Cam (2018) Horror Thriller

Cam (2018) - In the opening sequence a camgirl (Madeline Brewer who I know so well from watching A Handmaid's Tale) flirts and teases her followers for tokens (I don't know this world so can't really say I know what that means) She suggest sex toys that she might use and lets the followers bid to see if she inserts the small, medium or large one. When the bidding gets going a user suggests she use a knife and this is where things spiral out of control. Goaded by the unblockable member she threatens to actually kill herself on camera.  It's a nice set piece that gives us not only an introduction to the world of cams but also into the psyche of the girl. In addition we learn that Lola, her stage name is always driving to be the top girl on her platform. Also that Alice the real name and we she she is obsessed with getting Lola to number one, shit she is very happy just to make the top fifty.
  This film is about obsession with popularity. Alice is a young woman on a roller coaster of wanting approval from others and the cam platform is where she gets it. When she finally makes it to 50 she sees that one of the other girls Princess is willing to get naked if the users drop Lola down 10 spots. What kind of unfair competition is this? Well apparently this spurs Lola to ride a vibrator seems excessively desperate. It speaks to that drive she can't let go of. Doing this show nude and at the vibrator mercy of a friend this without a doubt is a low but the girl wants to move up the ranking and it seems the strange or more extreme the act the higher you go. At this point we are wondering when the scary or even thriller vibes will start. Waking from that long night of performing the plot really gets going. Alice sees herself playing Lola in a kiddie pool. Impossible right! How can she be live when she just got up and is not on the feed? Thinking it is a repeat of some past performance she logs into the room as a user to warn her customers only to be live blocked by herself. WTF! She is live but it is not her and she is locked out of her account. There is now a line here where performer and audience member become one in the same. cool as it is as a plot device Alice is not pleased. No money from this performance is coming to her and she is confused about just what the hell is going on. Attempts to get help from the company fail repeatedly.

   Alice is frustrated that she can't seem to convince the platform provider of her situation. Meantime the Lola 2 is performing stranger and stranger shows and moving up the charts as Alice helplessly watches. Making the first scene a foreshadowing Lola 2 performs a suicide show with a gun seeming to blow her own brains out. Alice watching is juxtaposed as a worried audience member seeing her own brain blown out. All of this spirals out of control leading to a cross from reality to fantasy. What is Alice to do? Her money stream drying up as an impostor steals her fans she is desperate to figure out how to get her life back. At the same time the consequences of her job with her families discovery is stressing her in a completely different way. Taking risks is what is needed and Alice is up for the task. It means interacting live with a couple of different followers always a dangerous this when your job is to present yourself as a sex object for them

  Alice pieces together some things and manages a final confrontation with the Lola 2 to take back her account and her life. All in all this is a reasonable thriller. there is a lot of buzz around it as a pro sex worker portrayal and certainly the final scene is very positive even after such a horrible experience. I have to say that whether it is or is not is not really something I would have considered before hearing the buzz. To me it is a fairly well crafted film about identity theft, with a bunch of sweaty turds for men skulking around the edges. Sure the film goes through the motions of letting us see societies puritanical approach to this work, based mostly in the family story where the younger brother's friends come across Lola on the internet and all have a good laugh about it.  How someone spray paints "Whore House" on her mother's house after Lola is made public.Alice needs to deal with her Mother around the choice also. It was encouraging to see the Mom come around and embrace her daughter for the decisions she made instead of shunning her. Directed by Daniel Goldhaber this is a Netflix film so look for it there.