FrightFest 2025: APPOFENIACS taps into today’s very real AI dangers

This month, Taylor Swift was a victim of AI-generated pornographic deepfakes that made the rounds on social media, particularly on Elon Musk’s X. The graphic nature of the video clips spread far and wide, likely due to safeguards not being in place. That’s just a slice of real life these days. But imagine normal folks have their lives completely shattered because of such technology. That becomes the basis for Chris Marrs Piliero’s feature film debut, APPOFENIACS, a riff on the term “apophenia,” which is the perception of making connections or patterns in unrelated events. High on style and color, the film, which made its world premiere at this summer’s FrightFest, makes a perfect case for constraining the use of and implementing strict laws around AI.

Duke (Aaron Holliday) is a social media menace. The story follows him as he crafts deepfake photos and videos of random people he encounters on the street. One of his early grotesque creations features a young woman who was allegedly caught on camera using the N-word on a neighbor and calling the cops. We all too well know where it’s head after that. She’s bombarded with messages and comments slamming her as another Karen, even receiving texts from loved ones and friends confused by the so-called evidence. A later interaction confirms deep-seated microaggressions and biases in her real life, making the viewer question Duke’s intent.

APPOFENIACS unfurls from there. Duke mounts several other viral campaigns against people interwoven into various storylines. Each character watches as their lives crumble right before their eyes, the ruins leaving them encased in fake reality and AI tech that knows no limits. Workplaces, real-life relationships and friendships, and the person’s own perception of the truth blur at an exponential rate. It’s up to the audience to deduce what they will from the film’s central thesis, carving out the instant real-world implications of such cruel devices.

Piliero, who also wrote the script, presents real life as it currently stands. With the frequent escalation of AI technology, there appears to be no way of going back. There are daily/monthly reports of AI being used to cyberbully; the film is already a reality. The writer/director aptly captures today’s existence with a brutal fictional world that propels us further down a slippery slope. The characters are largely empathetic, pulling the viewer deep into their circle of influence as we witness their lives implode in real time.

APPOFENIACS reaches a fevered pitch in the finale as all storylines collide. Chris Marrs Piliero understands the assignment to deliver the best feature film out of FrightFest this year. Keep your eyes on this one!