So directly influenced by Schoenbrun’s Slender Man doc that feels like required viewing, this builds off the odd dual community and isolation of the internet age and the creepypasta community in particular. A fragile, tenuous lifeline keeping you afloat all while pulling you in deeper. Cobb and Rogers give haunting, lonely performances. And the ending is a perfect ambiguity. The whole film is able to work on many different readings of how ‘real’ this all is and being equally tragic in each one. I think maybe TV Glow works against this film- it builds on a lot of the tone, the gender identity, the tragedy in a way that makes this feel like a bit of a warm up. It’s a film that made me think, but TV Glow made me think and feel. A great debut film that promised- and delivered- greater things from Schoenbrun.