Cam2Cam Plot Summary:
Allie (Tammin Sursok) arrives in Bangkok to hunt down the man who murdered her sister, Lucy (Jade Tailor). She becomes friends with a few neighbors in her sister’s apartment complex only to find that they hold secrets much darker than they show.
The film begins with Lucy talking to another woman in an online chat room. She has obviously been talking to this girl for some time, but this time they decide to video chat. The other woman, named Emily, comes on camera from the neck down and proceeds to take off her clothes. Lucy begins to do the same but realizes that Emily is somehow typing at the same time that she is stripping. Knowing this is fully impossible, Lucy calls Emily only to receive no answer but, instead, threatening messages in the chat room. Soon there is a knock on the door and a friendly neighbor stands outside. Thinking he can protect her from whoever was threatening her, Lucy invited the man in only to find that he is the psycho on the other end of the computer.
Allie, Lucy’s sister, arrives in Bangkok to live in her sister’s old apartment and find out what really happened to her sister. Upon her arrival, she befriends Marit (Sarah Bonrepaux) who draws her in with some severe sexual tension and shows her around town. The man who killed her sister sees her in the market and has some sort of breakdown, causing him to commit suicide by stepping in front of a bus.
Later that night, Allie receives a chat room invite from Merit and clicks on a link, which initiates the connection of Allie’s webcam to the person on the other side of the chat, the person who has killed Merit. Now that person has access to everything on Lucy’s computer as well as the ability to see everything she is doing in her apartment at any given time.
Allie discovers that Merit, the man who killed Lucy and almost everyone else she has met in that apartment complex are performers on a website called Cam2Cam and through one of her neighbors, Michael (Ben Wiggins), she learns that everyone on the site has something to do with all of the murders, whether they intended to or not.
Cam2Cam reminds me a bit of an IFC release from earlier this year called The Den in that they both revolve around video chat related murders. I suppose the film would be scarier if chat rooms were still relevant, but I don’t know a single person who still uses them. In fact, I haven’t known anyone who has used one since the early 2000’s. They are basically a dead platform.
That being said, I have always been nervous about a person’s ability to hack into the webcam on my laptop. Who knows what kind of freaks could be watching you at any time. Call it paranoia, but I keep a sticker over the camera just in case. None of the people in this film would’ve had the problems they had if they were just a little paranoid.
The headless bodies were pretty cool and I did appreciate the 80’s slasher film way of not showing the beheadings themselves. Instead we got the blood splatter on the walls and the decapitated bodies. Less is more, I suppose.
The acting is mediocre at best, with some better than others. Even the decent actors are victims of bad dialogue. On top of that, the storyline started out interesting but, once you learn the “surprise” background story, the film is kind of ruined. I feel like there was something more creative, like The Den, that could have been done here but, unfortunately, it was wasted in a rush to finish the film.
The only continuously good thing about the film was that everyone was attractive. In terms of eye candy, Cam2Cam hit it right on the mark. Unfortunately, attractive actors don’t make for a good film all on their own.
If you’re in it to just see some boobs and decapitated bodies, Cam2Cam is the film for you but, if you’re looking for a solid storyline, seek it out elsewhere.
Rating 5/10
Cam2Cam is available on DVD now from IFC Midnight.
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Ann Hale is the horror editor for Pop-Break.com and a senior contributing writer, reviewing horror movies and television shows. She is also the American Correspondent for Lovehorror.co.uk and writer for Geekandstuff.com. Ann attended East Carolina University, majoring in English Literature. She is a collector of Halloween (the film) memorabilia and is a self-admitted opinionated horror nerd. You can follow her, her collection and her cat, Edward Kittyhands on Twitter and Instagram @Scarletjupiter
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