Movie Review: 'A.M.I' Is Better than 'Jexi'

I can say this for the new phone based slasher movie A.M.I: It's better than the equally phone obsessed nationwide theatrical release, Jexi. A.M.I is a courageous, artistically limited new horror movie that recently debuted on Netflix, timed to coincide, I assume, with the release of the Adam Devine comedy Jexi. Both films are about young people whose phone is related to their parental issues.

A.M.I stars Debs Howard as Cassie, a college student whose mother was killed in a tragic car accident. Cassie suffered a serious head injury in the crash and has since not been her bubbly self. No longer obsessed with her popularity or the latest trends, she appears alienated from her friends, Sarah (Veronica Hampson) and Ruby (Havana Guppy) and nearly estranged from her devastated, alcoholic father, Greg (Philip Grainger).

Cassie's relationship to her boyfriend, Liam (Sam Mulk), is no better, but not because of the accident. Liam is such a jerk that Cassie could have a gaping head wound and his only concern would be about his football game, her hot tub and when he can get laid again and by who. The relationship seems to have continued simply out of Cassie's desire to find a semblance of normalcy after her accident.

Cassie's life is changed forever when some force of the universe brings her a phone featuring the hot, new O.S. known as A.M.I. The A.M.I is remarkably customizable, with the ability for users to change everything—including A.M.I's voice. In her desperate grief, Cassie hears what she believes is the voice of her mother among the optional voices and chooses her.

The A.I even asks if Cassie would like to refer to her as Mother instead of A.M.I, something she readily agrees to. From here, things start to cascade downward at a quick pace. Cassie finds out that Sarah is sleeping with Liam and sets about murdering her at Mother's request. It's a brutal and bloody crime, but Mother uses her A.I to figure out the best ways to dispose of a body, including burying Sarah in Liam's own backyard.

I will leave you to see A.M.I for yourself so you can see where this movie goes. I will say, I really liked the final act of this movie, which is only 77 minutes long and thus easily benefits from a terrifically creepy, apt and unexpected ending. I am not familiar with the work of director Rusty Nixon, but his style is efficient and effectively creepy.

Debs Howard is the real find of A.M.I. The camera absolutely loves Howard's angular face and glorious cheekbones. She commands the camera and her eyes strike a terrifying tone. She is a real asset in the show don't tell moments of A.M.I, another strong aspect of this minimalist and low budget slasher flick.

A.M.I is more ambitious than its phone obsessed counterpart, Jexi. A.M.I is interested in more than just a series of obvious payoffs and overly familiar tropes. A.M.I has the goal of creeping you out and achieves that goal often. It has a stronger pace and even one laugh that is bigger than any of the minor pleasures of Jexi.

A.M.I also has a great deal more to say about our relationship to technology and the outside world than the much higher budgeted Jexi. A.M.I doesn't merely fall back on the trope of 'phone culture is bad,' instead A.M.I takes just how bad phone culture can be to an extreme and unpredictably entertaining place.

Yes, the goals are very different; Jexi is a low stakes comedy, A.M.I is a high stakes, risky horror movie, but where Jexi is lifeless, inert, and only occasionally funny, A.M.I is genuinely creepy and weird in a way that is quite entertaining. A.M.I doesn't reinvent the horror genre; it's not a game changer, it's a rather minor entertainment, but it's certainly better than Jexi and many of the theatrically released horror movies I have seen 2019.

Most important is that ending, a bizarre, Twilight Zone-esque, creeped out ending that takes the movie to a logical extreme. I was unsure where A.M.I was headed and didn't expect much based on the good not great nature of the movie. Then the final moments arrived and I laughed and became deeply uncomfortable and absolutely adored the strange ambition on display.

A.M.I is available now on Netflix.