I will defend screenlife movies (films presented through computer screens, a spin-off of the found footage subgenre) with my whole chest, and have no intention of stopping. Seen by many as a gimmick of our internet-obsessed age and modern filmmaking, screenlife movies are rarely given the respect they deserve. And that’s fair. There are some pretty bad ones out there. But the concept itself does not automatically mean a poorly made movie or one that does not entertain.
The crowning jewel of the subgenre is the one that kicked off the trend over a decade ago, the supernatural horror Unfriended from 2014. Combining the ever-present issue of cyberbullying with a vengeful spirit resulted in a genuinely suspenseful mystery and dread-inducing horror, full of terror, both very real, like compromising photos being posted of you and your less savory messages being exposed, and more otherworldly scares like becoming possessed and putting your hand in a blender. For people who prefer more grounded fare, 2018’s Searching is a thriller that chronicles the investigation into the disappearance of a teenager all through her desperate father’s computer screen.
Screenlife films are made for horror and thriller stories because they lend themselves to the endless dangers of the internet that, by now, we’re all too familiar with. Bloat doesn’t seem to understand that there are plenty of built-in dangers to mine from technology gone haywire and ignores the key component of screenlife movies: subtlety. Instead, it combines it with a ghost story that feels pulled out of the bombastic 2000s era of horror to bring showy sensibilities where they are the most ill-fitting.
‘Bloat’ Combines a Haunted Family Story With Japanese Folklore
Image Via Lionsgate
Bloat is told through the computer screen, and sometimes, the phone screen, of military AI operator Jack Reynolds (Ben McKenzie). Like the start of nearly every screenlife movie, we’re shown through home videos the story of the central family on Jack’s computer. Jack and his wife, Hannah (Bojana Novakovic), have two sons and tragically lost their third child, a daughter named Ava, who was stillborn. Jack is struggling to move on, but through texts from his wife, we see his grief is holding him back from enjoying the family he still has. In an attempt to bring the family closer, Jack requests leave from the military and books a family holiday to Japan. However, at the last minute, Jack’s leave is canceled due to escalated warfare, so Hannah brings their two sons, young teen Steve (Malcolm Fuller), and 11-year-old Kyle (Sawyer Jones) on her own.
While Hannah is on FaceTime with Jack, Kyle nearly drowns in a lake but is luckily saved at the last minute. We see through the video call Kyle coughing back up dark green liquid. Throughout the following days, Hannah tells Jack of Kyle’s increasingly odd behavior, from a new obsession with eating cucumbers and collecting bugs, to aggressive tantrums and limited communication. From there, we watch Jack try to keep his family together from a distance while researching Japanese folklore, which leads him to believe that Kyle has been possessed by a malevolent spirit.
‘Bloat’ Doesn’t Understand the Screenlife Format
Bloat makes it apparent early on that it’s trying to combine two horror subgenres that just aren’t compatible. It’s impossible to watch any screenlife horror movie and not compare it to Unfriended, which used the screenlife format and crafted a tense and suspenseful slow-burn horror, saving its more shocking moments and supernatural terror for only when it’s truly needed. Bloat cuts right to the chase with zoomed-in screenshots of Kyle’s eyes looking like a badly-animated demon. It also leans way too heavily on the tired screenlife trope of glitchy internet performance and bad coverage to insinuate a paranormal presence. This only takes away from the conversations being had and revelations presented and becomes more of an annoyance than any harbinger of doom. Beyond the pixelated imagery and glitchy videos, Bloat doesn’t make use of the seemingly endless tools that screenlife movies offer.
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Ben McKenzie and Bojana Novakovic lead the supernatural terror in theaters and on-demand in March.
It operates like a 2000s J-horror movie à la The Grudge that just so happens to be told online. The mishandling of the format can also be seen in the actual production of the film, with the dialogue in conversations not being accurately synced up. Some shortcuts are made in the technology to keep the plot moving, but they only work to take the audience out of the story. This is director Pablo Absento’s feature debut, and with his shorts all revolving around horror folklore, it’s clear that this format does not suit his storytelling style. There’s no reason for it to be told through a computer screen and Absento doesn’t make use of the endless toys that computer screen movies offer directors to play with.
‘Bloat’s Script Is Too Impatient
This pours into its other major problem, pacing. Look at any decent screenlife movie (I assure you, there are a few), and they take great care in using the first act to establish the characters, their desires and fears, and how they use their computer. Bloat is so focused on throwing traditional (read: lazy) scares at us that Absento’s script is sped up to the nth degree so we barely get to know the family, or, more importantly, our protagonist, Jack. The grief backstory feels dropped in, and Jack’s struggles with alcohol abuse are trivial and merely used to thicken out a very thin character. The tension and terror go from 0 to 100, without any escalation or time for the audience to identify with the characters or settle into the bizarreness of the plot. And when I say terror, I mean Absento zooming in on a pixelated screenshot and expecting us to see the indistinct outline of a monster. You’ll find yourself squinting and craning your neck a lot as Absento seems to believe that glitchy = spooky!
Ben McKenzie Doesn’t Bring the Urgency Needed For Horror
Image Via Lionsgate
There’s a reason Ben McKenzie got catapulted to stardom for his performance as Ryan in The O.C., and that’s because the character was almost always a stoic, calm presence. Here, as he watches his family get torn apart by an ancient Japanese monster, and is, for the most part, helpless to do anything, he really doesn’t bring the sense of urgency that screenlife movies hinge on in their main characters. Blair’s anxiety turned fear turned absolute terror is a driving force for Unfriended’s plot development, and you’re so desperate for Margot to be found in Searching because John Cho’s desperation never wavers.
McKenzie plays Jack as oddly unfazed by his discoveries that literally include a dangerous Japanese demon that has taken hold of his 11-year-old son. If he doesn’t seem that scared by it, why should we be? Bojana Novakovic as Hannah feels the most natural of the characters, but as the plot unfolds, the film makes the strange choice of presenting her as a somewhat neglectful mother and lush, who mentally checks out from the family’s peril. Kane Kosugi as Jack’s old pal, Ryan, who he calls on to do his on-the-ground work tries to bring some comedic relief but ends up sucking out the terror and urgency of the situation.
Bloat really doesn’t seem like a movie that knows what it wants to be. Its bizarre final scene turns the whole thing into a B-movie replica of a Clint Eastwood story, ending the film on a note of honor and the power of fatherhood when none of the preceding 80 minutes laid the groundwork for it. It all results in a scrambled screenlife film that fails to offer any scares in its pursuit of more mainstream horror offerings. Screenlife horror films require patience, subtlety, and an understanding of how to employ the tools of the internet world to tell your story. Bloat has an interesting story in there somewhere, as folk horror continues to pique audiences’ interest. Here, though, it’s stuck in a format that it doesn’t understand.
Bloat comes to theaters on March 7.
Bloat
Bloat is a J-horror too heavy-handed and overt for the computer screen format.
Release Date
March 7, 2025
Director
Pablo Absento
Writers
Pablo Absento
Producers
Dzhanik Fayziev, Timur Bekmambetov, Ben McKenzie, Mariya Zatulovskaya, Anna Shalashina, Marie Garrett, Gilles Sousa
Pros & Cons
There are some fun ideas here, like the folklore mythology.
Bojana Novakovi? gives a compelling performance ? even if the script ultimately fails her character.
There are some tech advancements used here that make it more exciting.
The movie’s plot and Absento’s direction don’t suit the screenlife form.
Ben McKenzie’s lead performance is hard to buy at times, and feels too theatrical to sell the story.
The gimmick of bad internet connection to insinuate a paranormal presence becomes grating fast.