Quentin Tarantino is a massive inspiration for countless filmmakers, particularly his seminal film, Pulp Fiction, which stunned audiences with its fractured narrative. You can see it in JT Mollner’s Strange Darling and, most recently, in Chris Marrs Piliero’s Appofeniacs. However, Piliero wears his influences a little too heavily on his sleeve in his edgelord thriller about the dangers of deep fakes and AI. While the film boasts some stunning kills and disgusting setpieces, the disjointed narrative structure ultimately takes away from Piliero’s overall message about just how easy it is to ruin someone’s life in 2025.
Duke (Aaron Holliday) is a nerdy loser who’s obsessed with making deep fake videos to mess with the people who wrong him (a.k.a. Don’t give him what he wants). The film is, essentially, a look at the deadly consequences of his selfish actions, albeit through a fractured lens that keeps the audience guessing until the very end.
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The first half hints at deep fakes and their destructive power, but it isn’t until the second act that the film really gets rolling with the terrors of deep fake technology. Sure, Piliero is trying to play with time here, but in putting this 35-minute mini-slasher at the beginning, he sets a very different tone than the rest of Appofeniacs, which is disorienting with the rest of the violence that unfolds as the film shifts focus.
These characters feel like they belong in a Kevin Smith movie, but they’re just a little too polished for Appofeniacs to truly have that dirtbag vibe. Sure, there are women working in vape stores, obsessive cosplayers, and vindictive nerds with a chip on their shoulder, who are all fascinating characters on paper! But it never truly comes together in a meaningful way. It all just feels like an attempt to be shocking rather than actually interrogate the horrors possible with just a few taps on your phone screen.
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In dividing up its narrative, Piliero interrupts the film’s pacing and makes it feel choppy, particularly when it comes to timing kills versus longer character moments. The film feels confused about what it’s trying to accomplish, and the pacing suffers for it. The first 30 minutes feel like they belong in a different movie, and is stuffed with more edgelord humor than many may have the stomach for.
Regardless of the film’s messaging, Piliero does ensure to stuff the film with nasty kills that spray the walls with crimson gore. Skin is ripped, blood is spilled, and faces are smashed. These setpieces come fast enough that they make up for issues with pacing, and are skillfully rendered practically. There’s enough goop here to have you squirming in your seat.
Appofeniacs is certainly an interesting take on what the world looks like now that deep fakes are such a terrifying possibility. However, the overall approach feels too much like an homage to Tarantino than a meaningful discussion of how easily someone can take over their hatred of a stranger. In focusing on shocking the audience with disturbing kills, Piliero loses the plot, and what exactly he wants to accomplish with his attempt at extreme horror.
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