Blumhouse: The horror-forward studio where “if it works, it works.” That’s the best possible explanation we have for the AFRAID trailer (all caps, stylized for “AI” emphasis) including, beat-for-beat, the same scene that was in the M3GAN trailers. Specifically, the scene where a bully threatens the protagonist’s kid and an artificially intelligent helper takes things way too far and kills the bully. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and this time throw in John Cho for good measure. Coming to a theater near you on August 30!
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AFRAID was written and directed by Chris Weitz and stars Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu, Lukita Maxwell, David Dastmalchian, and Keith Carradine. Per the official synopsis (via IGN), “Curtis (John Cho) and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant called AIA. Taking smart home to the next level, once the unit and all its sensors and cameras are installed in their home, AIA seems able to do it all. She learns the family’s behaviors and begins to anticipate their needs. And she can make sure nothing—and no one—gets in her family’s way.”
Speaking of smart homes, while AFRAID shares obvious DNA with M3GAN, it also strongly resembles that Disney Channel Original Movie classic Smart House. Millennials know exactly what they’re getting into when the house A.I. starts saying things like, “Think of me like another mom.” PAT already did that shit back in 1999! And she, too, tormented the protagonist’s bully. Nothing new under the sun, it would seem.
Unfortunately, the easy comparisons don’t do this trailer any favors, and the jump scares don’t really help to set the film apart. One of AIA’s sinister moves is to show one of the young kids an explosion on his tablet. She creepily offers to introduce another one of the children to her friends and asks if he wants to see what she looks like, which, as she appears to John Cho, is a creepy person in a nightgown with an elongated, alien face. She also hilariously edits a photo of the kids so that they have big bug eyes and enormous, spooky smiles.
It’s not particularly scary, but it is awesome. Whether it’s enough to reach M3GAN levels of cult classic is another story.