It seems like the new, happening genre is AI thrillers. What happens when you invite a “robot” into your home? Is it listening? What is it learning about you? How close is it to taking over your identity, and your life? Black Mirror touched on this. Horror podcast Witchever Path had a whole season dedicated to it. And now, there’s Helix.

In just over four minutes, we see a young woman (Priscilla Rios) receive a familiar gift. However, her new AI helper seems to be having some troubles – it keeps repeating directions, and mileage from a destination. She assumes this is a setting from the factory and ignores it. Soon, however, she can’t ignore it any longer – as the announcements from the machine become more frequent, and the mileage is becoming closer and closer…

Simple in concept and in execution, Helix relies on unsettling its audience more than outright scaring us. Without revealing too much to us, Helix perfectly inhabits its runtime, making the most of what I think is the perfect length for a short film. A single location, a single actor (and a voice actor), a simple prop (a modified JBL speaker – genius!) make great storytelling elements without having to be big budget or over-the-top. A really fantastic, Alien-esque title card adds to the spook-factor as well as the camp-factor, which served to make me giggle with glee.

Give it a watch below!

8 out of 10