A film on Netflix that has a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score has viewers seriously questioning their relationship with social media.
Here's the trailer, just to give you a taste of what to expect:
It’s called Accused, and it tells the tale of a man, played by Sex Education star Chaneil Kular, who is wrongfully named as a wanted terrorist online, which leads to a quite literal witch hunt that spills off social media and into the real world.
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Really good thriller/horror cinema often uses things that we recognise from our own life to tap into our fears and anxieties, and this film certainly does that with great effect.
We’ve all seen what can happen when social media rumours get out of hand, and we can imagine the horror of what it would be like if it happened to us.
And Accused seems to tap into that worry, presenting it in a tense, anxiety-inducing way that is becoming the hallmark of the director.
That director is Philip Barantini, who you might remember from his hit movie. Boiling Point, which is set to get a sequel TV show in the not-too-distant future.
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There’s another film that will give you anxiety nightmares.
So far, the film has a perfect 100 percent ‘fresh’ score on film review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, with all the reviews being pretty positive.
Achieving that kind of critical consensus is no mean feat.
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Audience reaction appears to be positive, too. Well, if the reaction – ironically on social media – is anything to go by.
Equally, there are a lot of people writing about how the film has made them question their relationship with social media.
On X – it still sounds weird, doesn’t it? – one person wrote: “Just watched Accused on Netflix and I tell you, my anxiety and anger is through the roof.
“It took for one cretin to sit on social media and shout someone’s name, upload a photo for a witch hunt of people to kill his dog, attack him and his family, try kill him.
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“When he did nothing wrong, he had a similar outfit to the person who ACTUALLY did it.
“I’m sorry but the people involved and sharing addresses should be locked up also. Horrific!”
Another person wrote: "Thoroughly enjoyed Accused on Netflix, main lead did well, just shows how scary social media can be with false accusation especially how everything is trial by media these days.”
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A third commented: “Accused shows what a cesspit the world has become with social media.
“You can lead people to believe a narrative a create a witch-hunt.
“Street corner detectives. As we saw with Nicola Bulley incident. There are poorly educated, dangerous people around.”
Accused is available to watch on Netflix now, but – be warned – it might give you some genuine real-world pause for thought.
Featured Image Credit: NetflixTopics: Netflix, TV and Film, Social Media