Don’t Click – Movie Review (2/5)

DON’T CLICK is a new horror movie that could easily be described as torture porn. Mostly because that’s exactly what it is for the most part. It does have a deeper message though. Whether this comes across clearly enough is another question. Read our Don’t Click movie review here!

DON’T CLICK is a new horror movie that utilizes a very familiar horror subgenre to deliver an important message. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how well this comes across. And I was really rooting for this movie based on the premise!

The movie stars the least-known (and youngest) of the Skarsgård brothers that have become actors. Honestly, this is not the best vehicle for him, Valter Skarsgård, to hinge his acting career on. I, for one, definitely was not impressed with his performance in this. It helped neither him nor the movie itself.

Continue reading our Don’t Click movie review below.

Torture porn… with a message?

This horror movie could easily be described as torture porn because that’s precisely what it is. Also, it’s based on a short film and I can easily see how this plot would come across much better in a short film format. Sometimes it just isn’t a good idea to make a feature film out of a short film.

Even though this movie only has a runtime of around 90 minutes, it’s too long!

The point of Don’t Click is actually that watching literal porn with torture elements, is a very bad idea. Especially when it appears that the woman isn’t a willing participant. Though honestly, isn’t that always the point, so how would anyone know whether it’s an actor or someone forced to do this?

In any case, I have a really hard time sitting through most of the movie watching both this woman and a man being tortured and then be told that watching this is bad.

Haven’t I watched this already?

Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of someone getting to feel pain on his own body when he enjoys seeing others in pain. However, that’s only part of the plot in this movie. A lot more of it is showing exactly what kind of torture this woman is being put through which again seems to speak against the point of this film.

Also, I feel like I’ve seen this exact thing before. In fact, I know I watched this in the Danish horror movie Finale (aka The Ringmaster).

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to kink shame anyone (though I do abhor violence against women as a “kink”). However, it does become obvious that the woman in this movie is being forced to participate.

Sorry to say, but this could just as well have been a horror movie and nothing porn or sex-related.

Watch Don’t Click on VOD

G-Hey Kim is the director of this movie just as she was the director of the short film. I would never have guessed that a woman was behind this film if I didn’t know ahead of time. This is her first feature film and I am hoping she will go on to do bigger and better things. The screenwriter of this feature film is Courtney Ellum, whereas G-Hey Kim wrote the short film herself.

No matter how much I hate this “niche” or “fetish” of violence against women being a sexual experience for some, it is a very popular porn genre. To me, this does speak to how sick our society is. What is especially sick is watching the comments from the men watching this online streaming “performance”.

Basically, I get that there is a deeper message in Don’t Click. We should all definitely stay away from participating in anything that encourages violence against women. But where does that leave this movie? Basically, its plot would have you watch this movie and shame you for watching it. A muddled message, to say the least… at least in this feature film format!

Don’t Click (2020) is out on VOD from December 11, 2020.

Details

Director: G-Hey Kim
Writer: Courtney Ellum
Stars: Valter Skarsgard, Mark Koufos, Catherine Howard, Geoff Mays, May Grehan, Samantha Hart, Dayjan Lesmond, Erica Sherwood, Derrick Rabethge, Ry Barrett