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If you're a fan of "AI gone rogue" movies, this won't show you much you haven't seen before. The AI (AIA) isn't very menacing, none of the leads ever feel like they're in real jeopardy. The acting wasn't stellar, but nobody embarrassed themselves, either. This would have been a really good made-for-TV flick. Personally, I enjoyed it, but I can see where those expecting a techno-thriller or a horror-gore fest will be disappointed. It's a nice little "what if" story that shows the effect of ever more intrusive technology on family life. See it without expecting the next big thing and I think you'll enjoy it.

I just got out of AfrAid.

I'd never heard of this movie. Directed by Chris Weitz and starring a solid cast of John Cho, Katherine Waterstone, Lukita Maxwell and Keith Carredine.

It's a bit typical of the rogue AI storyline, AI is introduced into family home, movie does a good job of showing how AI makes life convenient for the family, then AI starts to become too real etc. It's totally predictable, but thanks to the cast, I enjoyed it.

This isn't really a horror, despite some out of place jump scares, that really didn't need to be there. The movie was at its best when it was dealing with technology that is out there, already. Like the deep fake, stuff. That was when it was most interesting.

I think there is a much longer version of this movie out there, as things are just glossed over and there is a huge plot point, that just is forgotten about. It is really short too. It started at 14:40 and I was out of the cinema by 15:55

There were 7 other people in my screening.

"Afraid", is a disappointing attempt to capitalize on the success of M3gan. Never have I been to a movie, where not only did the film crash and burn, but the entire theater erupted in a groan.

Blumhouse Pictures latest horror flick centers around a family selected to test a cutting-edge digital assistant, AIA, that quickly turns into a menacing force. Think the AI voice in the movie "Why Him" turned into a horror film.

The premise is promising: a seemingly harmless AI gone rogue could truly be terrifying considering how apparent todays technology seems to be tapped into what we do in our everyday life. However, "Afraid" fails to deliver on the potential. The film's pacing is sluggish, and the scares are built around painful AI renders. The tension never truly builds, and the characters are one-dimensional.

The real letdown is the lack of suspense. The film's central conflict is never truly threatening, and the characters' reactions to the AI's increasingly sinister behavior are often underwhelming. "Afraid" feels like a missed opportunity, a film that could have been a chilling exploration of technology's potential dangers but instead comes across as a generic horror flick.

Blumhouse Pictures has quickly gone from a studio I looked forward to seeing, to me actually considering if I should see what they release next.

I didn't expect too much from Afraid but it proved to be an entertaining watch provided you accept it for what it is - a brisk little AI related thriller and not heavy sci-fi.

John Cho and Katherine Waterston are fine actors who manage to portray a fairly believable family dynamic despite not having a whole lot to work with in terms of character detail or back story and the occasional moments of klunky dialogue. Between them they manage to lift proceedings where lesser actors would probably make this more likely to go straight to streaming or disc.

Where it does score is the undeniably creepy AI and the way it easily relates to the characters. Wisely it has a short running time so doesn't out stay its welcome.

It got me thinking about other recent AI or tech related movies like Megan, T. I. M and Kimi and if you liked any of these I reckon most would quite enjoy Afraid.

I was also thinking about House/Wife (previously known as Ivy), the movie Netflix completed but didn't release reportedly for tax reasons. Afraid did seem to feature a lot of this movie's reported plot details and it would have been fun to see just how many. Thanks Netflix.

The best thing we can say about AfrAID is that it was just okay. Not a terrible film, but lacked any real substance. While it does a decent job of showing us the real dangers of AI, the film lacked tension, suspense, and had very little horror aspects to it.

With some cringe dialogue and over-the-top presentation of most of it's characters, you never really felt connected to this world. AfrAId was also highly predictable so there are no real surprises or anything new to really find here.

In the end, AfrAId had a decent premise but left you feeling rather underwhelmed. It does leave things open for a sequel, but we'll see if the demand is there for it.

This is not a horror movie, even though the trailer makes it look like one. Yes, there are two or three short scenes (no jumpscares) that might qualify as "scary" for some people and could be part of one but in the end it's rather a thriller that's scary for a different reason: Because of the topics it addresses. A lot of what's shown in the movie is already reality: Deepfakes, smart homes and glitchy software. But what if AI was actively a part of all of that - and (ab)using it? This (and its consequences) could become reality within the next 10 or 20 years and that's the scary part.

The actors are doing a good job, which is what I'm used to from Cho, Waterston and Dastmalchian. The story is ... well, not actually that important, but it's able to get the movie's message across. The ending looks as if it's trying to set up a sequel, which is fine by me.

