With the recent success of films like Host, Deadstream, and Searching, we’ll likely keep seeing horror movies told through screens. #chadgetstheaxe is another genre movie about influencers. While it doesn’t really do enough to separate itself from the pack, there are a few unique elements that make it worth the watch, if you have the patience to withstand the utterly annoying personality of the film’s four influencers.

Directed by Travis Bible, who co-wrote the script with Kemerton Hargrove, the film takes the character of Chad (Spencer Harrison Levin) from a 2019 short and expands the story. Chad is a blonde-haired, cocky influencer that will do just about anything to grow his subscriber base and channel, be it pranks or investigating spooky locations, such as the film’s main setting, Devil’s Manor, the former home of a Satanic cult. He’s joined by Steve (Michael Bonini) and the couple Jennifer (Taneisha Figueroa) and Spencer (Cameron Vitosh). Of the four influencers, Chad and Steve have the most interesting dynamic. While Steve certainly wants to grow his channel, he exercises a bit of restraint, at least, compared to Chad. For instance, shortly after they arrive at the cobwebby home, Chad decides to pee on a pentagram they discover and livestream it. When they find what looks like a dead body near a staircase, Chad taunts it. He does all of this for likes and views. If I haven’t mentioned it already, he’s obnoxious, through and through.

The longer the group keeps livestreaming, the greater the danger, including hooded figures that pick them off one by one. Meanwhile, for a majority of the film, you can see the live comments, which adds a bit of humor to an otherwise grisly situation. Unlike some of its contemporaries, #chadgetstheaxe does critique the type of audience willing to continually tune into something like Chad’s channel. As the body count escalates, the viewership only increases. The comments grow more and more absurd, as viewers try to one-up each other with their macabre humor. The feature’s sharp commentary about spectatorship elevates it just slightly above similar films. It even could have done more with this. However, here’s the issue with these films. Because these influencers are so hard to like, it’s tough to care when they meet their endings. They’re always performing, so, we as the viewer, feel like we only know the version presented via the livestreams. Because it’s hard to care, the stakes don’t feel as high.

The second half especially ramps up the action and horror, leading to a conclusion that is well, fairly predictable in the context of the title. That still doesn’t make it any less unnerving. In fact, the conclusion is the best part of the movie. This includes the credits featuring TikTok-type videos where people make fun of, and even create songs, to go along with what transpires in the last 10 minutes. It’s another sly statement about spectatorship and our addiction to watching the aftermath of car accidents, so to speak.

#chadgetstheaxe is another horror movie told through screens. The influencers, in their never-ending quest for more likes, are utterly irritating, but that’s likely the point. Still, there are some good scares here and an interesting commentary about spectatorship.

6.5 Out of 10