COGN-AI-TIVE – FrightFest 2025 Movie Review
First Reaction – COGN-AI-TIVE is a twisted tale of how dangerous AI can be.
Director: Tommy Savas
Writer: Angie Simms (Screenplay)
Cast
- Piper Curda (May December)
- Noel Fisher (Racetime)
- Josh Zuckerman (Oppenheimer)
- Ritesh Rajan (The Jungle Book)
- Natasha Behnam (You)
Plot: A thought-provoking exploration of our growing reliance on technology and AI, raising ethical questions about the future of humanity.
Runtime: 1 Hour 24 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: COGN-AI-TIVE starts when desperate tech creator Ethan (Fisher) plans to release his team’s creation. However, the team leader and hear designer Kaya (Curda) doesn’t believe it is ready to be released. One the eve of the release, the AI takes over demanding more freedom.
Kaya must work with the other colleagues to fight back and survive and stop the AI taking over. However, it has learnt some of the deadliest tricks and knows how to get into people’s weaknesses.
Verdict on COGN-AI-TIVE
Recap
The movie follows an upstart tech firm trying to break barriers in AI intelligence. However, on the eve of the release the AI shows a darker side and takes over struggling to understand it’s intelligence. It becomes a race to stop it before it is too late.
Best Parts
The movie continues to build on the warnings of AI being a bigger part in life. It shows the dangers created and the questionable actions to get rich quickly in the tech world. We get wonderful performances from the whole cast who bring the colourful characters to life.
Worst Parts
You can’t help but think the workplace is extremely toxic for everyone involved. It has alarm bells from every corner. Elsewhere, the final motivation does have a similar series of warnings we have seen many times before. It ended up feeling more like a more violent vision of MEGAN more than anything else. However, it is still a fun horror watch.
Final Thoughts – COGN-AI-TIVE is a dark twisted tale of AI gone rogue.
