SOULM8TE

SOULM8TE is an offshoot of the M3GAN series produced by Blumhouse and released by Universal Pictures, except in the mold of an erotic thriller. Director Kate Dolan and her co-writer Rafael Jordan update the template of Fatal Attraction (1987), Single White Female (1992), and dozens of others of this ilk, hugely popular in the ’80s and ’90s, but with a deranged, AI-driven sex doll instead of an obsessed lover. Drawing inspiration from the works of Paul Verhoeven and Adrian Lyne, Dolan embraces the genre’s origins, back when sex was more prevalent in the movies, and both audiences and studios weren’t so puritanical about sex onscreen. And while last year’s Companion was a novel take on the killer sexbot setup by sympathizing with the exploited automaton, offering a smart commentary on power dynamics in couples, SOULM8TE updates the erotic thriller’s usual servings of blood and sex to comment on how sublimating intimacy with AI is neither healthy nor particularly safe.

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