"Anonymous 616", written and directed by Mike Boss, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. Google something and you can feel omniscient, like a god. You can feel the same way with gnarly pharmaceuticals, with or without the imprimatur of a religious practice. Finally, mental maladies can make you think that God speaks to you and you alone and that you must enforce anything that He commands. Anonymous 616, written and directed by Mike Boss, reminds us how these delusions of omniscience actually go way, way back. The film doesn’t make you question your sanity. Instead, in spectacular fashion, it makes you question your nihilism, your agnosticism, your lapsed church attendance, and your poo-poohing those fierce and fiery depictions of Hell in Northern Renaissance paintings.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT?  Soldier Jason’s (Daniel DeWeldon) back from a tour in Iraq. He’s got a girlfriend, Jenna (Jessica Boss) and a best friend, Eric (David Abramsky). Eric’s got a girlfriend, Monica (Lena Roma). Monica has a teenage daughter, Emily (Bella Shepard).

Jason and Jenna visit Eric and Monica. Feels chummy – friends reuniting after a spell. Drinks, snacks. Then they smoke some DMT. DMT’s like magic mushrooms, like LSD. It distorts reality, it conjures up hallucinations. Each goes off into their separate bliss.

On his way back from the loo (DMT has a bilious side effect), Jason receives a text from a computer atop a desk in a home office. It’s not that this computer knows how his stock portfolio’s doing, how long the drive home will take, what the Dodgers are up to. No, this computer knows a lot of stuff about Jason. A deep secret and then an even darker one. AI run amuck? Good, keep thinking that.

On subsequent visits, Jason gets advice from the computer/oracle. Not what clothes to wear, where to eat, what movie to see. No, it empowers him. The computer asks, Want to feel like God? Who wouldn’t, right? Jason says yes. Then do this, says the computer. At first the task is simply pervy, simply being relative for what comes next. Then the tasks become Manson Family diabolical. A side effect of the DMT? How about PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder)? Good, keep thinking both of those.

Things go from worse to more worse. Seriously, stomach-turning worse. (Fortunately, the absolute worst scene isn’t shown, just its aftermath.) Wait until you see what turned his life into a living Hell.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?  There’s an article in Inc. magazine that came out the day of this writing. In it, Larry Page and Elon Musk come down on different sides of the threat that artificial intelligence poses to us carbon-based life forms. Page thinks that robots should be treated like people. Musk doesn’t. It’s a topical argument whose relevance this film blows out of the water. The real threat to mankind? If it had a phone number, it would begin a 616 area code.

WHO SHOULD SEE IT?  Fans of horror films whose slash-and-churn visuals are not gratuitous but serve a higher narrative function.

WHAT SHOULD I FOCUS ON? Genre-bending. The production has the attributes of a slasher/horror/thriller film. It’s all that (Oh Christ, is it). Really, though, it’s a morality play. Red herrings. From the first scene, we see the ghastly havoc Jason wrecks. We don’t yet know the Why. Three possible explanations. Artificial intelligence. A psychotropic drug. Post-traumatic stress disorder. Each is plausible, but each is wrong. The identity and implications of what set Jason off will take your breath away. The reveal moment. The innocuous way we find it’s not a computer that speaks to Jason but a Higher/Lower voice is inspired. Let’s just say that evil doesn’t need AC/DC, a router, and an ISP. DeWeldon’s Jason. The way DeWeldon transforms Jason from a hipper than thou vet to a dude with a serious God-complex has to be seen to be believed.

VERDICT? Don’t flee after the first 30 seconds, after each of a quartet of cataclysmic incidents. See how all the bloody pieces come together at the end. You will be astonished. Guaranteed.

HOW DO I WATCH IT? You can stream it here on Amazon.