Blumhouse’s scattershot approach to horror cinema used to offer a bit more charm. As I typed that last sentence, a YouTube ad for their upcoming film, The Woman in the Yard, graced my TV. That movie isn’t out yet, and it could be great, but that’s exactly the issue. It’s as if Blumhouse has adopted Roger Corman’s title-first production model without all the fun. Afraid wasn’t even the original title of their latest disaster, but someone clearly saw “a” and “i” close together and felt like a genius.
Afraid comes from director Chris Weitz, who is somewhat new to horror. He cut his teeth directing comedies like American Pie and About a Boy with his brother. Weitz crafted the film adaptations of The Golden Compass and New Moon. He spent most of the 2010s writing for soulless Disney projects like Cinderella, Pinocchio, and Rogue One. His track record is very varied, but it’s also a complete mess.
Feel Afraid For Blumhouse’s Future on HBO Max
There’s a 90% chance you’ve already seen a movie exactly like Afraid. It’s T.I.M., M3GAN, Margaux, or, more accurately, Disney’s Smart House. Like that classic Disney Channel original movie, Afraid follows a family dealing with an overzealous smart home system. This one is called AIA, and it’s not particularly impressive. The plot exists to carry Weitz’s loose examinations of any given aspect of internet culture. He plays with weird kids’ videos, deepfakes, swatting, hacking smart cars, and more. He doesn’t really have anything to say about these concepts, but they’re in the movie. The family likes AIA, then they don’t, then they have to survive. You’ve seen this movie before in some form, probably with a better title. It’s such a dull attempt to glimpse the future that it feels stuck in the past. Blumhouse did this concept better with M3GAN, and even that wasn’t that deep.
None other than Red Letter Media once suggested that the summary of every Blumhouse film should read, “A dumb premise that leads to a bloodless series of embarrassingly bad non-events.” This sad reality wounds the studio’s image. Blumhouse produces a lot of cheap horror films, counting on audiences to show up for one or two every year. So long as a few of their shots hit close to home, it’s fine that they waste half of the magazine facing the wrong way. If a couple of those tiny investments pay off, they can afford to make something bigger. Some may recognize this as the model every studio used to rely upon. They’d spend $10 million here and $35 million there, make a profit, and blow $200 million on a big project. If they did the same thing but took wild swings with those little projects, we’d all love them.
I didn’t hate Afraid, but I felt like I was asleep while watching it. It’s a mess of boring concepts that a million other sci-fi horror films have done better. Blumhouse can’t win them all, but the more time they spend on boring trash, the worse their reputation gets. They sell themselves on the success of their track record. Does everyone still think of The Purge, The Black Phone, or Get Out when they hear Jason Blum’s name? Or does Truth or Dare, Night Swim, and Afraid cloud your mind? On the bright side, Afraid made $12.6 million on a $12 million budget, so it’s nice to see an audience roundly reject AI like that.
