The topic of artificial intelligence is a hot-button issue globally. Yet, it’s been one on Hollywood’s mind for quite some time. Countless films, ranging from 2001: A Space Odyssey to The Terminator, tackle the idea of computer programs gaining sentience at the cost of humans. The current reality of A.I. is a bit more mundane, though no less dystopian, as the advent of A.I. integration threatens jobs occupied by actual human beings, especially in the entertainment industry. A thoughtful, well-considered horror movie surrounding the rise of A.I. as it is at the moment has been a long time coming. Blumhouse’s Afraid (styled AfrAId) is not that movie.
Instead, Afraid, as written-directed by Chris Weitz (the auteur behind American Pie and The Twilight Saga: New Moon) is hilariously bad. A so bad it’s good trashterpiece of sorts, Afraid is a movie so ill-conceived, so scattershot, so deeply confused about what it’s supposed to be that it might as well have been written by A.I. itself. Closer to an exploitation film looking to make a quick buck off of the fervor surrounding A.I. than an actual comment on anything, Afraid is the kind of movie YouTube commentators will be making content out of for years to come.
An over-abundance of dead ends in Afraid
Afraid focuses on Curtis (John Cho), Meredith (Katherine Waterston), and their three kids Iris (Lukita Maxwell), Preston (Wyatt Lindner), and Cal (Isaac Bae) have a somewhat idyllic existence. Outside of the normal pains of growing up, they all love each other and try to minimize screen time in favor of growing together as a family. Curtis works for some kind of vague tech company, where his associate Marcus (Keith Carradine) encourages him and his family to be part of the pilot program for AIA- a new A.I. assistant created by wunderkinds Lightning (David Dastmalchian) and Sam (Ashley Romans).
From the jump, the premise is flimsy. AIA is delivered by employee Melody (Havana Rose Liu), so, of course, AIA takes her voice. After growing pains, the family accepts their new virtual nanny, until it starts going rogue, threatening to break the family apart. If that sounds like a traditional set-up for a “tech gone mad” story, it is, but Chris Weitz‘s screenplay is all over the place. There’s no method to how AIA slowly gets her hooks into the family, nor is there really any clear introspection into how AIA changes over develops. Afraid more often than not resembles a collection of scattershot moments trying to creep the audience out over the A.I.’s growing control.
Here’s the thing: Afraid completely fails at that. Havana Rose Liu‘s vocal performance is stale, Javier Aguirresarobe‘s cinematography lifeless, and not for a second does AIA seem like an actual reflection of A.I. at all. Afraid is very successful at being unintentionally funny, however. When Preston asks for extra screen time from AIA, try not to laugh at her response, in spite of yourself. Moreover, there’s a comically misguided subplot where Iris’ boyfriend spreads around her nude pictures (the character is a minor) so AIA gets him in hot water with the law for distributing materials of a minor. And the movie frames this as a bad thing! On the other end of the spectrum, AIA teaching the youngest son about “swatting” (calling in a false emergency to get armed officers somewhere) is treated as a good thing.
What makes Afraid so confounding above all is the sheer amount of narrative threads it drops. How exactly are Melody and AIA related? What is the deal with those nefarious figures wearing masks? Is the internet responsible for making AIA the way it is? All of these are decently interesting questions that hit a wall when you realize that Afraid has no intent on answering them. In a third act that is one ridiculous moment after another, trying to find clarity is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, only the haystack is next to an infinite number of identical haystacks. All you can do is laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.
John Cho and Katherine Waterston look lost
It’s unclear what type of movie Afraid wants to be because the actors don’t seem to know what type of movie they’re in. John Cho should be one of Hollywood’s go-to reliable leading men. Even the Night Swims of the world give their lead somewhat of a showcase. Instead, he’s here slumming it in a low-rent Blumhouse production, searching for any opportunity to add gravitas beyond “concerned dad”. At least Cho has an archetype to fall back on. Katherine Waterston is given absolutely nothing to work with, bending over backwards to try and find an angle on her confusingly inconsistent character. Afraid feels like a talent graveyard for actors who truly are better than this.
If Afraid was intended to usher in a new era of with the children, it failed. Isaac Bae as Cal doesn’t register at all beyond “cute kid”. Wyatt Lindner gets something of a sketch of a character, with vague gesturing towards his obsession with his iPad. Lukita Maxwell really, really tries to do something with a character that the script has act in no way like any human teenager ever has. Essentially, Afraid utterly feels to build any sort of foundation with its central family.
At the very least, some of the supporting cast has fun. Havana Rose Liu, you deserve much better than a movie that doesn’t know how to use your magnetic screen presence, but you do an excellent job trying to make your in-the-flesh bit part as Melody memorable and your AIA voice is appropriately creepy. And hey, David Dastmalchian and Ashley Romans appear to be having fun as two very over-the-top portrayals of tech moguls!
Afraid movie has nothing to say
You’d think that a film with a concept as timely as Afraid, there’d be some attempt to try and say something, anything about A.I. Depressingly, it may have less to say than The Creator‘s loose use of the term. Afraid wants to be critical of the technology, but also show its benefits. It wants to emphasize how inhuman it is via opening credits that use actual A.I. images, but also suggests that AIA might actually be sentient. It may be a good thing that AIA is sentient, or it may be a disaster. Or – and hear me out – it’s possible that the filmmakers behind Afraid had no coherent thoughts on a hot-button issue and wanted to make a quick buck off of a trending topic.
There’s a mystery that doesn’t take an A.I. to solve, because it’s clear as day: Afraid is a techsploitation film, through and through. Thinly written, confusingly acted, and completely inconsistent in every way that matters, Afraid is bottom of the barrel for tech-based horror. It’s also very watchable. Afraid will go down as a time capsule of the modern era, a shoddily duct-taped together piece of media preying on modern fears with dollar signs in its eyes. For that reason, you’ve got to learn to love something this shamelessly ignorant of the subject it’s portraying and is flagrantly shoddy. Or at least, that’s what I tell myself to justify 84 minutes with Afraid.
Afraid is now playing in theaters. Have you seen this movie yet? What did you think? Let us know on social media @mycosmiccircus!
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