All My Friends Hate Me Shows That There Doesn’t Need to Be a Big Bad Monster for a Horror Comedy
Sure FDR famously emblazoned the quote “all we have to fear is fear itself” into the collective unconscious nearly a century ago for all that generations that will follow. However, you can divvy up fear a little more specifically as to what you’re actually being afraid of. There doesn’t need to be a demon or real life despotic tyrant or serial killer for fear to creep into your brain.
The brilliantly funny UK social-anxiety-horror-comedy All My Friends Hate Me explores that homegrown, self-induced fear that can be sourced from just your own being and how quietly terrifying (and very funny if it’s not happening to you) that can be. Again, the world itself is dreadful enough without monsters. Tom Stourton, the star and co-writer, along with co-writer Tom Palmer and director Andrew Gaynord, exquisitely twist suspected passive aggression into utter dread and exquisitely humorous set pieces for the charmingly titled film. Stourton puts on an almost acrobatic display of neuroses and overwhelming overthinking things as the star to the point that if you suffer from secondhand embarrassment, you will likely find this an intense, visceral viewing experience.
The concept of a social-anxiety-thriller-comedy without any sort of major inciting incident akin to Search Party is pretty clever and, on that merit alone, worth giving All My Friends Hate Me a watch. However, the execution here is pretty top notch and will definitely thinking about surprise parties in a whole different way (hopefully, more empathetically).
All My Friends Hate Me is currently in limited release at a theater near you, but will be digitally released on 3/25.