Alice Maio Mackay’s Our Effed Up World is a fresh twist on coming-of-age adventures, in the vein of Tom Holland’s Fright Night and Joel Schumacher’s Lost Boys. But instead of teen protagonists, we have thirty-something video store enthusiasts.
We follow Sheri (Sara Thompson), who, through a rather long, expositional flashback, is seen stargazing in the backyard with her astronomer father, Hank (Scott Major), and her darling grandmother, Grace (Kerry Armstrong). We learn Dad works for the government in a top-secret program, keeping watch on passing meteorites for anything unusual. (Now what could go wrong there?)
In the present, things are a bit rough for Sheri, living at home with Dad, now a bit withdrawn from tracking meteorites and not happy with her doofus on-and-off-again boyfriend, Harry (Jordan Dulieu). He’s also grieving from the loss of her grandmother after a tough battle with cancer, aimless and angry at the world. Sheri also has a close group of spunky friends, with their own conflicts, who hang out at the local video rental store.
Worlds collide when a meteorite crash-lands on the edge of town, where doofus Harry stumbles across it after being freshly dumped by Sheri. Entranced by the bright green pulsating lights, Harry decides to take a closer look at what’s squiggling around inside.
Increasingly bizarre events begin occurring around the friends; Harry is missing, and eerie creature sightings evolve into full-blown nightmares—which means it’s time to call in the big guns–Dad, who seems to be familiar with these otherworldly opponents.
It’s clear the group needs to put their issues aside and band together before a full-scale alien invasion takes over the town, or worse, the government gets involved.
The friend group gathers on a porch at night in Our Effed Up World.
“Worlds collide when a meteorite crash-lands on the edge of town, where doofus Harry stumbles across after being freshly dumped by Sheri.”
Blending satire, horror, and pitch-black comedy, Our Effed Up World explores the frightening possibility that society doesn’t need supernatural forces to destroy itself—we’re doing a pretty good job on our own.
Trusting the audience to connect the dots while relying heavily on exposition scenes and long flashbacks that aren’t always clear. But underneath the outrageous moments and dark humor is a genuine frustration with the state of our modern culture. Sometimes the messaging is subtle. Most of the time it’s about as subtle as a sledgehammer.
The cast fully commits, and there’s an ease of old friendships captured between moments of mutual support and scenes of frustration, with standout performances from Jess McLeod, the disgruntled video store owner Finn, and Annapurna Sriram as the group’s feisty bestie.
While I appreciated the practical creature effects and moody lighting as a horror fan, I wouldn’t say you should go in expecting a full-blown horror film. Yes, we get horror tropes and brief creature scenes, but it plays much more like a tearjerking drama. Shot sparingly, and at times the editing feels a bit claustrophobic, with numerous close-ups. The video store atmosphere felt authentic, loved, and lived-in, as any great video store is (and it featured some pretty killer titles).
Our Effed Up World isn’t exactly the lush world-building adventure flicks of the 80’s, but it takes a more intimate spin on horror satire that feels uncomfortably close to reality. It’s bleak, chaotic, and unsettling in all the right ways. For horror fans who enjoy their scares mixed with sharp social commentary and an existential dread kicker, this one is worth experiencing.
"…Our Effed Up World isn’t exactly the lush world-building adventure flicks of the 80’s."
