Eye Without a Face: New film explores voyeurism via webcam

Newly streaming Eye Without a Face is a psychological horror/thriller that reminds us how pervasive the internet has become. In fact, you might start to feel a little nervous about that camera on your computer after watching it.

Eye Without a Face joins the new generation of found footage, a genre that’s come a long way since 1999’s The Blair Witch Project. Newer forms of found footage tend to center around the internet; we’re talking about films like Searching, Unfriended and Host.

Henry suffers from anxiety and possibly agoraphobia, spending most of his time in his room on his computer. While we do see him walking around outside a few times, it’s always at night, and he is clearly anxious the entire time.

What is he doing on the computer? Well, it seems he has managed to hack the webcams of several women, and he is observing their daily lives. Pretty creepy, right? But, here’s the thing: Henry is actually sort of a sympathetic character. As played by Australian actor Dakota Shapiro, you can’t help but feel some compassion for Henry, whose issues seem to stem from trauma caused by his abusive father.

Henry isn’t spying on these women for sexual reasons. He genuinely cares about them, he knows what is going on in their lives, and he even speaks to them encouragingly, though they, of course, can’t hear him. Henry feels that he really knows them and thinks of them as his friends. Sky is in a relationship with a man who mentally and emotionally manipulates her. Elle is an Instagram model, Tessa is a cam girl who seductively eats fruit on camera, and Laura is a strong and assertive woman who invites a different man over to her house every night.

Henry shares his house with an overly jovial man named Eric, who is perpetually behind on his rent. He is obviously taking advantage of the meek Henry, but he is pretty interested when he discovers Henry’s little secret. After finding out that Henry has a crush on Ella (the Instagram model), he even arranges for an in-person meeting, which puts Henry in a full-on panic attack.

Eric seems genuinely concerned and contrite when he sees how anxious Henry becomes, and things get weirder after the episode. When Henry observes one of his friends apparently kill a man, then serve his internal organs to her friends, he becomes desperate to prevent her from murdering anyone else.

We become drawn into Henry’s emotional and psychological spiral as we wonder what exactly is going on. Is the woman really a killer, or is Henry having a mental breakdown? Can Eric be trusted? What’s the full story behind Henry’s flashbacks of his aggressive father?

Eye Without a Face is enthralling, chilling and dark.

Dakota Shapiro carries this film and conveys Henry’s isolation and crippling anxiety with his very expressive face, especially his eyes. It’s no mean feat to make us actually care about a character who spies on women without their knowledge.

Luke Cook does a good job portraying the extremely annoying Eric and Vlada Verevko (Laura), Ashley Elyce Rogers (Tessa), Sarah Marie (Ella) and Evangeline Neuhart (Sky) all give solid performances as Henry’s unknowing friends.

Eye Without a Face is brought to us by Gravitas Ventures and is now available to stream On Demand.

If you have seen Eye Without a Face, tell us what you thought about it in the comments section.