Panic Fest 2025 Coverage
The Rebrand review
The Rebrand gets Panic Fest 2025 off to a great start.
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
The Rebrand
Directed by Kaye Adelaine
Written by Kaye Adelaine and Nancy Webb
Starring Naomi Silver-Vezina, Andi E McQueen and Nancy Webb
The Rebrand Review
Last year’s virtual festival offerings from Panic Fest included some great, and diverse, films. Cannibal Mukbang, Mother Father Sister Brother Frank, Haunted Ulster Live, Keratyna, Sheryl and The Buildout were among my favorites. One of things that Panic Fest is best known for, aside from the high quality of some of their genre selections, is the sheer volume of films made available via the virtual festival. Sure, the in-person festival attendees will be getting early looks at upcoming releases like The Ugly Stepsister, Clown in a Cornfield, It Feeds, The Shrouds, Hell of a Summer and A Desert…to name a few. But we’re all going to have access to those movies eventually. Each of them already has release information available.
The virtual festival is for the sickos. It features movies that have garnered less fanfare…often made by hungry, creative artists more interested in their work being seen than embraced. Obviously, everyone wants their film to be successful. It only opens more doors to further creative opportunities. Most of the movies here will find (or have already found) distribution of their own. Look no further than the highlights I listed above. Cannibal Mukbang recently released on VOD. Haunted Ulster Live found a home on SCREAMBOX. Keratyna is available on VOD through Amazon. The Buildout and Mother Father Sister Brother Frank have been available on VOD for a while. Sheryl, however, seems to be sitting in limbo. An enjoyable film that deserves more eyeballs on it.
You never know where these movies will end up until they end up there. A handful of Panic Fest 2024’s virtual offerings are still in search of distribution. Some strong titles that the public is still waiting to hear about. If the first offering of 2025’s Panic Fest, The Rebrand, is any indication…the virtual festival is going to be full of more fun independent genre movies that. Given that we’ve already looked at the delightfully odd Chainsaws Were Singing, also available through the Panic Fest 2025 virtual festival, I’d confidently say that’s confirmed.
On the surface, The Rebrand combines two of the more controversial modern horror concepts. It’s a found footage movie about influencers. I can hear your eyes rolling from here, in the past, when I wrote this. It’s understandable. Both the technique of found footage and the concept of influencer horror can be difficult to pull off individually. More films fail than succeed at either one. That’s not the case with The Rebrand. It manages to succeed at both.
The first thing people usually ask me about a found footage movie is if it feels like one. Which is a silly question since not all found footage films feel the same…but we know exactly what’s being asked. The Rebrand is not a shaky camera running through the woods occupying the POV of our protagonist. Instead, the story centers on a documentary being made about a couple attempting to rebrand themselves after being cancelled for something that was said on a livestream. We see much of the movie shot through the competent lens of eight and a half months pregnant and in desperate need of money videographer Nicole (Naomi Silver-Vezina). We also see the couple’s livestreams…and some stationary cameras set around their home to capture everything. It feels freer and bigger than the found footage concept you are likely to picture at first.
More importantly, since hating found footage is very 2022, The Rebrand nails the influencer aspect of the movie. Thistle (Nancy Webb) and Blaire (Andi E. McQueen) are the couple looking for a comeback. Blaire feels like a real, grounded character. Thistle feels insane. Deliciously insane. She oscillates from on camera phony to very much off-center reality at a moments notice. It’s the kind of role actors dream of…and not surprisingly…co-written by Webb herself. Roles like this aren’t just out there. You have to create them. McQueen and Silver-Vezina operate on an understandable, realistic playing field. You never know what Thistle will do next. Especially when she becomes jealous of a perceived growing fondness between Blaire and Nicole.
The Rebrand attacks influencer culture in the best way. It’s easy to punch down at it like most movies do. There are some simple chuckles to be had presenting influencers as phonies. The Rebrand finds much funnier material by showing us how this world operates for people instead of simply condemning them for their part in it. A seemingly impromptu marriage proposal is a nice moment caught on camera…quickly destroyed by Thistle’s off hand reveal that they’ve been married for years. When a memorial service for a cat doesn’t draw enough emotion out of Blaire…Thistle arranges a redo that quickly gets as out of control as the original attempt. That attempt ended with a fight over (possibly) expired lighter fluid and whether it would set Blaire on fire. A heartfelt apology caught by hidden camera…that Thistle immediately asks if they need to retake.
The tension slowly ramps up throughout The Rebrand. It becomes clear that Thistle is going to be a problem fairly quickly. Nicole finds herself trapped by circumstances that always seem to be completely of Thistle’s doing. Sugar in the gas tank…blamed on their hated neighbors. A convenient road closure…with Thistle mucking about nearby. It doesn’t take long into The Rebrand to become concerned for Nicole and her unborn child. Even when the couple openly discusses bringing them into their home as a four-person content creation machine…it feels like there is a bigger Thistle-shaped problem afoot.
What separates The Rebrand from the many other attempts at influencer-based genre films is its very clever humor. Thistle is fun in a way that feels imminently dangerous. Blaire delivers some of the funniest deadpan humor you’ll find anywhere. McQueen’s delivery of “that’s a harp?” destroyed me. Nicole has some great “what have I gotten myself into” reaction shots. The humor is razor sharp and consistently propelled by a sense of dread as we wonder about Thistle’s state of mind. Even if you are on the other side of the fence about either found footage or influencer-based stories…The Rebrand is a winner.
Scare Value
Hopefully The Rebrand doesn’t have to wait long to find its way to distribution. It’s a consistently fun and increasingly wild take on influencer culture. The three leads play their parts to perfection. Thistle is one of the most interesting characters out there. Hopefully, this movie finds its way to success, and we are granted a return visit to this world and these characters one day.
