Technohorror is nothing new, with films from The Terminator to M3GAN commenting on society’s fears of technology. However, Chris Marrs Piliero’s Appofeniacs promises an interesting spin on that subgenre, exploring how people using (and misusing) technology is what we should really feel, only to squander this intriguing premise on an overly messy screenplay.
Appofeniacs Review
The film follows a group of people whose paths intertwine in a spectacularly bloody and violent manner after a series of AI-generated deepfake videos are unleashed in the world. The result is a triptych of interconnected tales that blends action and technohorror with aggressively energetic yet not always effective results.
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Appofeniacs is the type of movie that wears its influences on its sleeve. You can tell that Piliero is absolutely in love with Tarantino. From the Pulp Fiction-style mosaic narrative to a recurring joke (and an admittedly funny one, at that) involving Django Unchained, Piliero is not ambiguous about the fact that his film is basically a Tarantino-style thriller for the digital era.
The first act of the film deals heavily in archetypes, with stupid characters making stupid horror movie decisions. And while you know that Piliero is going to subvert these tropes — the film’s pacing is moving too quickly for it to be a basic slasher — it’s a chore to get through this very dull and uninspired section.
At the end of its first act, Appofeniacs has an incredibly clever twist that makes you think Piliero might actually be up to something special. Unfortunately, the novice filmmaker is unable to maintain this momentum through the rest of the film. It’s a classic case of a first-time director who has plenty of great ideas but lacks the practical experience to execute them.
By the finale, Appofeniacs devolves into a chaotic storm of blood and gore. And for what it’s worth, it largely delivers on that promise. The practical gore effects are fantastic (and refreshing, considering the tendency of the horror genre — both independent and mainstream — in recent years to fall back on CGI blood), which will leave any hardcore horror cinephile satisfied by the time the credits roll.
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Piliero also has a clear vision as a filmmaker, likely thanks to his origins as a music video director. This is one of the most colorful horror movies you’ll see this year, with lots of use of neon. The cinematography and editing also manage to strike an effective balance between formal elegance and anxiety-inducing chaos.
However, viewers may also be left feeling like all this style is used in service of very little substance. Piliero thinks that the timeliness of commenting on AI and deepfakes is enough to make his film meaningful, but he’s not saying anything particularly novel or interesting regarding these themes. He’s shouting very loudly about sentiments that audiences probably already agree with, so the result is not really all that provocative.
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The film also boasts a pretty solid ensemble cast. The advantage of the film’s narrative structure is that it has several brief yet meaty parts, which undoubtedly gave Piliero the opportunity to recruit high-profile talent at a reasonable cost. For example, Sean Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) is great as a douchey tech bro and Michael Abbott Jr. is pretty menacing. Jermaine Fowler is the only member of the cast who doesn’t feel particularly well-used, as he’s a bit miscast in the role.
Is Appofeniacs worth watching?
But really, that seems to be the case with much of Appofeniacs — a series of intriguing ideas that are never put to good use. Chris Marrs Piliero is clearly very talented as a director, but much less so as a writer. Nevertheless, there’s still some fun left to be had in his feature debut thanks to its abundance of visual style and gore.
Appofeniacs screened at the 2025 edition of Fantastic Fest, which runs September 18-25 in Austin, TX.
