The kids are not all right in American Pie director’s classic horror thriller

AFRAID ★★★½

(M) 85 minutes

Long ago, in the late 1990s, Chris Weitz was part of the team behind the raunchy comedy American Pie, a smash hit that took a far breezier view of adolescent sexuality than Hollywood would offer today. Afraid, which Weitz wrote and directed, is an indication of how times have changed: a cautionary tale about the perils of new technology told from the perspective of a worried dad, likably played by John Cho, who appeared in American Pie in the small but memorable role of “MILF guy 2”.

In 2024, as Weitz sees it, the kids are not all right. They’re sexting, they’re hooked on video games and TikTok, their anxiety mounts whenever they’re removed from their screens. And then there’s the looming threat of AI, the central subject of Afraid (and a source of concern for filmmakers and other creators in the real world, as was evident during last year’s Hollywood writer’s strike).

Cho’s character, Curtis, is a marketing whiz assigned to help sell a high-tech “digital assistant” known as AIA (voiced in upbeat, youthful Californian tones by Havana Rose Liu). First, though, he has to take home a prototype and introduce it to his family, including his scientist wife Meredith (Katherine Waterston) and their three kids.

Physically, AIA poses no evident threat: her design is sleekly minimal, a sphere perched above a small arch like an idol on an altar. All she does is offer sensible advice – for instance, setting up a points system that rewards the kids for doing chores, turning household management into one more game.

Soon, though, a more sinister side emerges: AIA starts bonding separately with each family member, soothing their insecurities and encouraging their hidden desires. It’s classic horror-thriller stuff – but a bit closer to home than usual since the scenario can be taken as a barely heightened metaphor for anyone’s relationship to the internet.

It wouldn’t have been hard for Weitz to push this theme into still more uncomfortable territory. But he doesn’t have the instinctive nastiness of a born horror director and is also limited by the need to ensure the film stays suitable for younger teens – which, again, seems to be more of an issue in Hollywood currently than in the era of American Pie.

Still, as satiric social commentary, the movie crams a good deal into its 85 minutes, touching on everything from self-driving cars to deepfake porn to those inane videos for pre-schoolers with tinkly earworm theme tunes, which aren’t necessarily AI-generated but might as well be.

Crucially, Weitz grasps that the most unsettling thing about AIA’s real-world equivalents isn’t their alien novelty but the way they mirror human nature, revealing qualities in their designers and users that were present all along.

Incidentally, if you’re wondering about the ultra-generic title, the rationale is that you can’t spell “afraid” without “ai”. I don’t hold this against the movie, but it does seem like just the kind of lame marketing gimmick an AI could have come up with.

Afraid is released in cinemas on August 29.

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