The best part of CHAT is the diarrhea; the rest stinks
“Liquids are flying out of the stinkiest parts of people.”
Courtesy of: Ole J Hartmann
Sometimes the scariest part about moving is discovering signs of previous tenants. What if that discovery threatens to ruin your family and new bathroom?
CHAT (2026) is director Ole J. Hartmann’s independent micro-budget horror comedy, where a mysterious tablet releases a demon onto a family, turning their dream home into a nightmare.
Brad Kiddo just got a new home with his pregnant wife Michelle and their son Michael. It’s a fresh start until Michael finds a malicious tablet in his closet. The evil it unleashes will rot the family’s dream, turning their home into a place where the only way to survive is to kill somebody you love.
Courtesy of: Ole J Hartmann
The film sets itself up to be a technology gone rogue tale, providing a twist by having the threat from the tablet be of demonic origin spreading its dark powers by possessing a host. Once Brad is possessed, the tablet takes a back seat for the rest of the story. The threat isn’t from the tablets' hardware capabilities, as they are just a veil for the true evil, Beelzebub. It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
This made for a lack of importance for the tablet and AI form, which stops being relevant to the onscreen threat that it could have been; a possessed doll, book, or jewel would have the same impact on the plot. The subtextual issue of children with technology is surface level when the tablet is on the screen.
Time linearity isn’t consistent throughout the story. The timeline jumps ahead, forward and backwards. It adds to the unstable frenzy of the demon’s rampage. Elements of character progression get blown past within these jumps. I felt like it was a decision based on style instead of a necessity for the flow of the plot. By the time it was the ending it felt like I wasn’t watching an overarching narrative, more like out of place story beats.
Liquids are flying out of the stinkiest parts of people. The body fluids on display are this movie’s greatest strength. Scenes linger when vomit or feces appear and have characters play with it. This was impressively done. The shots are sporadic and shaky, adding to the depravity of the bodily waste shown. As Brad is losing control over himself from the demon, his symptoms get worse. There’s a scene where he diarrheas all over the bathroom. It’s perfectly revolting.
Overall, the acting in this film is fine. The family feels like a real one. Carter Sirianni plays Brad Kiddo. He gives it his all when his character is possessed and it pays off. You can tell he’s having fun being so cruel. He is great at going from a loving father to a filthy demon, and to the demon pretending to be the dad. I enjoyed the scene where Brad is talking to his wife’s dad with both on the verge of killing one another, but continue to have a conversation about tap water.
It’s a bleak, sloppy, and manic story of a family that loses everything in their dream. A technological nightmare controlled by the oldest evil. You’ll never drink tap water the same.
4 microwaved pets out of 10
