The Vanity
2024 · USA
Directed by Megan Rosati
Genres: horror, satire, sci-fi
Tones: dark, darkly comic, provocative
In a near-future where AI has displaced entire industries, a young couple makes their living as influencers on a platform called THE VANITY — until the platform's AI upgrade forces them to confront what they're willing to sacrifice.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Rosati builds her horror premise from the inside out — the vanity mirror is the perfect vessel for a film about unbearable self-surveillance in the influencer economy.
Influencers, AI mirror, hard choices — Filmshortage's own copy admits the director's statement was written by ChatGPT. That tells me everything about the depth of inquiry here.
Smart-mirror-as-portal is exactly the kind of literalized metaphor I love when it lands, but the Black-Mirror-by-way-of-influencer-horror premise reads like genre furniture rearranged rather than rebuilt. The director's-statement gag (Hey ChatGPT, write me one) reveals more about the film's relationship to AI than I suspect it intended.
Festivals
- Overlook Film Festival 2024
- Fantastic Fest 2024