Review of Cam

By Dave B.

In Cam (Netflix) an up-and-coming camgirl, who occasionally does shows that push the envelope of sanity, has her identity stolen. She finds that she’s locked out of her cam account and a doppelganger is doing shows in her place. Using very impressive research skills, she uncovers a (possible) conspiracy and confronts her replacement in a nonsensical showdown to reclaim her identity.

I despise this movie. It’s the type of loathing that is so pure and so certain, that it puts everything else in your life into perfect perspective. How Cam has a 93% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes is one of the universes great mysteries, along with the nature of dark matter and what’s on the other side of black holes. Nominally a psychological horror movie, there’s little about the film that’s frightening beyond the fact that it exists. The first half of Cam is basically a behind the scenes look at the life of an aspiring, but middling camgirl, and the second half is one of the most frustrating and disappointing mysteries in recent film history.

​Nothing about Cam works, because it provides no explanations of what the hell is going on. Why is she “chosen” to have her identity stolen? No clue. Well, how did “they” create a duplicate of not only her, but also of her house? Not discussed. Ok, well can we at least get a clue as to who “they” are and why they do anything like this at all? No, and stop asking. In short, Cam has a series of crazy, nearly impossible things happen with no explanation as to ability or motive. And the movie’s resolution, the big confrontation that the entire 95 minute film is leading up to, makes less sense than every other nonsensical, unexplained element in this fiasco.

To say that I hated Cam is an understatement. It’s undoubtedly one of the worst movies that Netflix has EVER been involved with, and that’s saying a lot. Unlike most of the other movie’s this year that I’ve thought were terrible, Cam isn’t boring. It’s just atrocious. The movie’s sole saving grace is that it’s able to cultivate a true desire to figure out the meaning and purpose of everything that’s happening. But Cam has absolutely nothing to offer beyond that. Any messages or meanings that anyone claims to glean from this movie are certainly just musings originating exclusively in their own mind. Clearly, I don’t recommend this film for anyone, ever, under any circumstances.

Rating: 2/10