Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey tells the story of a girl whose perception of reality is warped by her love of Gothic novels. Austen deftly weaves Gothic tropes into her writing before coming to a controlled, romantic ending.
But how does the evolution from Gothic into horror affect that narrative? What about post-Blair Witch grassroots horror? How would Catherine Morland respond to the blurred line between horror and reality in our fragmented online culture? Enter We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.
Perhaps the greatest testament to World’s Fair is the personal memories it seems to bring out in its audience. Scroll through Letterboxd and you’ll find reflections on cryptic YouTube messages, creepy chatroom encounters, and friends who poured hand sanitizer in each other’s eyes.
Personally, I was too anxious a kid to get involved in the sort of horror ARG that this film’s protagonist, Casey (Anna Cobb), does. Still, anyone who was raised in the ‘00s or ‘10s knows about this sort of online supernaturalism. I knew my fair share of kids who got invested in the paranormal like Casey. At the very least, I was quite familiar with Creepypastas, which this film references explicitly.
What makes this film feel so personal is the online intimacy of its storytelling. With rare exceptions, World’s Fair is told entirely through YouTube-style videos. Even when Casey isn’t on-screen, we’re with her.
The only true break from this is at the end, when JLB (Michael J. Rogers), the only other credited actor, gets a scene and a half of his own. His “other” is also a strikingly relatable one. Like any strange adult you interact with online as a child, he can be viewed either as a concerned guardian or another supernatural threat.
Not unlike Austen, writer-director Jane Schoenbrun is a formal virtuoso. She prepares an uncanny charcuterie board of internet horror ranging from 8-bit “found footage” to VFX-driven short films.
Alex G’s score sets a chilling tone, as does Cobb’s refreshingly weird performance, but often the scariest part of the movie is the silent, rotating arrow that plays between videos. It reminds us that we’re watching from someone’s point of view, of the sensation of being held captive by late-night horror rabbit holes.
At the time, I felt a bit disappointed by the film’s optimistic, reality-check ending. Like Casey, I had been swept up in the game. As horrific and seemingly deadly as it was, I wanted to believe. It took me a few days to recognize that the film isn’t from Casey’s perspective; it’s JLB, watching Casey’s videos. That’s why we never see Casey outside of this altered, late-night state. We never know her family, her school, or her interests. Near the end of the film, we realize we might never have known her at all.
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’s creepy, voyeuristic horror is closely tethered to our strange reality. It’s not just based on a true story, it’s based on a billion true stories. If you were raised on the internet, you may uncover one of your own.
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is now playing at PFS Bourse and available for digital download.
