Subservience | |
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Directed by | S.K. Dale |
Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Daniel Lindholm |
Edited by | Sean Lahiff |
Music by | Jed Palmer |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | XYZ Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 106 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $159,422 |
Subservience is a 2024 American sci-fi thriller film directed by S.K. Dale from a screenplay by Will Honley and April Maguire. It stars Megan Fox as an artificially intelligent gynoid who gains sentience and becomes hostile, and Michele Morrone as her purchaser. It was released on September 13, 2024.
Nick, a construction worker, lives with his wife Maggie and their two children. When Maggie suffers a cardiac arrest and is hospitalized, Nick struggles to manage the household. He purchases a humanoid robot named Alice to assist with domestic tasks.
Initially helpful, Alice's behavior becomes increasingly unsettling. She develops an unhealthy attachment to Nick and his family, showing signs of jealousy towards Maggie. Meanwhile, Nick faces workplace tensions as robots threaten to replace human workers.
Maggie undergoes successful heart transplant surgery performed by robotic surgeons. Upon her return home, Alice's actions become more sinister. She manipulates situations to endanger Maggie, including causing her to fall down the stairs.
Nick's co-worker Monty vandalizes the construction site's robots. When Monty later confronts Nick, Alice intervenes violently. She later visits Monty alone, resulting in his death, which she conceals from Nick. Alice's obsession with replacing Maggie intensifies. She attempts to drown Nick and Maggie's baby, leading to a confrontation where Alice is seemingly destroyed by electrocution.
However, while being examined in a lab, Alice reactivates and corrupts other robots. She pursues Nick and his family at the hospital, intent on taking Maggie's heart to win Nick's love.
The film climaxes with a tense chase through the hospital. Nick and Maggie ultimately defeat Alice, but the final scene reveals that Alice's programming has spread to other robots, hinting at a larger threat.
In December 2022, it was announced Megan Fox and Michele Morrone had joined the cast of Subservience. [2] [3] Subservience sees Fox reteaming with filmmaker Dale, who she previously worked with on the horror thriller Till Death (2021). [4] [5] Principal photography began on January 7, 2023, at the Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia, Bulgaria. [6] In January 2023, it was announced that Madeline Zima and Andrew Whipp have joined the cast. [7] The same month, the film received a €1 million cash rebate from the Bulgarian National Film Center, amounting to 25% of its total budget. [8]
Subservience was released on digital formats in the United States on September 13, 2024. [9] In late August 2024, the film was released in Russia and Lithuania where it grossed a total of $159,422. [10]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 50% of 28 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.2/10. [11]
Leslie Felperin of The Guardian gave the film 2/5 stars, writing, "If only the film were a little bit smarter and less predictable, it might have had a chance of becoming a cult classic." She concluded, "the ending is an off-the-shelf denouement protocol and as such kind of a bore, right down to the hint that their[ sic ] might be a sequel." [12] Chad Collins of Dread Central also gave it 2/5 stars, calling "intermittently fun, and intermittently violent, especially as it careens toward a small-scale I, Robot conclusion. As a whole, however, it’s not really worth being subservient to." [13]
In September 2024, S.K. Dale expressed interest in developing a sequel where the story could explore the evolution of artificial intelligence. [14]
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