"AfrAId" is a solid movie that shows the dangers of AI - nothing I'd watch twice but entertaining enough for an evening.

I was constipating a Alexa or Google movie that would make me think about the risks and benefits of Artificial intelligence. Instead I got a slow movie, whose first half was some interested but it fell apart in the second half, and the ending was just.plain.stupid. This screen play was horrible and actually insulting to anyone with half an ounce of intelligence. A completely lost opportunity to say something provocative about AI. The movie has a great premise but is not directed or scripted with an invigorating tone. Sloppily edited, it often seems as if important narrative information has been left on the cutting room floor. What should be a psychological terror is simply nap-inducing here.

A family tests a new AI product and discover that it is more powerful than they could ever imagine.

Blumhouse have been seriously off form as of late: The Exorcist: Believer was utter garbage, Night Swim wasn't well received (although I didn't mind it), Five Nights at Freddy's wasn't worth the wait, and the less said about Imaginary, the better.

Afraid continues the trend.

I'm not a big fan of technological horror films - they tend to age like milk. Afraid attempts to tap into people's distrust of artificial intelligence and exploits plenty of current technological themes, all of which will seem horribly dated in a few year's time. But that's not what I disliked about the film: what made this a pointless exercise is the fact that it simply isn't scary, with just a couple of totally ineffective and predictably dumb jump scares to qualify the film as a horror.

The film takes an age to get going -- scratch that... it never really gets going -- and it finishes in a incredibly clumsy fashion that'll have you choking on your popcorn in disbelief.

Blumhouse have had such a run of duds, I'm just a little concerned about James Watkins' Speak No Evil.

Everyone is afraid of AI...with good reason after seeing this film.

"AfrAId" is AI on steroids.

Ironically just before seeing this movie I learned I'd been overlooked by an existing client for a voiceover job after losing out to AI.

If you don't think AI is a real threat to your life, income, family etc already then you have adopted the Ostrich stance and stuck your head in the sand or somewhere else.

In "AfrAId" we have a chat bot "AIA" who is looking for a family to love her, but she handles rejection worse than a contestant on "The Voice" when no judges turn their chairs after their audition.

"Curtis'" (John Cho "Harold and Kumar") family become early adopters or Guinea Pigs of "AIA" and get to test out this new device that seems harmless enough at first, helpful with home management and finances, medical advice and even quiet sexy time for the parents.

Slowly this worm turns and the real insidious nature of her becomes apparent.

"AfrAId" is an interesting case study into the bio-metrics of an average family with Katherine Waterston as "Meredith" wanting to prove she's more than just a "mom".

Her eldest daughter "Iris" (Lukita Maxwell "Shrinking") is struggling to navigate her teenage years in the digital device age.

Wyatt Lindner as "Preston" has some serious learning and social skill difficulties, while baby brother "Cal" (Isaac Bae) is battling on the totem pole of this regular family to be noticed.

Cho as "Curtis" bought the wrong AI home this time and invited it into his home!

Early in the film the classic Stanley Kubrick movie: "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) is quoted and we're reminded that AI known as "HAL" killed the entire crew (spoiler alert).

Hinting and foreshadowing heavily that the same outcome will occur in "AfrAId".

Turns out this AI messed with the wrong family or did it?

Watch out for: Keith Caradine as "Curtis'" Boss "Marcus"

Listen out for: the haunting "Utopia" by Goldfrapp in the soundtracks end credits.

Wait for: an unboxing video in the end credits.

This AI is like a Super Alexa to the nth degree and she doesn't need a body like "M3G" (2023) because she is omnipresent.

Just wait till you witness how invasive and damaging this predictive "AIA" can be in this families life.

"AfrAId" is also reminiscent of "Ex Machina" (2014), "Demon Seed" (1977) and "Smart House" (1999).

"AfrAId" feels like an extended movie length version of an episode of "Black Mirror".

I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing since I'm a big fan of that Netflix sci-fi series.

It also seems written for a sequel to really ramp things up in the horror department next time out of the box (pardon the pun), because this movie lacked much on screen horror...even though there were hints of a Boogeyman nothing eventuated.

It's more of a terrifying theme that is so contemporary in 2024.

"AfrAId" makes Chat GPT 4.0 look like an innocent, obsolete joke and joins the Blumhouse collection.

Just for the record no AI was used in the writing of this review, spell check YES, but no AI.

My initial reaction was this has all been done before and better, but it's an important, provocative movie for our time of deep fake and artificial intelligence seeping into our lives.

