Tech and Murder Make for a Lethal Onscreen Combo
It’s not much of a stretch to see technology as terrifying, and seemingly every new technological development can be put to use as a tool for murder, if someone is so inclined. Sometimes, it doesn’t even take a person, as the technology itself can have a murderous effect. These movies and TV shows use common fears about technology as fodder for tense thrillers, showing the dark and violent side of modern conveniences that we may take for granted.
M3GAN
The technology to create a robot doll as lifelike as the title character in this campy horror movie doesn’t exist and probably never will, but M3GAN seems close enough to our current reality to be more unsettling than pure science fiction. It’s no surprise that clips from M3GAN went viral before the movie was even released, and the story of a burned-out toy designer (Allison Williams) giving her niece a prototype companion android that turns murderous is enjoyably ridiculous. It’s a clever satire of high-tech consumerism and a gleefully nasty horror movie.
Kimi
Prolific and versatile filmmaker Steven Soderbergh channels the tone of classic conspiracy thrillers in this suspenseful, entertaining modern-day update. The title refers to an Alexa-like virtual assistant that employs supposedly anonymized recordings of its users to optimize its functionality. Zoë Kravitz plays a remote tech worker who monitors those recordings and discovers what sounds like a murder on one of the audio files. She must overcome her agoraphobia and social anxiety to investigate the killing and possibly expose a massive cover-up at the highest levels of her company.
Influencer
The perils of social media fuel this clever, fun riff on The Talented Mr. Ripley, which continually shifts perspectives to challenge the viewer’s assumptions and allegiances. Cassandra Naud gives a breakout performance as a seemingly friendly American expat in Thailand who preys on entitled influencers, using her own tech skills to manipulate their social media accounts. It’s an incisive and often chilling take on the way that people craft their online personas, and how those carefully curated images can provide openings for exploitation and murder.
The Conversation
It’s not just modern technology that can be transformed into tools of deception and violence. Francis Ford Coppola’s classic thriller stars Gene Hackman as a freelance surveillance expert who’s so paranoid that he lives an ascetic personal life free of all communication devices. When he hears what he believes is the discussion of an impending murder on one of his surveillance tapes, he opens himself up to danger by pursuing the case, becoming the victim of the same technology he’s used to destroy the lives of other people.
A Murder at the End of the World
From Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, creators of cult favorite sci-fi series The OA, this murder mystery miniseries takes a much less mystical approach than their previous work, although it still deals with major existential questions. Emma Corrin stars as a true-crime writer who’s invited to a secretive Arctic retreat by a reclusive tech billionaire (Clive Owen). When one of her fellow guests turns up dead, she has to circumvent her host’s many technological safeguards in order to find the truth. The show presents an intriguing mystery alongside philosophical inquiries about humanity’s future.
Panic Room
David Fincher has always been a tech-savvy filmmaker, and he incorporates the latest personal security technology of 2002 into this relentless home invasion thriller. The title refers to the briefly trendy practice of building supposedly impenetrable rooms to hide out from attackers, but the panic room itself is the source of just as much danger as safety for the mother and daughter played by Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart. Fincher makes the most of the confined space of their upscale apartment to generate tension and surprises, as the residents and invaders each try to leverage the technology to their advantage.
Searching
One of the best examples of the so-called “screenlife” subgenre of movies set entirely on computer and smartphone screens, this thriller stars John Cho as a concerned parent trying to find his missing (and possibly murdered) teenage daughter. Director and co-writer Aneesh Chaganty delivers an engrossing, twisty thriller via online interactions and video footage, using the unique format to bring new life to a familiar type of story. Cho makes for a compelling protagonist, and Debra Messing balances him out as the touchy police detective who may have something to hide.
Chopping Mall
The mall security robots in this goofy cult classic look clearly menacing even before they malfunction and start killing people, and that’s part of its charm. A bunch of dumb, horny young people decide to throw an unauthorized after-hours party in the mall, when a freak lightning strike sets the security bots on a murderous rampage. Director — and B-movie legend — Jim Wynorski sets the right tone between comedy and terror, and there are some surprisingly effective set pieces for such a silly, low-budget movie.
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Josh Bell is a freelance writer and movie/TV critic based in Las Vegas. He has written about movies, TV, and pop culture for Vulture, IndieWire, CBR, Inverse, Crooked Marquee, and more. With comedian Jason Harris, he co-hosts the podcast Awesome Movie Year.