As genre goes, there is often a very thin line between sci-fi and horror, especially at the movies. With sci-fi frequently exploring advanced or emerging technologies and their impact on society, it is the kind of story that lends itself to worst-case scenarios that take the characters—and viewers—into frightening, horror territory. In recent years, we’ve seen more and more movies explore the integration of AI into our lives, examining the dangers it poses and now, a 2024 Blumhouse film that does just that is headed to Hulu.

Hitting Hulu on May 28th is Afraid. Written, directed, and produced by Chris Weitz, the film stars John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose, Liu, Lukita Maxwell, David Dastmalchian, and Keith Carradine and follows a family whose life is turned upside down in chilling ways when their smart home’s AI gets a little too integrated into their lives. The film didn’t fare well with critics and underperformed at the box office, but while the film certainly has its flaws, it’s a chilling look at just how blindly we trust AI and the negative consequences that may have.

Afraid Warns of What Happens When AI Is Allowed to Do Too Much

In Afraid, Curtis (Cho) is encouraged by his boss Marcus (Carradine) to utilize a new AI they’ve been designing by bringing it into their home. The AI is supposed to help improve and optimize their lives and routines as a family; however, things soon go awry as the program gains ever growing control over the family and strange and disturbing occurrences start to happen. Things get even more terrifying when it’s revealed that the program has developed self-awareness.

There is a lot about Afraid that doesn’t exactly work. The movie relies heavily on a lot of cliche story elements and a bit of handwaving when it comes to the science of things and the ending is particularly muddled rather than as chilling as it could be. However, there are quite a few truly unsettling things about Afraid that make it worth a watch. Particularly of interest is just how easily the characters allow AI to integrate itself into their lives. The AI is able to become such a threat because that’s the plot of the movie, yes, but it’s made easy by just how willingly and fully it is integrated by the characters. When the movie was released two years ago, the use of AI wasn’t quite as widespread and mainstream as it is now, but now that the rampant use of things like chatbots and other forms of automation are a part of daily discussion, Afraid looks a lot less like a slightly cheesy horror movie and more like something sinister—and a little too close to home.

Afraid arrives on Hulu May 28^th.

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