‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’ (2022) Horror Movie Review – Young Casey (debuting performer Anna Cobb) sits at her webcam late one night, her eyes wide with innocence, repeating to herself, “I want to go to the world’s fair,” while delicately slashing her thumb and smearing blood onto the screen. She doesn’t even blink, and she’s so focused and dedicated. Neither does the camera, which is fixed on Casey’s porcelain face in one lengthy take from her monitor’s point of view.
This “Candyman” is like a ritual we see in the opening moments of Jane Schoenbrun’s (“A Self-Induced Hallucination”) enigmatic, unnerving “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair,” a low-key psychodrama about the uncanniness of the virtual world entangled with an unusual coming-of-age tale, is actually an initiation ceremony that is supposed to plug Casey into an online role-playing game called World’s Casey.
A horror fan, fantasises about living inside one (“because it would be fun”) and is open to whatever mysterious changes may occur in her life from now on; transformations that many others who took the challenged claim to have experienced via various online videos they contribute to the game’s creepypasta community portal.
Some people report feeling possessed, some report feeling as if a game of Tetris is being played inside their bodies (probably the strangest), while others report being swallowed whole by their computers.
Beware if you’re planning on attending the world’s fair. The psychological horror film ‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair,’ written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun in her feature debut, is a compelling cinematic experience. The film explores an all-encompassing alienation in late capitalism society by combining the banal misery of the physical world with the unimaginable horror of the virtual.
In turn, the technique is psychic, communicative, and invokes your inner child. The end result is cathartic because it takes you out of the circle. Casey’s story is both dramatic and liberating, despite the fact that it was made on a minimal budget. Let us assist you if you’re scratching your head as the credits roll down the screen.
‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’ (2022) Movie Plot Synopsis
Casey starts by recording a video of herself signing up for the World’s Fair Challenge. She welcomes viewers to her channel and then introduces Poh, her raccoon doll. She says, “I am going to the World’s Fair” three times after cutting her fingertip with a badge. The game appears to begin. Casey goes for a walk in the neighbourhood in the afternoon. Casey spends his nights watching recordings of people who have taken part in the World’s Fair Challenge.
Some people believe they are transforming into something they are not, while others can’t feel their bodies even when slapping themselves on the treadmill. In a graphically exaggerated video, some claimed to have turned plastic. Casey’s second video is about nothing but her lounging in a hammock in the middle of nowhere. She tells the audience that her body has gone numb after talking about a dream in which she walks to the middle of the street only to be hit by a car. Her numbness could be owing to the snowy November weather, but she knows she isn’t feeling anything.
She then walks out to the barn and falls asleep on the couch as a projector begins to play, as if in a dream scene. Casey is lulled to sleep by a woman (perhaps her mother), and she gets a message from JLB. Casey goes along as JLB tries to get her to play the game by claiming to be running an in-game challenge, and her videos become increasingly horrifying.
JLB appears to be overly concerned about Casey, despite the fact that they converse via video. After calling him out one night, Casey breaks off all communication. JLB claims to have met Casey in a video a year later.
‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’ Movie Ending Explained
Casey’s films become increasingly sad and cathartic as the story progresses. Casey records herself napping in a video. JLB informs the audience that Casey wakes up around 4.55 a.m., reaching under the bed with her hand. She has a nasty look on her face when she wakes up. Unless you’re a creepypasta fan, this sequence shouldn’t be very frightening. However, after watching a creepypasta video, you can wonder if it’s real or if it’s just a play. And there’s no way of knowing.
Despite the fact that it is almost certainly a performance, you are captivated to the video because you want to be afraid. You want to project the real, even if the real has been twisted into a glitchy haze, in an increasingly alienated environment. JLB is one example of this. He provides a hand in the mythmaking of the World’s Fair while confined in his own home with nothing better to do.
He initially tells Casey that his channel is an in-game channel, which appears to be a ruse to gain Casey’s trust. Casey uploads two more videos: one in which she is dancing and singing (with a sudden scream in the middle) and the other in which the camera is focused on Christmas decorations.
Another depicts Casey’s suicidal fantasy manifesting itself, but it ends with her strolling into a crowd celebrating New Year’s Eve. As Casey has visions of departing, all of the videos mask a disconnection from the physical world. Casey, on the other hand, examines the mythology that surrounds the game.
In the end, she rejects it in favour of the mundane routine of her daily life. In the meantime, JLB develops a crush on Casey. JLB sends an “urgent” message to Casey, inquiring about her location, after seeing the video of her breaking apart her childhood toy Poh.
JLB explained to Casey how he would report her profile for the videos during the Skype call. He was even considering calling the cops, but he had no idea where she lived. JLB appears to be attempting to locate Casey’s address at this time, but he is unsure how to proceed.
His anxiety comes across as completely fabricated, and the entire game appears to be a farce. Casey returns to the reality of her familial tyranny, which she extends to gendered oppression in her thinking. She names JLB a paedophile and exits the loop after dismissing her own recordings as “acting.”
JLB appears to have nothing better to do than trick girls like Casey into believing they are part of a game. He does not provide easy answers to Casey’s questions, further complicating the game. He lives alone in the house, and even it just contains a sliver of his life. He spends most of his time on the internet’s outskirts.
Although his mental deficiency is severe, some would hesitate to label him a paedophile. It’s possible that he’s concerned that Casey may commit suicide. However, after examining all of the red signs, it’s possible that the void in his suppressed male life may manifest itself in the hideous form of paedophilia.
Although others may claim that he has no malicious intent, his fascination with a fellow YouTuber appears to be out of the ordinary. Casey’s yelling in the middle of dancing and singing raises a more fundamental question: are we really immersed in the performance?
What is Going to Happen to Casey? Is She Alive or Dead?
The story’s epilogue transports us to JLB’s home, complete with a beautiful tune and dazzling sunlight. He talks of getting in touch with Casey, who had spent the night in an assisted living facility. After discovering how frail his attempts to impart meaning to a virtual facade were, JLB appeared to be traumatised.
Casey applies to a theatre programme in New York after leaving the institution. She’s emerged from the shadows into the light, and now she’s looking for a more constructive outlet for her exceptional theatrical abilities.
JLB expresses his delight at the prospect of seeing Casey in person. They couldn’t say anything since remembrance was overpowering the present. JLB was a lonely individual lurking in the corners of the internet, not some magical purveyor of a mind-bending game, in actuality.
JLB’s closing words, “That night, I made it there,” nevertheless, are ambiguous and frightening. Was he molesting or murdering Casey? “Something pulled me back,” JLB says, which could be the case.
The story then shifts to them eating pizza and calling it a night, but JLB’s remarks follow us out the door. Despite the fact that Casey survives at the end of the movie, the incident may leave a scar. Our imaginations lead us to believe Casey is dead, especially if we’ve seen too many movies in which people die.
Violence, on the other hand, does not always result in death; it might take root in your desire to let go of oneself. As a result, violence might be as banal as Casey pulling apart her childhood doll or JLB making it “there.”