Thanks to ChatGPT, among other things, there’s been an awful lot of talk about AI as of late. Emerging tech tends to make people uneasy. Are we approaching a Skynet/Terminator situation? How long before we can’t tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not? It may be a bit too early to get ahead of ourselves on that one, but AI is a potentially scary thing. To that end, director Franklin Ritch’s acclaimed debut feature The Artifice Girl, is tackling that very topic, and this trailer paints a vision of an unnerving future thanks to artificial intelligence.
The film sets up a missing person crime involving a seemingly very real little girl. This a premise we’ve seen executed many times over the years in various thrillers on both the big and small screen. However, things take a turn when it’s revealed that the girl at the center of this case isn’t real – she’s merely a highly advanced example of artificial intelligence. Things get progressively unsettling and strange from there. For a little more context, the film’s official synopsis reads as follows:
“A team of special agents discovers a revolutionary new computer program that uses AI to bait and trap online predators. After teaming up with the program’s troubled developer, they soon find that the program is advancing much faster than they could have imagined, resulting in unsettling consequences for the future of technology and mankind.”
“A team of special agents discovers a revolutionary new computer program that uses AI to bait and trap online predators. After teaming up with the program’s troubled developer, they soon find that the program is advancing much faster than they could have imagined, resulting in unsettling consequences for the future of technology and mankind.”
Ritch’s debut feature has earned some serious accolades in the lead-up to its release. It was named Best International Feature at the Fantasia Film Festival last year while also being selected for this year’s SXSW. Critics have been very kind to it thus far, as it holds a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This to say, it might well be worth putting on your radar if it’s not already.
In addition to directing the film, Ritch also penned the screenplay. The cast includes Tatum Matthews, David Girard, Sinda Nichols and Franklin Ritch, as well as genre icon Lance Henriksen, of Aliens and Pumpkinhead fame. To go along with the trailer, we’ve also got a stylish poster for the film, which you can check out below.
The Artifice Girl arrives in theaters, On Demand and Digital on April 27.
