Alleged

Directed by Joe Foster

2025

Two conspiracy theorists walk into a shop. You can’t tell me that’s just a coincidence.

If you’re not in “the know”, the concept of a crisis actor is a person who is an actor, role player, volunteer, or other person who is portraying a disaster victim to help with emergency service training.

However, more recently the term has been hijacked for more nefarious means whereby certain corners of the internet believe these people are used for political ends. World events are curated and played-out by shady powers-that-be, creating “fake” global conspiracies and insinuating an undercurrent of deception and foul-play.

Shot in Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire, Alleged attempts to explore the themes around this concept in a film that tackles obsession and ‘false flag’ situations head on.

Ayo (Oré Sanderson) and Chris (Mark Wisdom) arrive at their work at a Motorcycle Clothing factory, and we discover Ayo has been injured in an accident - “ a stadium bombing” - yet Chris’ over-protectiveness smothers her as she tries to return to a semblance of normality.

But normality is not what she’s gonna get. A customer who wanders around the shop floor seems unnervingly intrigued by Ayo as he pretends to browse rows of motorcycle gloves. And as Chris leaves, and Ayo’s offer to help the customer is spurned, he too is confronted by a secondary man (Matt Barron as the creepy Ben ) who enters and, scarily, turns the shop sign to “Closed”.

After claiming to be interested in helmets, Ben begins angrily questioning Ayo on the bombing incident, her background and the injury she sustained. Yet her answers fall on deaf ears as we see him intent on getting to a “truth” that only he appears to know about. Ben ouitright states he “knows” there wasn’t an explosion and the incident was a hoax and Ayo is faking what happened to her.

Alleged sets up its characters convincingly and efficiently before exploring the issues it wishes to address. A seemingly mundane situation turns nasty quickly and the filmmaker brings attention to the obsessive nature of those fantasising about “cover-ups” with some quick dialogue and adversarial drama.

Recording this threatening behaviour is the first man we saw in the shop and the film explores concepts on online clout chasers acting as “justice-seeking” detectives and fixated on a worldview often created in their own minds.

Unbelievably, just last year I saw this concept play out in the reality as a very talented and kind local actor/filmmaker was accused of being a “plant” on BBC’s Question Time. The (anonymous of course) online account slinging the accusation, implied that the audience question he asked on the show must have been staged as the man had once won a film award. To prove it, a photo from our very own Midlands Movies Awards no less! Utter cretins.

More seriously though, we’ve seen over time - and very much this year - how the terminally online create wilder and wilder fictions. And like all good (unprovable) conspiracy theories nothing the victim can do or say will be accepted. Everything they do is a lie and must be exposed.

Matt Barron is excellent as the unhinged Ben, instilling the character with real menace. Oré Sanderson gives an equally impressive performance as someone aghast at the bullying behaviour. Her logic to defend herself is honourable, but her snarky comebacks undermine the accusations in an even better way, and shows the ludicrousness of the man’s theory.

But there’s a seriousness to the film that creates tension that will keep a viewer on the edge. The imprisoned location is a white knuckle ride of confined horror, and the verbal sparring later turns into a much more physical altercation involving all parties we’ve seen so far. And it’s rounded off by mobile phone footage of the aftermath and the continuing cycle of conspiratorial evil, turning people into morons who hate others.

Mixing contemporary concerns with cinematic flourishes, Alleged is a superbly made and impressive short film. It provides a more than decent expiration of legitimate concerns around the online/real-world consequences of conspiracy-theory. But it isn’t a sermon by any means. It roundly delivers thrilling moments, emotional engagement and captivating performances alongside its deeper themes, making it a not-to-be missed look into the dark obsessions of tin-foil fools.

★★★★½

4.5 / 5

Michael Sales

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