Parents' Guide to

Keep Watching

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Flawed, unsympathetic, violent home invasion movie.

Movie R 2017 89 minutes
Keep Watching Poster Image

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What's the Story?

In KEEP WATCHING, the Mitchell family -- widowed father Adam (Ioan Gruffudd); his new girlfriend, Olivia (Natalie Martinez); his teen daughter, Jamie (Bella Thorne); and younger son, DJ (Chandler Riggs) -- arrives home. Little do they know that their house has been riddled with tiny, hidden cameras by a group of vicious killers that uploads videos of their savage deeds for people to watch online. Uncle Matt (Leigh Whannell) also drops by, and while he's investigating a mysterious occurrence, he's taken out. More nasty attacks happen, and before long, the survivors are hiding in the basement looking for a way out. But did the killers plan this whole thing all along? And what's their ultimate goal?

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

This horror-thriller uses its dozens (hundreds?) of hidden cameras as a gimmick, which constantly distracts from the story ... even though the story and themes are absurdly thin. It's all practically pointless. Keep Watching was released in theaters for one night only, Halloween 2017, before eventually making its home-viewing debut (sympathies to those who spent their October 31 watching it). And it's flawed to its very core. The killers' only motive seems to be to get online views, and the movie isn't smart enough to comment on this in any meaningful way. The final "twist" doesn't even have anything to do with this theme (not to mention that it doesn't make sense).

Meanwhile, the bad guys magically seem to have a camera for every occasion and every conceivable angle. They even have a moving camera on tracks, mounted under a table, for the time that Jamie ducks under there looking for escape. Moreover, someone appears to either be editing all this footage on the fly -- or at least someone must have edited it after the fact. (Who?) The characters at the center of this overly convoluted framework don't offer much to care about; they mostly argue and think about themselves, to the point that you may not care much when any of them are brutally murdered. This ought to be called Stop Watching.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Keep Watching's use of violence. Is it shocking or thrilling? How did the movie achieve this effect? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

  • What is the movie saying about digital citizenship? Do people watch too much violent content online? Is there anything we can (or should) do about it?

  • Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of the home invasion horror subgenre?

  • Does the movie's "hidden camera" idea work?

Movie Details

  • In theaters: October 31, 2017
  • On DVD or streaming: February 6, 2018
  • Cast: Bella Thorne, Ioan Gruffudd, Chandler Riggs
  • Director: Sean Carter
  • Inclusion Information: Pansexual actors, Latinx actors
  • Studio: Screen Gems
  • Genre: Horror
  • Run time: 89 minutes
  • MPAA rating: R
  • MPAA explanation: violence, terror, some language and brief drug use
  • Last updated: June 1, 2023

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