Review: Short film ‘RAT!’ tears down toxic parasocial relationships

If you spend any amount of time online, you’ll likely encounter toxic fandom. Obsessed fans often sour the experience for others, the vocal minority who attack other artists, pit women against one another, and generally make it difficult to like any artist. With this in mind, Neal Suresh Mulani’s new short film RAT! aims at parasocial relationships, those delusional connections a certain subset of fans have with their iconic faves. It’s an effective timepiece that strikes at the current moment.

Mulani plays a music journalist named Navin. Taking a weekend to unplug (sort of), he spends the weekend in his aunt’s house. While scrolling through his email for New Music Friday, he stumbles upon an artist named Wally Max and their new track, a “celebration of identity.” Cue: eye roll. One of the lyrics can be interpreted as “pussy” or “bussy,” prompting Navin to scroll on TikTok. He comes across one TikToker who labels Max as “father,” leading him to reply with his own thoughts. Navin’s video quickly goes viral, and fans are not too happy about it. Many send death threats and even dox him, with several fans showing up in giant plaster mask-heads from Max’s new video. It quickly becomes a cat ‘n mouse game, with Navin fighting for his life.

With crisp camera angles and style, Mulani engages the audience with a moody setpiece that strikes to the core of the short’s messaging. There’s an appropriate amount of tension, stretched like an elastic band, to elicit chills and thrills. Playing this year’s Panic Fest, Mulani’s work boasts a budget of many studio-sized productions. Someone, give him all the money, and let him cook! RAT! does so much with so little. Mulani’s vision of tearing down parasocial relationships is on full display, with the final results being to die for. You don’t wanna sleep on this one.