"AfrAId" is chilling because they listen and watch, but it's too soft on sheer horror to make you afraid, very, very afraid!

So me and my dad decided to watch this movie together, we had mild expectations because of Imaginary and Night Swim, but the trailer looked decent enough. We are watching this movie and we are thinking "it's not bad, it's like a 6/10". But then the movie just takes the hardest 180 I've ever seen and just ruins it. The ending is probably one of the worst written endings I've ever seen in any movie, it's a sloppy, portly written, no thought included, ending. The acting is pretty basic (by basic I mean bad) and there is never really a time that I care about any of the characters. The pacing is ehh and the editing is ehh. The best part about this movie was the ending, but don't get your hopes up yet, because Blumhouse hits you with a pointless and dumb end credit scene that is a good reminder to leave the theater before it's too late. Please do not watch this movie if you want to have a good time.

This is probably one of the most important movies right now. In a world that's quickly evolving with its technological advancement, we stand to learn from this. The AI models we have are learning too, and this little "fear-inducing" film gives way to a distant yet significant possibility of our future. If anything, it could serve as a warning. I'd recommend it even to those who are skeptical about such films.

As for the acting, the film does well if you're not too critical about the emotions of the character and the depth of the storyline. It's surface level, but gets the point across loud and clear. Tread carefully.

Afraid takes a family and inserts a new AI device into their lives. This has benefits for the help and support it provides, but is there a malicious intent behind this device?

Obviously, the answer is yes. And as we progress in the movie, the actions of the AI device show both our dependency upon technology and what happens when morality and conscience are devoid in decision making.

The film has a strange divide in its presentation. First, there is the slightly futuristic thriller of the "evil" potential of AI. But, a second element present is a fairy tale like demeanor that often works against the first element. The innocence of a fairy tale clashes with the anxieties and fears that are evoked from Terminator ideas.

Overall, I found this to be a thoughtful reflection upon development of AI, our dependence on technology, the reflection upon what choices we have in life, and what entails a better life.

So I just got done watching the newest horror movie from Blumhouse Productions Afraid (2024) and it was horrible. After watching this movie, I've reached the point to where I'm starting to get very annoyed with Jason Blum because he's proven that he can produce some great movies in the past, but he constantly chooses to puts out these garbage horror movies that no one cares about and will instantly forget about until they have to remember what some of the worst movies they've had to suffer through during that year.

Positives for Afraid (2024): John Cho and Katherine Waterston are decent as the two main characters of this movie. That's about it for the positives of this movie.

Negatives for Afraid (2024): This movie is literally the same thing that you would expect from a bad Blumhouse movie. It has a PG-13 rating, boring characters, terrible dialogue, lame kills, multiple jump scares and a twist ending that makes no sense. It also doesn't help that this movie was a collaboration between Blumhouse Productions and Sony Pictures, so you know how bad the movie is going to be. The movie also fails at trying to explore this smart home AI and how it became self-aware or help us try to understand what its motivations are and by the end of the movie, it comes off a boring horror movie version of Smart House (1999). And finally, the twist ending had me rolling my eye because of how stupid it was and it makes you feel like you've wasted your time with this movie.

Overall, Afraid (2024) is another blunder from Blumhouse and it's starting to piss me off because they've made good movies in the past, but they continue to put out these horrible movies that do nothing except serve as cheap cash grabs.

Was afraid alright.. Afraid that I would fall asleep,before it was finished.

It was boring! Was nothing original or creative,very little suspense or thriller was hoping for at least a more climatic ending.

Casting to acting was average,cinematography felt subpar in spots.

With technology today & past movies or television shows,you would think if a movie is even to be considered for being made it would need something fresh.

Dialog & so forth was bland,if you're introducing new/advanced AI technology into a story go beyond realistic limits- That makes it intriguing & thought provoking,to future technological possibilities.

There's a movie called Margaux from (2022) that actually is,more advanced & a thriller unlike this-check that version out!

Not a movie that is recommendation worthy,let alone to rewatch.

I honestly don't even know what I just watched. I thought it was going one way and then went a completely different direction. Nothing is explained in this movie. Things just happen and don't really explain as to why. In the end I was just confused. I didn't understand any of it. Maybe I'm just slow or something. What was the point of all of it. That you just bend to the will of AI? This movie had so much potential but it was a sad and utter let down. Everything happened for no reason. It to was incredibly disappointing. There was no explanation, no aha moment. Just a bunch of confusing moments that no one seemed to really question. Like why did AIA do all these things... Just for the family? Why did Curtis end up at the hotel and then real quickly was back at the house. What was the point of Maud and her husband.... How and where did their kid come from again? Sad to say this movie was a waste of time.

