Casey (Anna Cobb), a shy and nervy teen, begins her internet career like any other child her age: alone in her room, armed with nothing but some glow in the dark stickers and the preinstalled copy of Photo Booth that came with her Mac. Stumbling her way through awkward pauses and stealing panicked glances away from the camera, we learn the sole purpose of her channel: to document The World’s Fair Challenge. An alternate reality horror game that reports to physically change the player into someone, or something, else.

Jane Schoenbrun creates an internet age that is at once, present, with TikTok lives of people documenting their ‘transformations’, and retrograde, with videos and personalities dedicated to exploring the world of creepypastas and SCP fan wikis. The use of mixed media, especially of antiquated tools like Skype and the aforementioned Photo Booth, bring to life a liminal space that, unlike Skinamarink, feels not just out of place, but out of time.

The anachronistic nature of the film allows the audience, not to be scared exactly, but to feel Casey’s isolation through the screen. For the film takes great pains to show Casey’s ** loneliness. A loneliness that has her desperately seeking some form of audience. Casey’s videos continually find her in spacious, often barren environments like her darkened bedroom or the projector room in the garage. The only time her father makes an appearance is as a disembodied voice, berating her for watching a music video at “three o’clock in the fucking morning.” It’s no wonder she takes part in the World’s Fair Challenge, because if it means her getting closer to people who actually care about her, she’ll take the risk. However, the more worrisome thought is that she took part in the challenge hoping that the ‘change’ being reported would finally help her feel something.

Losing your sense of self is the greatest horror of World’s Fair ; waking up one day to find you’re no longer in control of your body, or your mind. Early on in her journey, Casey admits to sleepwalking as a kid, describing the feeling as “watching [her]self on a TV all the way across the room,” and being “aware of [her] actions” but unable to “control [her]self.” Later, we see her completely transform. No longer stuttering or averting her eyes, Casey performs a dance number, embracing the camera’s gaze and singing with excited breaths. The shift in her mood invites an unease into the audience, who is used to her more timid self. This mood only worsens when she begins a sudden screaming fit, as if pulled out violently from a coma, before returning to her more bubbly, yet somehow more menacing, persona.

Disassociation has become a worrying trend in the era of screens, isolation and anti-social networks. That are our lives, much like the content we use to numb the pain of everyday, are becoming nothing more than a video, playing on a screen, in a dark room. The thought that our memories are nothing more than images in a collage or story, soon to be thrown away by the algorithm, fills my generation with dread. Even the connections we make to real, flesh and blood, humans aren’t safe, as JLB (Michael Rogers), the man who befriends Casey and tries to “protect” her, is implied to be an online predator, or at the very least, a parasocial stalker.

The film ends on a bleak note, with JLB’s final vlog recounting chance in-person meeting with Casey. It’s the only thing that tells the audience she’s not in harms way and comes off as nothing more than a lie told by a delusional middle aged man. Their are no good possible outcomes, as she’s either dead, presumed dead, or ultimately lost to The World’s Fair.

Ultimately, the internet age contains many stories, each as inventive, and as dangerous, as the last. It’s easy to get caught up in some random wiki rabbit hole or listening to horror podcasts well into the witching hours. You can find yourself losing time and losing sleep. But always make sure to never lose yourself.

Thanks for reading! Apologies for the hiatus, this year’s been a real whirlwind! I’ll try to be covering more stuff in the coming months (including some of the Fantastic Film Festival program). As always, I appreciate the support and am always super chuffed when someone tells me they’ve been reading.

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