Who knew queer mommy vlog culture could be this unhinged?
The Rebrand (2024), written and directed by Kaye Adelaide and with additional writing from Nancy Webb, is a wickedly campy descent into influencer hell—a horror-satire hybrid that gleefully peels back the pastel filter of curated online personas to reveal something grotesquely hilarious underneath.
Nicole (Naomi Silver-Vézina) is an 8-and-a-half-month-pregnant videographer, broke and desperate. So when she gets offered some quick cash to shoot a documentary-style video at the sleek but soulless home of Blaire and Thistle — a once-beloved influencer couple reeling from a cancellation scandal—she takes it. What follows is a brilliantly uncomfortable unraveling of fake apologies, curated vulnerability, and the grotesque lengths people will go to in order to stay relevant.
Blaire (Andi E McQueen) is an endearingly dim, dorky presence, the kind of person who still believes in the idea of “doing good,” even as she floats in a toxic cloud of denial and gaslight. Nicole finds herself relying on her, the only semi-decent person in a house where everything is for show.
And then there’s Thistle (Nancy Webb, in a deliciously unhinged performance) — the kind of influencer who presents herself as positive and aesthetically wholesome, but wouldn’t lift a finger unless it created engagement. She’s an amalgam of passive-aggressive attitude, witchy shenanigans, and dead-eyed cruelty.
The film starts with all the familiar beats of the influencer apology arc: the first “clearly not scripted at all” apology video, the crocodile tears, the white bed follow-up where they announce their new rebranding angle — the expectant queer mommy niche — as Thistle reveals her pregnancy. And then the ultimate performative gesture: a marriage proposal staged just for content (they’re already married). It’s bleakly hilarious and deeply cringey, in the best way possible.
Director Kaye Adelaide shoots the whole thing like a DIY vlog gone wrong — awkward camera angles, overexposed lighting, and “candid” moments that feel anything but. It adds to the unease, making it feel like we’re watching something we really shouldn’t.
But as the plot thickens, the awkwardness ramps up into full-blown discomfort. Thistle becomes increasingly fixated on Nicole’s pregnancy, and it’s clear she’s jealous of the genuine connection forming between Blaire and Nicole — someone who doesn’t treat her like a puppet or a brand extension.
While not strictly horror in the jump-scare sense, when the horror elements do hit, they’re surreal and exciting. It’s a pastel-colored psychological trap that starts funny and ends with a pit in your stomach. It’s dumb, yes, gloriously dumb — the kind of thing that practically screams “this is campy!” — but there’s a nagging little voice in the back of your head whispering, “this could actually happen.” And in a world where influencers like Mika Stauffer have commodified their kids, pets, breakups, adoptions, and breakdowns for clicks, is it really that unthinkable that things could escalate into something darker? The Rebrand nails that sweet spot: hilariously absurd on the surface, but with a rot underneath that feels disturbingly real.
Dark, hilarious, and painfully relevant, The Rebrand is a must-watch for anyone who’s ever side-eyed a mommy blog or cringed through a “raw and honest” influencer apology video. It’s queer, campy, utterly savage —and maybe a modern cautionary tale for the ring light generation.
We watched The Rebrand (2024) at this year’s Unnamed Footage Festival. The Film will screen on Friday 28th at 14:45
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Hi everyone! I am Javi from the distant land of Santiago, Chile. I grew up watching horror movies on VHS tapes and cable reruns thanks to my cousins. While they kinda moved on from the genre, I am here writing about it almost daily. When I am not doing that, I enjoy reading, drawing, and collecting cute plushies (you have to balance things out. Right?)