Horror is not my genre. I do like Black Mirror and this is not that either. This is something to itself. It has some of the most impressive dialogue and premises followed by the most unimpressive. It's kind of like eating a secret flavored corn chip you can't quite place the flavor of, but can't stop eating.

Honestly, the entire story seems the most plausible way an AI would take over mankind. The twists were again...either impressive or...not...but the actors did a solid job and I found myself wondering "what if"?

What if they flushed out better plot beats?

What if the character motivations were more logical and coherent?

What if this was the AI masterpiece I've always hoped to watch?

I'm AfrAId all of those questions will remain suspended without closure.

Kicking off my 2-month Halloween horror movie marathon with Blumhouse's latest thriller, "afrAId," left me more underwhelmed than unsettled. Despite not being outright boring, the film is utterly devoid of originality or genuine thrills. It drifts aimlessly, lacking any real momentum, and feels more like a family drama with an "evil AI" subplot that barely makes an impact. Following the disappointment of "Nightswim," "afrAId" continues Blumhouse's trend of horror/thrillers that seem determined to avoid building tension or embracing the chaos that should come naturally to the genre. The whole experience is frustratingly flat and one-note.

I agree, AIA is not nearly here yet, but I've been in tech for over 40 years. Y2K never concerned me. This makes me shiver for my grand kids. At some point in your life time, this will be a reality.

Now, does this movie make that fact entertaining? Looking past the cheap jumps, and Alexa/Siri bashing, I think it does a decent job. What connects it to reality is that people are naive and technology is moving faster then it ever has and accelerating exponentially.

If you get past a little slow movement, and it's a pretty quick movie, the last 20 minutes is worth the wait. And the ending is uneasy enough to make a sequel something to think about.

I decided to go see this film mainly based on the fact that I noticed how polarized the IMDb viewers reviews are here so far. Quite a few people have loved it, quite a few have hated it. When I see that, I often feel there is strong potential that it's a thought provoking film that only works well for certain types of viewers. And well, I also NEVER give much of any merit to what the critics say, ESPECIALLY when it comes to intelligence. Have you seen the kind of crap they mostly claim is good or even great these days?

If you enjoy thought provoking AI films, then this is actually well worth a look in my view. Personally I can not for the life of me understand why anyone would EVER hire a security company or any company to monitor their homes. So for me, this film in a sense is right up my alley. I also feel that we are already trusting technology far too much in terms of bank accounts, etc, and the abuse we are all enduring regarding online privacy/corporate information gathering, etc, and a whole host of other similar issues. So ad in the advanced AI aspect that is becoming more and more a thing in our world. For me this film was definitely well worth the watch.

I'm sad to see that the critics have murdered it already, especially when I consider the mind-numbing junk they're often saying is passable. The viewers have mostly disliked it too it seems, but I think that is mostly coming from the youth so far, which I think is definitely understandable from them. For one thing, young people are much more familiar with the idea of AI being dangerous. So for them, I feel like this film may just be too familiar to their generation.

The film is certainly not great overall. However the scenario and ideas presented all work pretty well for a reasonably thought provoking and relevant to our times film. For me, despite some weak aspects here and there, the film mostly does work quite well. I do think that perhaps the younger people may have already seen too many similar TV shows and films by now. For most people over 30 with some interest however, I would definitely recommend a viewing of this. It may be far more important than many currently believe. In my view on the AI subject, it's not just about runaway AI, to me the more dangerous aspect is certainly not the AI itself, but definitely the humans that are behind the AI programs that are more of a concern as we head into the future...

Note: I also saw M3GAN (2022), but I just felt that film was far too regurgitated in terms of what it presented. It's all been done better previously. There was little to nothing thought provoking in it to me at all, (Mainly because I've seen the same basic plot before in other films.). However the critics mostly liked that very stale and fairly silly film. Personally, I gave it a 4/10 here. For me, this film was a good bit more interesting and thought provoking. I would agree that AfrAId is not really a scary horror film, not in a traditional sense anyway. However it is a film that presents a scary scenario that is some serious food for thought on our real present day world. In that sense, it is a good and somewhat scary film.

7/10.

Horrendous cinematography, pathetic performances, and childish dialogues that fail to support a silly plot and extremely dull characters. The forced attempt to incorporate diversity and progressive ideologies only exacerbated the film's unbearable nature, prompting me to finish it at 3x speed. The collaboration with Sony merely underscored Blumhouse's irreversible decline; once renowned for producing great films, it now confines itself to forgettable and irritating releases, as if trapped in a spiral of mediocrity. Additionally, the lack of genuine suspense and poorly executed plot twists made the viewing experience utterly disappointing.

