If you’re tired of all the goofy Christmas romantic comedies and Harry Potter marathons, a film with a very different tone has just arrived Netflix. This week, the sci-fi horror film Afraid from screenwriter and director Chris Weitz (About a boy) has made its streaming debut, giving families who prefer to freak out together something to watch over the weekend.

Technically, the title is ENAIDalluding to the dangerous smart home AI assistant that the film revolves around. John Cho and Katherine Waterston star Curtis and Meredith, a married couple with a daughter and two sons. Curtis works as a computer engineer and his boss wants him to test out a new home assistant called AIA at home. Once the system is installed, the AI ​​begins to monitor the family and offer suggestions to improve their lives.

Eventually, AIA begins to exceed some limits, and Curtis and Meredith decide it is time to shut down the system. But their nightmare has only just begun.

Just one day after arriving on Netflix, the film has already slipped into the top 10. It’s clear that the threat of AI is one that appeals to a wide audience, especially as chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude become smarter with each passing week.

At least, that’s in my opinion why this movie is in Netflix’s top 10, because it’s definitely not the countless rave reviews. Afraidreleased in theaters on August 30, 2024, shows an increase of 22% on Rotten Tomatoes and 5.1 on IMDb.

“Afraid is a poignant artistic statement – ​​proof that humans are just as capable of mediocrity as the machines that will replace us,” said the Observer biting criticism.