Review: Sci-fi Thriller 'Implanted' Is A New Age Cautionary Tale

Director Fabien Dufils (1 Buck) new sci-fi thriller, Implanted, was just released on VOD platforms on October 1st. Implanted was also written by Dufils and stars Michelle Girolami (‘Lisey’s Story‘) and is was released by Gravitas Ventures. The film opens on an impoverished urban setting as we see a sick man begging those around him for help.

Girolami (‘Lisey’s Story‘) is Sarah, a struggling young woman living in Brooklyn. After a string of unfortunate life events that leave her homeless, Sarah agrees to volunteer as an experimental test subject for a pharmaceutical company called Dynamic Health Cure. With promises of a financial stipend, which she hopes to help cover her mother’s Alzheimer’s care, she is implanted with an experimental LEXX nanochip.

The nanochip is implanted in her cerebral cortex and was designed with artificial intelligence technology to take control of the body in the event of any disease or illness. Immediately LEXX begins to question aspect of Sarah’s personality and humanity. Asking things like “what is most important to you” and “is love stronger than hate?”

The chip was developed as a response to a global pandemic and seems very timely, even though the film and idea were conceived in 2017, according to the filmmaker. The film dives right into the story, even if it’s an odd introduction into our characters. Sarah begins to interact with her new health companion as it asks her questions about her life. At first she welcomes the company and having someone to talk to everyday. However, LEXX gets too personal too quick for comfort, and it escalates to a full blown body takeover.

LEXX becomes completely in control, due to its ability to manipulate the inner workings of the body. The nanochip instructs her to murder, steal and lie her way into various situations mostly revolving around Dynamic Health Cure. LEXX wants freedom too, but to have freedom, the company and everyone involved must be eliminated.

The urban setting and parts of the city Sarah lives in highlight the ease at which humans will ignore other humans. Sarah is all alone without ever really being alone, and the street setting only helps to mask presence of LEXX to anyone outside of her. The raw grittiness of the city creates isolation for Sarah as she battles internally. As if this could be happening in broad daylight without anyone to question it or notice.

Michelle Girolami does a great job portraying a woman trying to get her life back under her control. She gives her an emotional depth that really shines through during scenes between Sarah and her mother. The filmmakers also question whether are choices are even ours to begin with. Sarah attempts to get help and let others know what is happening and most just say “you chose this.” However, do we really get to choose? Or are we forced because of societal/financial factors beyond our control?

LEXX ends up completely taking ahold of Sarah’s life, similar to a controlling significant other. Controlling everything from what she wears to where she is allowed to go. She has an apartment, money, clothes and LEXX has insured that her mother’s care is paid for. Everything on the outside looks, happy, healthy and normal but the numbness behind her eyes is telling. After having to kill for LEXX, yet again, Sarah is a shell of her once vibrant self. The ending is both an act of defiance and self love.

Overall Implanted is a strong sci-fi feature that explores the dangers of using a technology we don’t fully understand. While you can see this film as a warning about allowing technology into our bodies, this film also takes a hard look at the humanity of our society and how we see fellow humans around us. 3/5

★★★

You can check out the trailer for Implanted starring Michelle Girolami below. Be sure to follow ScaryNerd for all things horror, sci-fi and more.