WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR (2022): Review

Introduction

Jane Schoenbrun’s We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2022) offers an unnerving exploration of all things creepypasta. The film operates both as a cross-section of the darker corners of the internet and a character study of loneliness. 

Synopsis

Isolated teenager Casey (Anna Cobb) grasps for community and connection by making YouTube videos. In hopes of breaking through the noise, she decides to take the “World’s Fair Challenge,” a role-playing horror game. Much like “Slender Man” or “The Russian Sleep Experiment,” the “World’s Fair Challenge” hazes lines between imagination and reality.

Once Casey uploads her first video, she slips into the liminal space where performance and experience blend. Her videos of the experience cause the mysterious JLB (Michael J. Rogers) to reach out, concerned about her uploads. Leaning into discomfiting internet voyeurism, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair navigates the audience through Casey’s unbalanced experience.

Internet as Environment

Schoenbrun joins a growing oeuvre of horror films deploying the internet as a full-fledged vector for the genre. Too often in horror, online pursuits are diminished to gimmicks that fail to reckon with the full boar of what the space suggests about the human experience. It’s the fundamental difference between something exceptional like Host (2020) and Unfriended: Dark Web (2018).

Schoenbrun slots into the space occupied by the former of those two films, one that embraces both the aesthetic and emotional intricacies of staging dread online. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair has a story engine that revolves around Casey’s character as much as the platform with which she interacts. Schoenbrun opens her film at the nexus point of seclusion crashing into the modern iteration of internet communication. She rightly understands that the most compelling way to render the story is to force the audience to join Casey as she descends. 

Visually, this results in an aesthetic that draws as much on found-footage sensibilities as limited location indies. A virtuoso opening sequence places the vantage point in Casey’s laptop camera, a POV Schoenbrun returns to consistently. The shot spills out into Casey’s bedroom, providing a bewildering intimacy that only comes when you recognize you’re seeing something you should not be privy to. Her bed. Her cluttered storage. Stuffed animals and clothing.

Casey practices her video introduction before turning off the lights and ‘fixing’ the vibe to record. It emerges both as a stirring character introduction, tone-setter, and reflective comment on the act of composing film. From there, Schoenbrun cycles through handheld scenes, reflexive sequences of Casey watching others complete the challenge, and a truly chilling series of conversations between Casey and JBJ. Schoenbrun exquisitely balances each component to build out an agonizing trip through Casey’s circumstances. 

Anna Cobb

A film like We’re All Going to the World’s Far requires a grounding central performance, and Cobb delivers in droves. With the exception of those Casey watches in YouTube videos and the occasional cut to JBJ, Cobb inhabits every frame. Her approach to  YouTube calls to mind a refracted vision of Elsie Fisher’s performance in Eighth Grade (2018). Fisher’s Kayla yearns for connection as intensely as Casey, but the genre at play here requires Cobb to modulate that desperation into something more darkly fragmented.

Cobb’s enormous eyes shimmer in front of the screen, underscoring the intense watching at play throughout. Her voice wafts out with a fitful lilt, anxiety battling with desire. When she steps away from the laptop screen, she imbues Casey with a hunched physicality which only further solidifies her social dehydration. This young woman has nearly disappeared from herself as much as the world around her. 

Conclusion

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is an uneasy watch. The forced intimacy of the perspective and composition lends itself ideally to the story. There is no extra plot in its 86 minute runtime, deploying only the necessary components to navigate through Casey’s disorienting experiences. Schoenbrun has crafted a sterling example of what horror filmmakers can achieve when they embrace the minimalism of no-budget creativity. If you count yourself a fan of inventive and unsettling cinema, do not miss this one.

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun. The film stars Anna Cobb and Michael J. Rogers. The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 31, 2021, and is being released by Utopia in the US on April 22, 2022.

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