#CHADGETSTHEAXE (2022) Review

In a livestreamed event to top all livestreamed events, four online celebs take a trip to a property in which several gruesome murders took place. “Spicy” Steve (Michael Bonini) is joined by champion click baiter and general irritant Chad Ryan, along with “Spennifer”, which is the saccharine coupling of Spencer (Cameron Vitosh) and Jennifer (Taneisha Figuroa). The battle for views quickly turns into a fight for life as a killer from the past appears to have returned…

Expanded from his 2019 short of the same name, Travis Bible gives our titular antihero – again played by Spencer Harrison Levin – three travelling companions with their own spheres of (social) influence and sets the action in a house as opposed to a cabin, but Burrows still casts his shadow over the proceedings as the killer of legend, having overseen the satanic cult which previously slaughtered five people in the appropriately monikered Devil’s Manor.

Tapping into our love/hate relationship with Internet personalities, #CHADGETSTHEAXE sets up a first act in which four annoying, self-centred folks broadcast their unshakeable sense of importance to such a degree that your average viewer won’t be able to wait until a psychopath wades into them gleefully. However, as things start to go wrong for them and they’re faced with their own potential doom, their humanity begins to show through their media-friendly facades and you’re forced to re-evaluate your attitude to these people. Yes, they’re idiots but do they really deserve to be killed for it?

Of course, given that there are plenty of sickos out there in the wild, some people clearly do want them to perish, the tale being given a smart, satirical edge via the constantly scrolling series of comments from a sensation-hungry audience out there in the ether. Early on, one user account chips in with “Wouldn’t it be funny if they all just died?” and that type of casually callous viewpoint permeates the entire movie. Suggestions of assistance are denied in favour of watching the foursome sink deeper into trouble and our protagonists’ realisation that their “fans” may not be their friends is both satisfying and sobering.

Of course, that central question of “Why are you watching?”, voiced by Chad right at the point where he realises he’s racked up millions of viewers because he might be about to be gorily offed by some maniac, isn’t dealt with in a gruelling, Michael Haneke kind of way. This experience isn’t meant to numb, it’s meant to be fun and it most certainly is, gloriously taking a well-deserved pop at those carving out careers in the Cloud, particularly in relation to their constant craving for clicks.

For instance, Chad discovers a pentagram in the house. What’s his first instinct? He’ll pee on it if the watcher count gets to 150,000. Elsewhere, Spencer can’t wait to unveil the first draft of a teeth-grindingly awful song he’s working on and Jennifer is mostly about hawking merch. Interestingly, Steve is hit with the revelation that he’s clearly in a lower league when it comes to chasing clout and his channelled persona is the first to show signs of frailty.

Switching between the Live feeds of the characters, phone conversations and YouTube-style interludes, the action is rarely allowed to slow down, with the occasional moment to catch breath a welcome thing. Our frightened foursome are fleshed out courtesy of noteworthy performances. Levin’s energetic, insistent work as Chad often shifts the focus his way but everyone else gets their chance to shine. Figueroa transforms from dispenser of beauty tips to fledgling adventurer, Bonini is the more reasoned of the group as he captures the crushing reality of crossing an ethical line and Vitosh is a comedic delight as the less impressive element of Spennifer, a guy whose deep thoughts don’t go far beyond showing off his admittedly impressive abs.

#CHADGETSTHEAXE peppers its frequently chucklesome scenario with sequences of genuine tension and menace, building to a suspenseful showdown and a grisly, darkly comic punchline. Of course, when the movie’s over, it isn’t quite over, because there’s a whole World Wide Web full of folks who are only too ready to give their hot take on what went down at Devil’s Manor. It’s one of many examples in which the movie cleverly switches the focus back to the viewer and confronting them with how they might behave in a similar situation.

With a savvy screenplay by Bible and Kemerton Hargrove, #CHADGETSTHEAXE takes aim at the shallow world of cyber celebrity and hits far more often than it misses, also daring to suggest that these small screen stars might actually be half decent people when they take a little time out to stop pushing their brand.
If you’re not there for the satire or the jokes about bodily fluids, it works as a horror movie too, providing a smart villain whose shadowy presence is crucial to luring our quizzical quartet in the direction of their doom. Mr Ryan would proclaim the makers of this film as Chadpions and he would be correct.

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#CHADGETSTHEAXE Trailer