‘Compliance’ Review: A Paranoid Found Footage Conspiracy Thriller About the Horrors of the 21st Century Surveillance State [Fantastic Fest]

In this digital age chock-full of ways to watch and be watched, we all have developed our own strategies to prevent the state from observing us. Or at least we try. We put stickers on our webcams, refuse to give our phones our biometric data, delete Facebook and Instagram, the list goes on. But no matter how badly we try to hide from the unblinking eye of Big Brother, there’s no hiding from it/him/them. This 21st-century paranoia is the centerpiece of Kyle Mangione-Smith’s debut feature film, Compliance, a found-footage nightmare that changes how you’ll think about the subgenre.  

Sam (Megan Wilcox) works in HR for the tech start-up, UVisit, which is essentially a stand-in for Airbnb or other rental apps like it. She’s called in on a case where a customer, Sarah (Lindsey Normington), was raped after two men broke into her rental. Sam, who is quick to remind everyone she’s a trained social worker, is ready to somehow be the one to help and save Sarah, despite being nothing more than Human Resources for a tech company. There’s a desperation to Sam’s actions that feels like she’s trying to prove something not just to her boss, but to herself. 

Oh, and by the way, this is all captured mostly via clandestine security cameras hidden throughout Sam’s apartment. No matter where she goes, Sam is being watched. Mangione-Smith truly taps into 21st-century paranoia with this particular found-footage style. It isn’t just shaky cam footage captured by our lead character. Instead,  we are painfully aware that we are watching her, not watching with her. This is the dirty, nasty voyeurism the genre has been exploring since Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom, and Mangione-Smith is able to encapsulate that terrifyingly well. 

The further Sam goes into Sarah’s case, the bigger the conspiracy at the core of Compliance becomes. The story blossoms into something much larger and disturbing, winding through security cameras, car surveillance, and webcams to expose a disturbing plot with horrific ramifications. Yes, I’m being purposefully vague because detailing where Compliance would ruin the experience Mangione-Smith has crafted here. Suffice to say, this isn’t just about tech company cover-ups and battered women. It’s about political control, proliferating conspiracies, and controlling public perception of reality.