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“The Graduates,” by Ryan Gielen and co-starring Katy Wright-Mead of Fryeburg, is receiving strong reviews and acclaim at independent film festivals across the country.

WHAT'S COMING UP WHERE

Frontier Cafe

www.explorefrontier.com

Today to Saturday: "Frankenstein" (1931) and "The Golem" (1920). Some classic horror in time for Halloween. Two takes on the Frankenstein myth, the latter a decidedly Hassidic version.

Patriot Nickelodeon Theater

www.patriotcinemas.com

Friday: "A Serious Man." The Coen Brothers' new black comedy. 'Nuff said.  

Movies at the Museum

www.portlandmuseum.org

Friday to Sunday: "A Woman in Berlin." A true story of female victimization in Berlin, circa 1945.

I don't like Internet social networking. I understand that it "connects" people worldwide. I even see the potential for businesses and marketing tapping into that field. My basic problem is, our unified acceptance of Twitter, MySpace and Facebook is what allows the machines to take over, Terminator-style.

But I can't deny its impact. This past week, the No. 1 movie in the country was a little horror film called "Paranormal Activity" that cost $15,000 to make and is well on its way to grossing $60 million – and much of that success comes from a highly aggressive Twitter and Facebook campaign.

Paramount Studios made this film a success because it affixed it to a network with an influence that far exceeds that of radio and television – the implied tagline became, "If you're cool enough to get on Facebook, you can't afford to miss 'Paranormal Activity.'"

Filmmakers would be daft to neglect social networking. Hence the growing success of another small indie, Ryan Gielen's "The Graduates." Shot for a pittance (about $95,000, which wouldn't even cover the catering fees on "Transformers 2"), "The Graduates" is sweeping the indie circuit. It's already won the Best Comedy Award at the Seattle True Indie Fest as well as the Director Discovery Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

The sole reason the film has gotten noticed is online social networking.

Gielen has pushed it like a champ, and viewers are responding.

Now, if you're like me, and you eschew that whole phenomenon, why should you care?

One, the word on the film has been surprisingly positive. According to an interview with the Baltimore Sun, Gielen made the flick "as a response to the wave of insincere and lazy straight-to-DVD coming-of-age comedies that people have grown used to," taking a tried-and-true teen comedy premise (four high-school teens looking for sex during Senior Week) and subverting it in more human dimensions.

Two, it co-stars Fryeburg native Katy Wright-Mead, and we should support homegrown talent. We can't shower all our love on Rachel Nichols (Augusta-born star of "G.I. Joe") and Judd Nelson (the Portland-grown visionary headlining "The Breakfast Club").

And three, "The Graduates" has a special North Conway screening at the Twin Theater on Nov. 12 featuring both Gielen and Wright-Mead. Special indie screenings are this column's bread and butter.

Get on your Facebook page, make some room on MySpace, and even (I can't believe I'm writing this) fire off a tweet in support of "The Graduates."

I may not support the means, but the ends do justify them.

Josh Katz is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.