CHÄIR (2026)
Directed & Written by Chris McInroy
Starring Carlos LaRotta, Kim Lowery, & Chloe McInroy.
Fantasy / Horror
★★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
The plot of Chris McInroy’s CHÄIR is deceptively simple: a man receives a new chair he ordered and wants to put it together, but comfort doesn’t seem to come easy despite what the box might tell you. We’ve all known the ordeal of putting together a piece of modern furniture. In CHÄIR, a seemingly mundane everyday task becomes satirical horror.
CHÄIR is a playful story about what consumerism has done to us. McInroy transforms a simple thing like putting together a chair using the instructions in the box into a critique of how our own bodies have become commodified like everything else. A package coming to the front door is shot like an Evil Dead demon shot, a POV rushing towards its destination. The instructions are more a ritual than a step-by-step guide for assembly. The box itself seems alive, absorbing a drop of blood after the man accidentally cuts himself trying to open the thing. In the end, the man finds his body being manipulated like an object, as CHÄIR depicts a horrifying consumerist reality in which our own bodies are little more than products themselves.
He (2025)
Directed & Written by Hira Vin
Starring Nic Altobelli, Jessie Fraser, Alex Pychtin, Matthew Kevin Anderson, Paolina van Kleef, Morgan Weed Whitley, & Kenneth Seto Tynan.
Horror
★★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Hira Vin’s He follows a woman called Nancy (Nic Altobelli) who makes use of a niche, unconventional dating service offered by MAARS, Inc. At first she talks to a man over the phone and they develop a romantic bond. But Nancy wants more. So she goes to the MAARS, Inc. office where she’s taken to a lab-like environment where she’ll meet her dreamy man from the phone. Though there’s no way on Earth she’d ever be able to prepare herself for where this new relationship is about to go.
He is another consumerist horror because it deals with the monetisation of pleasure, as well as science to some degree, or perhaps science-meets-supernatural. Pleasure is the big focus thematically when thinking about He as consumerist horror. MAARS specialise in allowing women to talk with, and obviously as we see later, have sex with, their ideal man. MAARS turns pleasure into an algorithmic commodity that can be individualised and tailored to each person. And, of course, He depicts the horrifying consequences of what can happen when things go wrong in this world of pleasure for sale. Vin’s short is smart and darkly funny, though, most importantly, it’s a creepy, bloody tale of dastardly consumption.
