'Bad Peter' squarely occupies a decidedly minimal domain of sci-fi, in every sense. The only fictional element in this story is a highly intuitive, connected AI device that is keenly aware, and opinionated, about its owner's "needs." Yet with the ever-accelerating development of "smart" home or personal technology, the system showcased here doesn't seem especially far-fetched. This short feels much less like the product of imagination, and more like a cautionary tale of a despairingly possible future.
The crux of 'Bad Peter' lies in the direct link to the pervasive, persistent, repugnant efforts by the very worst of people to eliminate women's autonomy through state control. Already many areas have laws targeting trans people that are used as a means to harm all femme-presenting individuals, to say nothing of laws restricting the agency of pregnant people - used to subjugate their rights and render them secondary to the rights of a hypothetical person. With these in mind, the notion of a Peter in every home, forcing pregnant people into deeply prohibitive and even arbitrary social standards for the sake of a non-person at the expense of their own rights, feels less futuristic and more "the next great fight for the most basic of rights."
Simple as 'Bad Peter' is, writer-director Zach Strauss has concocted a small story at once riveting and immensely frightening, to the point that it's no great exaggeration to call this horror. The starring role of Rachel for actress Frankie Shaw doesn't require a great deal from her, yet she inhabits the role quite capably.
This is well made, and worth watching on its own merits as a short film. But for the urgent warning at its core, it also seems to me an important watch for all viewers as a call to action to protect civil rights. 'Bad Peter' isn't just recommended, it's essential.
