23/30
AIA learns the family’s behavior and begins to anticipate their needs
Chronology
The Curtis family is chosen to test a new household appliance: a digital assistant called AIA. And it can make sure nothing – and no one – gets in the way of her family. Blumhouse Productions has been a driving force in the horror genre since Paranormal Activity became a worldwide sensation in 2007. See how IMDb users rate all of Blumhouse’s horror films since 2007.
Cal: Ten points for Gryffindor!
In the trailer, when the family opens the box and AIA appears for the first time, it says “Hello, world.” This is a reference to the first program most people write when learning to code or starting out with a new programming language. It’s one of the most basic programs you can write, and serves not only as a first step for beginners, but also as confirmation that the development environment is set up correctly. In the kitchen, Maud visibly unplugs AIA, but seconds later, when she orders AIA to turn on the lights, AIA somehow gets plugged back in and obeys. There’s a brief scene during the end credits.
Featuring Emoji Movie (2017)
I Love YouWritten by Chris Weitz and Alex WestonPlayed by Alex Weston. I didn’t expect too much from Afraid, but it was entertaining provided you accept it for what it is – a brisk little AI thriller rather than a heavy sci-fi film. John Cho and Katherine Waterston are good actors who manage to portray a somewhat believable family dynamic, though they don’t have much to work with in terms of character detail or backstory and there are occasional moments of choppy dialogue. Together, they manage to elevate the proceedings to a new level where lesser actors would likely release the film straight via streaming or disc.
The film is wisely short so it doesn’t stick in the mind for too long
What the film does score points for is the undeniably creepy AI and the way it easily identifies with the characters. It got me thinking about other recent films about AI or technology like Megan, T.I.M and Kimi and if you liked any of those films I’d guess most people would enjoy Afraid. I also thought about House/Wife (formerly known as Ivy), the film that Netflix finished but reportedly didn’t release for tax reasons. Afraid had many of the reported plot details from that film and it would have been interesting to see how many. Thanks, Netflix.