Director: Kyle Mangione-Smith
Year: 2026
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Plot:
After receiving news of a traumatic incident, a worker for a massive tech startup tries to dive into the details of what happened to the victim, which soon targets her at the center of a strange conspiracy created by a shadowy organization she works for, and she must get the truth out to save herself.
Review:
Overall, this was a rather strong and intriguing genre effort. Among the better aspects present here is the initially chilling and straightforward storyline that sets it up with a fantastic hook that dives into a string of current-day issues. The initial call and frantic search through her records to access the information about the incident, which shows a woman reportedly being assaulted and beaten at a facility intended to provide an option for low-rent housing rental properties, and she must go through a series of transactional details regarding the way she treats the victim, brings it all into focus regarding how impersonal everything is. The fallout from the series of personal attacks against her by the company sets the stage for her discovery of the company's true nature, which is slowly unraveled into a conspiracy that leaves her involved in something far darker than she initially thought.
With the starting point in place, the different ideas that this starts to explore later on tend to take the film into a direction that’s not all that interesting. The focus on going for a conspiracy theory-centered take on corporate sponsorship and looking to get the political connections that this shadowy organization is intended to come upon during the revelations of everything at the end, all gives off a psychological suspense thriller vibe that makes for a slightly underwhelming watch. Taking the path it does in the second half, where she’s forced into taking on this strange series of tasks, isn’t that interesting and is more of a bizarre corporate thriller that’s hard to get behind when it involves the kind of turns it takes. This also ends up stretching out the pacing longer than it should for this type of story, where it tends to incorporate some strange material and action that is quite bland, especially in the found-footage format it uses, as these all hold this one down.
Overview: ***/5
A fun if somewhat troublesome conspiracy thriller, there are some really likable factors on display here which manage to have enough to overcome some of the bizarre choices it goes through in the second half. Those with an appreciation for this kind of genre fare or who are curious about it will have the most to like, while most others out there might want to heed caution.
This review ran as part of our coverage of the 2026 Fantaspoa Film Festival.
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