Frightfest Glasgow 2023: ‘#chadgetstheaxe’ Review
Stars: Michael Bonini, Spencer Harrison Levin, Taneisha Figueroa | Written by Travis Bible, Kemerton Hargrove | Directed by Travis Bible
Found footage is SO hard to get right. For every Blair Witch Project we get a myriad of direct-to-DVD (or streaming) shaky-cam horrors that substitute actual filmmaking and crafting real scares for cheap camerawork and a multitude of jump scares. However, in recent years there have been some standouts… Death of a Vlogger, Host, and most recently Deadstream. And now comes #chadgetstheaxe.
The film sees social media influencers Spicy Steve and Chad team up with a pair of beauty tip streamers to visit the supposedly haunted Devil’s Manor, the former home to a Satanic Cult. Things don’t go well. Soon they’re forced to wonder if it’s all a prank created by other streamers, by each other, or if there is something more sinister at hand… And as the violence ramps up… so do the views and likes.
The first thing that strikes you about #chadgetstheaxe is that takes a tired genre trope, one that has been ruined by lazy filmmakers and elevates it into the stratosphere again – bringing found footage horror into the Tok Tok era with aplomb. This is much more than the recent glut of screen-based horror we’ve seen – this is a true revamp of the genre made famous in the mainstream by 1999s The Blair Witch Project.
What makes #chadgetstheaxe so good is how relevant it is – there’s a brilliant nod to the generational divide that is oh-so-present on the likes of Tik Tok; as the watching audience, their comments streaming up the right-hand side of the screen, and sees generations taking pot shots at each other – millennials at Gen Z and vice-versa. There’s also some great commentary on influencer culture – the hunger for popularity through likes and the idea of “shock value” as social currency – running through the film too. And you can VERY clearly spot the true genesis of this film and the short of the same name that came before it, as the discovery of a corpse leads to Steve and Chad having fun… with a dead body! Er, Logan Paul at the suicide forest anyone?
Clevery #chadgetstheaxe also touches on the concept of “reality” in today’s day and age, where TV shows are manufactured to create controversial moments and thus “reality stars” are born… Leaving audiences to question whether whatever they see is real or not. Which means when things get real for Steve, Chad and co., the audience watching does nothing but watch. A harsh slice of socio-political commentary indeed.
But the best thing about #chadgetstheaxe though? How director Travis Bible and his co-writer Kemerton Hargrove manage to make the film as terrifying as it is funny, with a lot of the laughs down to a brilliant performance from Spencer Harrison Levin as the titular Chad. Who, let alone getting the axe, DESERVES to get the axe!
***** 5/5
#chadgetstheaxe screened on Friday, March 10th as part of this year’s Glasgow Frightfest.
