Custom

The debut feature of Brazilian-born Tiago Teixeira, Custom is an uncomfortable chamber, psychologically intense exploration of personal boundaries, sexuality, and the allure-danger of moral compromise in online content creation.

The narrative centres around Harriet and Jasper - played by Rowan Polonski and Abigail Hardingham - a couple involved in producing bespoke erotic videos, a modern and relevant theme reflecting the increasing popularity of platforms like OnlyFans. 

As they take on more provocative and even disturbing requests from a mysterious, high-paying client, they are pulled into a surreal descent, facing questions of identity, control, and the fine line between performance and exploitation, to perform horrific rituals on videotape - all the while pulled into a much, much darker realm.

“Custom” plunges into the murky depths of its characters’ psyches, peeling back layers of desperation as they navigate financial strain and the unsettling demands of others’ fantasies. Teixeira masterfully reveals how their seemingly playful side hustle twists into a relentless, consuming spiral - an exploration of obsession that leaves innocence far behind.

The film takes on a tense, almost puritanical gaze at the couple’s choices, suggesting that the sinister spiral of their lives is a direct consequence of the moral grey areas in their work.

This perspective taps into the creeping discomfort of audiences who wrestle with society’s persistent shame around sex work - a line of work that, while more visible than ever, remains shrouded in stigma and judgment.

These compromises are far more disturbing and counterproductive than they anticipate. The film cleverly taps into society's collective discomfort with the world of sex work - a profession that is increasingly mainstream yet still weighed down by enduring taboos and prejudices. This societal unease resurfaces with a chilling intensity throughout the couple’s self-destructive spiral, turning their descent into something both personal and profoundly reflective of wider, more uncomfortable truths.

Teixeira’s use of eerie, distorted visuals and an oppressive soundscape mirrors Cronenberg’s body-horror style, with nightmarish sequences that blur reality and fantasy. The movie creates a “Lynchian” effect, where the viewer’s sense of time and space feels destabilized, pulling them into the characters’ psychological unravelling.

The imagery of videotapes and symbolic rituals serve as touchstones in the characters’ journey, reinforcing the theme of boundaries being dangerously crossed for money and artistic experimentation. "Custom" unfolds as a surreal, mind-bending descent into the commodification of intimacy, where the erosion of control leads to a haunting, irreversible dance on the precipice of the void.

The film is underdeveloped, with the 80-minute runtime stretched by abstract sequences rather than narrative depth. At times, some visual sequences feel repetitive, diminishing the sense of escalating tension and leaving the viewer with a nagging feeling that the suspense never quite reaches its full potential.

Regardless, “Custom” is a daring entry into psychological horror that questions the ethics and impacts of modern digital intimacy. It challenges audiences to consider what is lost when people trade parts of themselves for a price.