#chadgetstheaxe (2022) Review – Shudder
#chadgetstheaxe (2022) Review – Shudder
Adapted from an award-winning short with the same title, #chadgetstheaxe follows four social media influencers as they live stream their trip to Devil’s Manor, former home to a Satanic Cult. Things do not go well. And as the violence ramps up… so do the views.
Directed by Travis Bible, who co-wrote with Kemerton Hargrove, and starring Spencer Harrison Levin (BLACK JESUS), Michael Bonini (NEW AMSTERDAM), Taneisha Figueroa (DUCK WORLD), Cameron Vitosh (WALKER), Brandon Doyle (MURDER MADE ME FAMOUS), and Shun Hagins (SNITCH).
“#ChadGetsTheAxe is a fun commentary on influencer culture and the hunger for popularity,” commented Shaked Berenson, Entertainment Squad’s CEO and he is right, it is. Unfortunately, in the past couple of years there has been a plethora of flicks about the very same thing so what we have here are just another bunch of odious influencers getting more than they bargained for during a paranormal investigation.
It is equally as strong as MEAN SPIRITED (2022) but falls short of the remarkably high standards set by DEADSTREAM (also 2022) – which for my money is a cult classic in the making – which was buoyed up by having a lead character that was a buffoon but never aggravating. Chad is just aggravating and one note and yes, I know that he is meant to be aggravating but that makes him difficult to warm to and consequently you wish for him to ‘get(s) the axe’ much sooner.
Elsewhere I felt that more back story for the cult might have helped add more scares and the final half-hour feels padded out and unnecessarily protracted. As Kim Newman pointed out in his review, following the film’s screening at the Glasgow’s FrightFest, ‘we’re getting to the point where it might be interesting to see a pro-influencer horror movie’ and I totally agree. Aside from the niggles, and the fact that it is covering old and well-worn ground, #chadgetstheaxe has its moments – especially the discovering of the dead body early on – and it makes for a perfectly fun Saturday night’s entertainment that does not trouble your grey matter.
The film is available to Buy/Rent on Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Spectrum, etc.
Here is the official website: https://thehorrorcollective.com/film/chadgetstheaxe