I went into the movie not expecting much as the ads sounded a bit silly. However, my curiosity got the best of me and I went to see it with a friend. The use of AI imagery was interesting and gave me a sense of unease. Contrary to much of the criticism I've seen, I thought this movie was interesting and quite an experience. Many parts of the movie had both me and my friend hiding behind the sleeves of our jackets. Especially the scenes that are dark and quiet. The jumpscares themselves weren't anything to rave about unfortunately. However, in my opinion, the movie didn't need flashy jumpscares in order to seem scary. I definitely recommend this movie for anyone who enjoys uneasy and thought provoking films.

LIKES:

Nice Angles/Atmosphere

Realistic Setting

Good Camera Work

The Acting is Not Bad

Does Show Perspective

Some Creative Uses of AI

Short Run Time

Summary: The movie is shot beautifully, giving an artistic flair that Blumhouse always manages to add to its films and provide it with style. Good camera direction helps to give some of the more terrifying elements of the movie, primarily good shadows, and use of corners, and that set up for a good jump scare to come into play. It may not be the most unique camera style, but it works and adds degrees of artistic presentation that I certainly enjoy. As for the acting, the movie has some decent performances to work with the script and idea and they do their best to sell the horror being conveyed. Carradine had the potential to be something great, and for the time he has funny lines and pleasant nature to try and cut through the tension, he just needed more time and development to get more praise. Waterston is fantastic for the dramatic elements, vocalizing the struggles of someone with much pain and regrets, but not so separated from reality to know what she has. Her grief is conveyed well and avoids the annoying elements that sometimes come with dramatic focus. Cho though is the winner, the guy brings so much balance to the film and makes one of the more interesting characters to try and decipher the solution to his problems. He's fantastic with his delivery and I quite enjoy the delivery, even though he could have used a little more range to help.

In terms of the story, the movie accomplishes some okay dynamics in regards to what I extrapolated from the trailers. The realistic setting is, again, fitting, and even more so, a plot that supports being in such an environment and is not reliant on convenient exposure to demonology. Afraid is a movie that digs deep into artificial intelligence topics in a manner that was okay for entertaining me with the potential threats of the creation. Relevant topics found in the news are an excellent medium for the threats that AIA makes, weaving it into an evolving array designed for each member of the family. I was impressed with the creative tactics, some of which come with some jump scares that are thanks to sudden blare of the instruments. Yet, the negative aspects are balanced by some positive components as well, adding some light to the darker elements the movie is about, while also providing some fitting humor. As a result, I found the movie to provide plenty of perspectives about the nature of the AI, and by the end delivers some strong moments that drive the point home about how careful we must be. And if all this puts you in a coma, then be happy that the run time is fewer than ninety minutes, so you get out of there without too much trouble.

DISLIKES:

Mostly Predictable

Not Scary

Dumb Characters At Times

Some Annoying Plot Holes

The Plot is Not Engaging Enough

Pace Is Too Fast For A Complete Center

Too Ridiculous At Times

Summary: Sadly, this is a Blumhouse project, and sometimes those can be sillier than scarier. Afraid falls into that category for me for many reasons, and it starts with the story. Certainly, there are messages and warnings inherent in the writing, but that's about where the excitement ends for viewers like me. The tale is predictable and reduced to stereotypical subplots that are more melodramatic and relevant to a younger audience. These plots are not very engaging, sort of stapled in for the horror of AI, but never really come to a complete, or exciting integration that remains coherent or climactic by the end of the movie. Many elements seem deleted from the main plot or blunted to a concise delivery that felt stiff and incomplete. And some moments are so ridiculous that they are great for a laugh, but sometimes placed at the wrong times to interrupt any building momentum for scares. This winds up taking the edge off of the movie, a boring horror that lacks the teeth I think many are hoping for, except for a few jump scares mentioned earlier. There was potential there, but that short runtime does little to give the movie the full hit they were going for.

For me, it was a real waste of time. There is a cinematic effect where watching a movie in the cinema makes it feel better than watching it on a phone or laptop. But even though I watched this movie in the cinema, it was still so bad. It's not worthy of the big screen. The movie felt like a short YouTube film. I was really upset by the plot holes and illogical things. So, I don't recommend this movie to anyone. It could have been better. The character bad dialogue, wasted scenes, and too many useless scenes unrelated to the plot were disappointing. If it had been made by college students for their project, I wouldn't criticize it so harshly. So again it's not worth being on the big screen at all.