YouTube celebrities are everywhere these days. These days making an online video is an easy way for someone to get their 15 minutes of fame. Some use these videos many ways, From influencing the products we purchase to entertaining us with shocking videos and reviewing anything from TV shows to movies. Many have even taken things a step further as well. They attack those who they’ve branded as doing something bad in an attempt to get some form of justice. Online vigilantes may not be as common as other YouTube celebrities. But they are out there catching cheating spouses and shaming people so they are held accountable for their actions. Like many vigilantes it’s only a matter of time until they take things too far. This is exactly what the film Low Life explores.

Benny Jansen (Wes Dunlap) is a small-time YouTube celebrity who hunts down sexual predators online. He pretends he’s a young girl in order to bait the pedophiles into sending naked pictures. The goal is to eventually meet up so he can record them and expose them to the world. At times it’s a dangerous job, and even the police have asked him to stop. But he believes he’s doing something important and has armed himself just in case something goes sideways. With the help of a star-struck teenager named Nicole (Lucy Urbano) he invites Jason (Lucas Neff), a teacher with a strong liking for minors, to his home. It’s a decision that ends up creating a night from hell for Benny and his friends. A night from hell with serious repercussions.

Low Life is not an easy film to watch. Many of the conversations within will not only disgust you, but make you angry as well. Even though in some of the character’s cases what is being said is simply bait to get the truly evil people to speak their minds, it’s still hard to listen to. It’s mind warping, and you will want to wash your ears out after listening to it. It doesn’t help that the film itself continually builds until the climax, meaning you will find yourself getting angrier and angrier like the main characters do. It doesn’t let up either. A lot of films will pause the tension to give you a breather, usually in the form of some sort of comedic moment, but Low Life really doesn’t have any of those.

Low Life is not the kind of movie everyone can watch or even enjoy. For a low budget film it’s decently made and the actors do a good job with their roles. But the subject matter will be too much for most people. While technically this film falls into the category of a crime or thriller movie, Low Life is really a horror film. Because unfortunately, people like the antagonist really exist in the world and this film gives you a glimpse into their head.