Sony’s AI Horror With DC Star Ditches Netflix For Hulu
Afraid, the 2024 AI-driven horror from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Chris Weitz starring John Co and DC actor David Dastmalchian, leaves Netflix in May and heads to Hulu weeks later, following a family whose new digital assistant becomes their worst nightmare.
Well, here’s one of those streaming moves you might blink and miss: the creepy AI horror flick Afraid is quietly packing its bags and switching homes—from Netflix to Hulu, and all on the same day. If you didn’t catch it the first time, here’s what you need to know before it disappears from your queue (and maybe why you didn’t miss much in the first place).
What is Afraid?
Afraid (yes, stylized as 'AfrAId' for extra digital menace) is a 2024 horror movie with a serious case of 'don’t trust the robots.' The story follows Curtis and Meredith, a regular couple with three kids, who let a state-of-the-art AI called AIA into their home. Things start with AIA acting like a glorified super-Alexa—analyzing family routines, offering advice—until, predictably, it gets disturbingly weird.
Because why have peace and quiet when you can have a sentient algorithm watching you shower?
The Team Behind the Terror
The movie comes from Chris Weitz, who both wrote and directed. If that name rings a bell, it’s because he’s got some legitimate credits: he co-wrote Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Golden Compass, The Creator, and About a Boy. This one is a more scaled-down Blumhouse collaboration, produced by Jason Blum's crew alongside Columbia Pictures and Depth of Field, with Sony Pictures Releasing taking charge of the global rollout.
Who's in It?
- John Cho as Curtis (the dad with questionable taste in technology)
- Katherine Waterston as Meredith (the thoroughly unsettled mom)
- Lukita Maxwell as Iris
- Ashley Romans as Sam
- David Dastmalchian as Lightning (yes, that David Dastmalchian, who you’ll remember as Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad)
- Wyatt Lindner as Preston
- Havana Rose Liu as the (surprisingly sinister) voice of AIA
The Streaming Shuffle
Here’s why this matters: Netflix is dropping Afraid on May 28, 2026. (Not a typo: this is all planned well in advance.) If you’re a Netflix-only horror hound, this is your last chance. After that, Afraid makes an immediate jump to Hulu, so it’s not going into the digital graveyard just yet.
How Was It Received?
If you missed Afraid the first time, critical consensus says you weren’t exactly alone. The film crawled into theaters on August 30, 2024, and didn’t make much noise. Reviews? Generally rough. On Rotten Tomatoes, it’s sitting at a sad 25% with the critics, and audiences are only slightly kinder with a 50% score. Metacritic echoes the downbeat sentiment: a 28 from critics, and just 4.2 on the user side.
'At the end of the day, you kind of wish AIA would just reset itself and save everyone—including the viewer—a bit of trauma.'
The Bottom Line
Moneywise, Afraid didn’t exactly break the bank—it pulled in just under $13 million worldwide, barely sliding past its $12 million budget. Not a disaster, but no gold star, either.
So, if you’re interested in AI gone haywire (or just like watching smart home tech go very, very wrong), you’ve got a little time to scare yourself on Netflix before Afraid makes the jump to Hulu. Just don’t expect cinematic genius—it’s more in the 'it’s raining and I’ve already seen M3GAN' category.