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2019 · 7m · United States
Directed by Benji Allred, Merik Richardson
Genres: dark comedy, satire, thriller
Tones: darkly comic, provocative, tense
On the run from a bloodthirsty killer, a young woman desperately turns to an online tutorial video to learn how to load a revolver.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A thriller that weaponizes YouTube tutorials as both plot device and social commentary—it's genuinely unhinged in the way it treats a how-to video as a co-star, and most scouts would call it gimmicky. Felix calls it inspired.
The satire lands with precision because it understands the grammar of instructional media, positioning itself within a lineage of media-aware thrillers that use form as substance. The editing's restraint—letting the video breathe—demonstrates formal maturity.
The entire film hinges on the decision to make the tutorial *actually matter* to the plot mechanics rather than just provide ironic backdrop, and that commitment to specificity transforms what could've been a one-liner concept into something that genuinely works.