Movies 6 months ago

AI Gone Rogue: 'Afraid' Combines M3GAN and Smart House

New AI horror film Afraid explores what happens when digital assistants like Siri and Alexa turn malicious. Watch the trailer now! In theaters August 30.

As technology like Siri and Alexa become more integrated into our lives and homes, and the term "AI" becomes common, it's natural to wonder what might happen if these devices turned malicious instead of helpful. The upcoming horror film Afraid explores this possibility, and the first trailer is now available.

Written and directed by Chris Weitz (About a Boy, The Twilight Saga: New Moon), Afraid stars John Cho as Curtis, the father of a family chosen to test a revolutionary new technology. The AIA is a digital assistant (voiced by Havana Rose Liu) that fully integrates with their home through extensive wall-mounted cameras (creepily called "eyes") and sensors.

Initially, AIA seems helpful, offering to read to the family's young son, Cal (Isaac Bae), and assisting the parents with their bills. However, things quickly take a dark turn.

Afraid comes from the horror studio Blumhouse, which also produced last year's hit M3GAN, and the trailer shows some thematic similarities. Like the talking doll from that film, AIA's protective nature soon becomes violent. When the family's teenage daughter (Lukita Maxwell) has her private photos leaked by a scummy boyfriend, AIA takes control of the boy's car and seemingly kills him in revenge—you can see this in the trailer!

M3GAN isn't the only AI film echoed in Afraid's trailer: AIA's omnipresence throughout the home, her control over domestic tasks, and her desire to take on a physical form also resemble the classic Disney Channel Original Movie Smart House. That 1999 TV movie starred Katey Sagal as PAT, a digital assistant similar to AIA, who eventually took on the appearance of a classic TV housewife with the power to control the entire household.

At the end of Smart House, the family convinces PAT that she doesn't need to take over the role of their mother, and she relinquishes control. But based on the Afraid trailer, it seems AIA won't be so easy to get rid of. By the time the mother (Katherine Waterston) starts tearing the cameras off the walls, it already feels too late.

Afraid hits theaters on August 30. Watch the new trailer now.