Directed by Andrew Gaynord, All My Friends Hate Me is a 2021 black comedy horror film. For his 31st birthday, Peter (Tom Stourton) heads to his friend George’s (Joshua McGuire) lavish country mansion, alongside his old flame Claire (Antonia Clarke), George’s partner, Fig (Georgina Campbell, Black Mirror‘s “Hang the DJ”) and the cocaine loving Archie (Graham Dickson). While Pete waits for his girlfriend Sonia’s (Charly Clive) arrival, he is introduced to Harry (Dustin Demri-Burns), who his mates met at a nearby pub, which is when Pete begins to think that all of his friends have it out for him.
+ I was only familiar with Georgina Campbell, and having a group of more unknown actors is always a good idea in a movie like this. I was instantly drawn to (or started to really dislike) certain characters based on Pete’s perspective of what was going on and whether that was proven true or not was intriguing to find out
+ I had my own guesses of just what was going on at several points, including the use of some of what I think were intentional red herrings. These all do get answered one way or another, but see below for one minor nitpick in this regard
+ fantastic awkward situations that either resolve or just get worse, but you never know which way it is going to, and therefore can never prepare for the next situation either. This is not quite ‘cringe comedy’ like The Office‘s “Scott’s Tots” but it does sometimes toe that line. Sometimes you’ll laugh because of how cringeworthy something is
– in its attempt to be both a black comedy and a horror, the movie never really fits as either. The scary scenes end before the dread can set it, and the black comedy scenes fall just one laugh short. The ultimate payoff is not a good one to watch, and while I’m sure that was intentional at least in part, it’s still ultimately unsatisfying
> in some ways, this was a less overtly horror version of The World’s End (2013), as a group of friends reunite after some extended period of time
Should you see this film: I saw the trailer for this before a random YouTube video some years ago, and I was instantly interested, so I’m glad I remember it these many moons later. This whole movie is such an uncomfortable experience that I really do recommend watching it.
MoshFish Reviews 