Cam Girl is at Least Trying to be Horror
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Cam Girl is a mildly interesting, mostly one-woman meditation on voyeurism. Its lead actress is decent but can’t save a film bloated with pointless filler nudity, technical flaws, a bizarre timeline, and a dreadful ending twist.
Written by James “Crypticpsych” Lasome
May 5, 2011
Movie Trailer
Image Gallery
Release: February 22, 2011 (DVD)
Directed by: Philip Gardiner
Written by: Philip Gardiner and John Symes
Starring:
Layla Randle-Conde as Mary O’Brian
Mary (Randle-Conde), a college student, decides to fund college tuition and her apartment rent by becoming an internet cam girl, stripping in front of her webcam for various horny onlookers around the world. She enjoys what she’s doing and sets limits for what she will and won’t do. One month, her paycheck from her sexy side job comes in late and far smaller than she anticipated. Her sleazy landlord lets her know that there are other ways she can pay. Will she betray her principles to keep the roof overhead? And, if she does, will it be enough to satiate his urges?
I seem to end up with the movies in director Philip Gardiner’s filmography that just don’t end up on his IMDB (his works also have a connection to the “documentary” film company who releases things like Bigfoot is Real and UFOs Do Not Exist). The first film I reviewed from him was House of Sin, an almost unwatchable movie that was advertised as a dark, depraved film about a whorehouse. The problem was that it was actually a feeble attempt at an art-house drama overloaded and padded with sexy scenes. As I said at the time, “If you want to make a soft-core porno, make a soft-core porno. Don't try and couch it as some "deviant" film or even as an art film.” This brings us back to Cam Girl, where Gardiner appears to have learned something as this time he’s made a legitimate attempt at a thriller… that is still pointlessly brimming with nudity and also has possibly the most random, unnecessary ending twist I’ve ever seen.
I do have to commend Gardiner for casting a good lead and at least attempting to create some degree of tension in Cam Girl. Layla Randle-Conde’s “Mary” is believable as a college student/cam girl and basically makes this film watchable by how she handles the escalating situation. There are some problems with her performance that I’ll come back to, but I feel most of those are attributable to bad scripting and editing, not her more-than-serviceable acting job. As for the tension, I have no qualms calling this a horror movie or a thriller. There is some degree of paranoia and fear that Gardiner is able to create, presenting a world in which “Mary” is never truly safe or alone both because of her choice to be a cam girl and the fact that her stalker always seems to be able to get inside her apartment.
Unfortunately, I now have to explain why most thrillers and horror movies don’t HAVE that much nudity. If you are making a thriller, nudity does not help maintain tension. Here we have a story about a girl getting stalked and grappling with moral questions and consequences. In capable hands, this is compelling subject matter. Here, it’s not helped by 30 second to 4 minute sequences of sexy dancing between some scenes. I got curious, so I got out a pen and paper and counted. Of the 78 minute runtime of this film (including the half-minute company logo), about 38.5 minutes (a little less than half) features our heroine either: stripping, dancing, showering, modeling, having rough sex, or just plain being in her underwear (i.e.: the entire last 11 minutes of the movie in which she’s pointlessly in her underwear, segueing into a nude shot and the sexy end credits). I actually consider myself generous on that front since I’m not counting unnecessary shots of cleavage focus. I honestly don’t think it’s 
possible to make an effective thriller when LITERALLY half your film is soft-core porn or “sexy”. Also, I’m not sure if Gardiner is for or against cam girls since the movie paints voyeurs in a bad light only to make the viewer a voyeur for a cumulative half-hour plus.
The film is also hurt by the fact that whoever did the editing decided to cycle through various camera editing tricks over the course of the movie giving pointless transitions, zooms, cuts, odd blur and color filters, and some black-and-white scenes (admittedly the most well-handled) that really do little more than distract and annoy. The sound, while not totally dreadful or out of sync, still isn’t much better than average during dialogue. The music varies wildly from appropriate to totally inappropriate and, well, dreadful. Finally, let’s not forget the ending that is random, unnecessary, nonsensical, and spoiled by the box art AND trailer!
Finally, our heroine’s performance may be serviceable, but she also makes some decisions that just don’t seem to follow logic. At one point, for instance, Mary has a breakdown about her life and the decisions she’s been forced to make. She thinks back to her Catholic upbringing, calling her former priest. In THE NEXT SCENE, she’s back online stripping again. Either she’s having violent mood swings, or that’s the most forgiving priest EVER. This is, of course, not to even mention the most obvious thing: If someone’s sneaking into your apartment, leaving messages and trinkets and creeping you out… MOVE OUT! At the very least, she could’ve changed her damn locks!
In the end, Philip Gardiner should at least feel mildly proud he made a legit attempt at a decently-acted thriller with Cam Girl. This film is not effective, but he’s done worse. I’ll give him that much.
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