★★★★

In Jane Schoenbrun’s We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, we nestle in with Casey (Anna Cobb), a teenager largely left to her own devices. Alone in her bedroom, which might even double as an attic, Casey spends countless hours on the internet, and becomes enamored with something known as “The World’s Fair Challenge.”

Like most internet stunts, which galvanize young people to do outlandish things, Casey simply logs into a website, announces she wants to do “The World’s Fair Challenge” three times, wipes blood from her thumb on a computer screen, and watches a pulsating, strobe-like video for about 15-20 seconds. And then...she waits.

The claim is that you simply wait to see how you change after announcing your intention to participate. Casey initially has no reaction, until a crude video directly made for her shows up on a “World’s Fair” video site. Soon, she encounters the voice of the mysterious JLB, who claims she is in trouble and needs to communicate with her soon.

Cobb, making her feature film debut, is a tremendous find and Casey is a captivating character. She is, at once, every teenager and also merely that one kid seduced into wanting to belong and become a part of something bigger than herself. Schoenbrun presents a character isolated, who has no real friends we can see, who even sneaks off into a separate barn to watch ASMR sleeping videos to combat her insomnia.

Though the film lacks moments of pure horror, this can be an unnerving watch. For some, there will not be enough going on to justify the grab for tension and unease. For others, Casey will hit them directly in their heart. In one stunning sequence, Casey posts a video where she claims she is going out of control. What happens initially is a moment of levity - Casey is a goofy girl, making a silly, carefree video where she is singing, dancing, and ad-libbing some ridiculous, hilarious dialogue. Then, suddenly, her demeanor changes, frighteningly so, and we are left to contemplate whether she is in crisis, being affected by the challenge, or just being rather silly.

With nods and winks to found footage horror, “webcam movies,” and tapping into fears of missing out and wanting to fit in and be involved, Schoenbrun has great command of tone, mood, and creating a disconcerting atmosphere.

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was screened as part of the Fourth Annual North Bend Film Festival.