We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is an intimate coming-of-age horror film
The Verge's review revisits Jane Schoenbrun's 2021 debut feature We're All Going to the World's Fair, timed to coincide with the release of the director's follow-up, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. The piece frames the earlier film as a quietly unsettling coming-of-age horror story that uses internet culture and body horror to explore loneliness and the search for belonging, rather than more conventional teenage themes such as sexual awakening.
The film centres on Casey, a young girl who performs the "World's Fair Challenge", an online ritual resembling a creepypasta-style ARG, and then documents her supposed physical transformations on video. She is largely isolated from peers and her family, with her only meaningful connection being JLB, an older man whose motives remain ambiguous and unsettling throughout. The reviewer praises the film's originality and discomforting tone, noting it is currently available to stream on Criterion Channel, Kanopy and Hoopla.
- Review revisits Jane Schoenbrun's 2021 debut horror film
- Timed to coincide with new film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
- Streaming now on Criterion Channel, Kanopy and Hoopla
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Streaming video, once a symbol of endless entertainment, has become a strange new home for very personal, low-budget storytelling. We're All Going to the World's Fair is a 2021 film that grew out of this shift, made by director Jane Schoenbrun and centred on a teenage girl named Casey who spends her time alone online. It became known for treating internet culture itself, rather than more familiar teenage subjects, as the source of its unease.
The story follows Casey as she takes part in the "World's Fair Challenge", an invented online ritual in the style of a creepypasta, a genre of horror stories shared and embellished by users across the internet. She then posts videos claiming to document strange changes happening to her body, watched over by an older online contact called JLB, whose intentions towards her are never made clear. The film uses this setup to explore isolation and the pull towards connection, wherever it can be found.
The film is being discussed again now because Schoenbrun has released a follow-up, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, prompting renewed interest in the earlier work. It remains available to watch on the streaming services Criterion Channel, Kanopy and Hoopla.