We're All Going to the World's Fair (2021) - Horror Film Review

I can't quite recall where I first heard of the excellently named We're All Going to the World's Fair, but that title alone really piqued my interest. While browsing the Shudder library (a streaming service I have started using heavily only since cancelling my subscription - go figure), I came across the film and decided I had to give it a watch, even if it meant side lining one of the films I had planned to review this week.

Lonely and angst ridden teenager Casey (Anna Cobb in her feature length debut) has decided to make an online channel chronicling the after effects of having participated in the 'World's Fair' challenge. This appears to be some sort of urban legend that requests the participant to state their desire to go to the titular place three times, before putting their own blood on the computer screen and then watching a particular online video that is full of strobe effects. In the subsequent days and weeks that follow, Casey's videos get increasingly more bizarre and it isn't long before she is contacted by a mysterious man calling himself JLB (Michael J. Roberts - Demonic) who claims to be an expert on the 'World's Fair' phenomenon, and who offers to guide her through her strange experience. 

First things first, despite appearing on the surface to be a horror film, this really didn't feel like one. The events that happen to Casey never appear to be that conclusive, and in all honesty, barely anything horror like happens here. The most creepy moment comes from a video that Casey discovers which references her, but this turned out to be just sent by JLB to get her attention (not a twist, that's revealed almost immediately). Her videos while slightly odd at times, didn't seem to be much more than typical teen angst, about not knowing her place in the world, and not knowing who she is. The writer and director, Jane Schoenbrun, has stated this film was influenced by her own gender dysphoria, and Casey's assertions that she is slowly transforming into someone who feels like they are not in their real body is reflective of that feeling.

The film is a mix of both found footage and traditional filming, but even then this felt like found footage. Much of the movie takes the form not only of the videos that Casey is posting of herself, but also of random YouTube videos that she is shown watching on her laptop. When she isn't filming herself the feeling is still replicated in the way that the camera is often static and at a distance, as if of someone observing the character. To Casey, JLB is a mysterious online figure, someone whose face is never shown. As the viewer however, this man gets his own scenes that show him outside of the Skype calls he has with the teen. The story even falls onto him, with the epilogue in particular being purely from his perspective.
With just the two characters (not including the various people from the online videos), it was impressive how they held the movie together, especially with Cobb who really shined in the lead role. Her performance was believable enough that it reminded me of some of my thoughts during my awkward teen years, with feelings of feeling alienated from the world and not fitting in (I still feel like that, but that is because I am a massive introvert!). As for JLB, he, while much older, also felt like a misfit who didn't fit into the world. It's quite possible, with the lack of horror here, that Casey just matured a bit and decided she had outgrown making spooky videos, while JLB was never able to find a way to find his place.

As a coming of age found footage drama this worked well, I thought the soundtrack was great, and the general flow also worked well. As a horror, this didn't work half as well, even when it is trying to be its most creepiest I didn't think this was successful. From the title, which conjured up all sorts of horrors in my mind, I had hoped for something to frighten me, but this didn't achieve that in the slightest, so I left feeling disappointed. We're All Going to the World's Fair can currently be streamed on Shudder.

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