physical nature. But the fear is real, as the film delves in to some serious topics that most millennials and Gen-Z'ers can relate to. Topics such as having your identity stolen online, and being locked out of an important internet account (gasp, the horror!).

Madeline Brewer delivers a knockout performance as Alice, the "sweet girl next door with a secret." She's someone that a lot of younger girls can relate to, and Brewer does an excellent job of connecting with the audience on many different levels. And even though she may be sweet, Alice has a badass side to her that helps her through the struggle that is being a webcam performer. At times, she may even take the badass a little too far, like when enlists the help of one of her regular chatters to help her pull off an elaborate live suicide prank on her room. She makes sure to jot all of her shows down on her calendar, tracking her rank as she attempts to scale her way up in to the top 50 live cam girls.

Of course, "Cam" also makes a point of introducing the audience to some of the very real struggles that most webcam models will deal with at least once during their careers as well. Struggles like when regulars, like Tink (Patch Darragh), fall in love with your cam persona to the point they try and infiltrate your regular, everyday life. Patch Darragh plays the perfect obsessive creep that really brings this role to life and does an excellent job of making us uncomfortable.

On the flip side, the film shows us the upsides of working in the webcam industry, such as whales. Michael Dempsey does a nice job playing Barney, the big tipper that dumps all of his hard-earned money in to the online account of Lola_Lola (Alice's screen name.) Alice drops everything anytime Barney requests a chat, because she knows she's going to make some serious bank.

All of the elements of this film really were just surprisingly good, from start to finish. And while some may argue that this film glorifies sex work, I think that it found a happy balance between showing us the good and bad. Really, it just comes through as exactly what it is "work" and all work has its own list of pros and cons. If you're looking for a perfect film to entertain the hell out of you this weekend, head to Netflix and check it out.