VOD of the Dead - MARGAUX (2022)
In 1927 Fritz Lang became the first filmmaker to introduce “A.I.”(Artificial Intelligence) on film with METROPOLIS, and in 1968 Kubrick directed 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY with one of, if not the most famous A.I. ever to grace the cinema, HAL 9000. Fast-forward to 1984, we meet the T-800 in James Cameron’s THE TERMINATOR.
From BLADE RUNNER to CHILD’S PLAY, A.I. in cinema has been around for almost 100 years, and it wasn’t until 2010 when the world would finally be able to access some form of A.I. for consumer use. If you haven’t already guessed, I’m talking about “Siri”. A name synonymous with Apple and somewhat of a technological game-changer that gave way to other common A.I. assistants like “Alexa” and “Bixby”.
Distrust of technology has and always will be a part of our society, and shows like WESTWORLD have gone to great lengths to show the implications of a culture that gives little to no regard for data privacy and how that can ultimately backfire. While some adopt technology without question, on the other end of the spectrum a Luddite-like mentality takes hold and has inspired people to “go off the grid” and disconnect from almost all modern technology. It’s safe to say that the distrust inherent in technology, the existential threat posed by artificial intelligence, and the enormous amounts of personal information about us spread across the internet all contribute to a growing fear that technology will be the end of human existence.
This brings us to MARGAUX, a new sci-fi/horror film from PARAMOUNT that takes the concept of the smart home and mixes it with a dash of murderous mayhem. Is MARGAUX a thought-provoking nightmare on the horrors of ubiquitous A.I., or is it far from intelligent in its artificial display of terror?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
What Margaux wants, she gets. As a group of seniors celebrates their final college days at a smart house, the house's highly advanced A.I. system, Margaux, begins to take on a deadly presence of her own. A carefree weekend of partying turns into a dystopian nightmare as they realize Margaux's plans to eliminate her tenants one way or another. Time begins to run out as the group desperately tries to survive and outsmart the smart home.
HOW IS IT?
MARGAUX is a film brimming with ideas that it has absolutely no idea what to do with. On the surface, the story is simple enough as a group of millennial-aged folks arrive at a high-tech household for a weekend celebration where the titular MARGAUX A.I. oversees all aspects from cooking to cleaning and more. What follows is a combination of cringe-worthy caricatures of young folks that are terrorized by a smart home that seems to be brimming with unlimited and illogical capabilities. It’s not to say that there is some fun to be had here, you just have to wade through a lot of mediocrity to get there.
The concept of a smart home is not a new one and neither is the idea that the AI can turn on its users, but that doesn’t mean that the potential for something new and exciting isn’t there. Unfortunately, MARGAUX seems to be more concerned with creating implausible and outrageous situations than it is with trying to make any sort of commentary on the trepidation of tech. While going deep with these kinds of stories isn’t a requirement, it certainly would have helped the film to stand out amongst the crowd of other AI-centric horror films out there. Similar to the 2019 CHILD’S PLAY remake, the use of A.I. in MARGAUX only seems to serve the purpose of feeling “modern” despite feeling entirely disconnected from reality. What differs between MARGAUX and the CHILD’S PLAY remake is that the former seems to have a very loose understanding of what A.I. is and even more so how it works. For example, when our group of friends arrives at the house MARGAUX does a face mapping of everyone in the car except for one character in the back. The intention here is to foreshadow a potential weakness, but it’s never really used to that full effect despite edging ever so close to making a valid point. The same goes for how the house operates. In one scene a ceiling begins to descend in a way that defies the structural integrity of the building, not to mention the “Doc Ock” style tentacles that magically appear out of walls. It’s this kind of silliness that keeps MARGAUX from ever being taken seriously. Once you find out the reason for MARGAUX’s murderous intent, it raises so many more questions than it could ever answer including a strange use of a liquid that has unexplained abilities to do seemingly illogical things.
You may be reading this and saying, “yeah bro, but it’s like a movie so just suspend your disbelief”, and there lies the issue. MARGAUX has a relatively believable premise that goes totally off the rails in the back half to the point where it’s hard to enjoy the absurdity of what the house can do. Adding insult to injury, very little is explained to even try to justify the capabilities of the house and by the end, you’re left scratching your head at the decisions made with the story and its characters. This is not to say it’s all bad, on the contrary, the kills in MARGAUX are a lot of fun, even though one character literally says out loud “nice kill”. Unfortunately, the death scenes are few and far between and the third act of the film takes some really big and strange swings including a love story that is so ham-fisted in it feels like an afterthought. This brings me to what I started this section with, there are just too many ideas in MARGAUX that don’t work, and that brings the whole thing down. It’s hard to surrender yourself to a high-concept horror film that is so clearly lacking any sort of creative nuance and seems to take the “shotgun blast” approach to ideation by throwing a bunch of things at the viewer and hoping some of them hit. Instead of focusing on a few key elements of AI, a technology-first society, and the horror of data collection, MARGAUX bites off far more than its AI mouth can chew and ultimately ends up feeling like a first draft rather than a final product.
LAST RITES
MARGAUX is not the smartest AI horror film you’re likely to see and in spite of a few really fun death sequences, the overall experience feels far too cheesy and detached from reality to be as effective as it could be.
THE GORY DETAILS
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Written By
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Where can you watch it?
MARGAUX is available on digital streaming services beginning Friday, September 9, 2022
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