StrawStalker review

By Simon Thompson

Writer/director George Henry Horton’s StrawStalker is a horror film I ended up liking more than I thought I would. Usually, I find found footage horror to be lazy and lacking in imagination, but to Horton’s credit he plays around with the format in a satirical way that marks StrawStalker out from the rest of the pack. 

StrawStalker focuses on a vapid, skin crawlingly irritating by design influencer couple Henry (George Henry Horton) and Haley (Branika Scott) who document almost every mundane detail of their lives. The pair move into their dream home in Los Angeles, but quickly find their idyllic life and surroundings upended by the presence of an ancient scarecrow that is stalking them, slowly and steadily making them feel uncomfortable in their new home. 

Horton’s script perfectly encapsulates everything that I despise about influencers and the superficiality of what they represent, with a good deal of satirical venom. His characterisation of/performance as Henry, portraying him as a narcissistic, empty, and selfish moron with a compulsion to document the most intimate details of his life to the public,  is so accurate that the film became hard to watch at points because I wanted to reach through the screen and hit him with a plank of wood. 

Brankia Scott gives a good performance as Haley, portraying her as someone who puts up a smiling public façade that she enjoys the influencer lifestyle, but secretly wants away from it all. Scott and Horton have a believable screen chemistry together, making the scenes where their characters are arguing especially convincing. 

As a director Horton perfectly captures the style and look of influencer content, through the use of bright light and chat filters, he visually and tonally makes you feel as if you’re watching the most mind numbing videos that social media has to offer. This is contrasted with his approach later on during the third act, where the action takes place in the dark to connote how Henry and Haley’s world has been upended by the horror they’ve been subjected to. 

At a taut eighty five minutes, StrawStalker is a well-directed found footage parody which doesn’t outstay its welcome. While the satire is a little obvious in places, it’s still a movie made with clear passion, effort, and decent production values all of which are more than positive qualities.