Don’t Log Off – Movie Review (3/5)

DON’T LOG OFF is a new horror movie that plays out on the screen during the early days of the pandemic lockdown. It’s very efficient with a character-driven plot that works. A pleasant surprise. Read our full Don’t Log Off movie review here!

DON’T LOG OFF is a horror movie that’s been waiting on a shelf somewhere for almost five years. This is revealed during “behind the scenes” footage shown during the end credits. However, don’t let that keep you from watching it, as it is really well-made.

Sometimes good movies are just made with bad timing or something else goes wrong. With this one, it’s clearly not due to the quality of the movie, so you’ll want to check it out. A solid horror thriller with actors delivering remarkably organic portrayals – from home!

Continue reading our Don’t Log Off movie review below. Find it in select theaters on July 11, 2025, and on VOD from July 15, 2025.

Friendship during quarantine

In Don’t Log Off, we meet a group of friends celebrating the birthday of one of them over Zoom. This is during lockdown, so everyone was in quarantine and sheltering in place to help stop the spread of the raging pandemic in March 2020.

Everything is off to a great start, once everyone manages to log on, but then the birthday girl suddenly goes missing. She leaves to go check the door, and then never comes back.

OTHER LOCKDOWN MOVIES

Be sure to check out Shudder’s Host which became a viral hit >

Soon, it turns out that something is very wrong, and everyone on the Zoom call has a different reaction. Some believe it to be a prank, while others are scared that an accident (or attack?) could’ve happened to her.

Now, they must all use whatever tech skills they have to figure out how and why she disappeared. At first, they all try doing this while working remotely (as many of us did during Covid), and then it evolves to individual trips to her apartment.

Unfortunately, each time someone goes to her apartment, it tends to go wrong, and they lose contact.

Made in classic lockdown fashion

As with so many other filmmakers, the pandemic forced everyone to think outside the box. Several movies were made via Zoom and other video chat apps that allowed for storylines to play out on screen. This is one of the better movies of that type.

There are a few factual errors that threw me for a loop. Like the characters being very familiar with Tiger King, despite this true crime mega-hit being released on Netflix on March 20, 2020, and the story of this movie clearly playing out on March 21, 2020.

A small snafu that irritated me due to them not knowing about Don’t F**k with Cats, which was a true crime docu-series that came out in 2020. There’s a line where a character asks if this was a Tiger King spin-off.

Change it to “Is that a Catfish spin-off?!” and all would’ve been good.

Also, everyone is very accustomed to being in lockdown, but California’s lockdown happened on March 19, 2020. Just two days before the story plays out. I realize much happened before this, but then maybe just mention that it’s all very new.

Hearing about everyone being comfortable not wearing pants while at home just made it seem like we were months into the pandemic already. Anyway, I won’t let it take anything away from the quality of the movie. It just broke the illusion for me a few times.

Watch Don’t Log Off on VOD or find it in select theaters

Don’t Log Off comes from the writer-director duo Brandon Baer & Garret Baer, who share the credit as both writers and directors of the horror thriller. Despite my small issues with the factual tidbits, I was extremely well entertained by this movie.

This is both due to the core story being very efficient and because the cast made it all come together. I had no problem buying that this was a group of friends talking online. Their teasing and annoyances while caring deeply about each other came across perfectly.

Don’t Log Off stars several familiar faces, including Ariel Winter (Modern Family), Kara Royster (Jupiter’s Legacy), Brielle Barbusca (Scandal), Luke Benward (Lifeline), Jack Griffo (The Thundermans Return), Ashley Argota (The Fosters), and Khylin Rhambo (47 Meters Down: Uncaged).

In a strange way, Don’t Log Off is a good reminder of the days of lockdown, so I don’t mind it coming out now. Of course, had it been released much sooner, we could have already gotten more movies from Brandon Baer & Garret Baer.

Fingers crossed, more productions are coming from these filmmakers in the near future.

Don’t Log Off is out in limited theatrical release from July 11, 2025. You can also find it on VOD from July 15, 2025.

Details

Writers & Directors: Brandon Baer & Garret Baer
Cast: Ariel Winter , Brielle Barbusca, Luke Benward, Sterling Beaumon, Jack Griffo, Kara Royster, Ashley Argota, Khylin Rhambo