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We’re All Going to the World’s Fair: Short Lived New Flesh

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair: Short Lived New Flesh

Last updated on: August 23, 2026 at 2:41 pm by Chase Padusniak

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We’re All Going to the World’s Fair: Short Lived New Flesh 2026-08-23T14:41:12-04:00 Chase Padusniak

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The film’s poster
Source: Wikimedia
Fair Use

As usual, I’m a bit behind. Only now have I made my way to a Jane Schoenbrun film. Their first directed feature, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021) originally came out on HBO Max during the pandemic times. These days, Schoenbrun is probably better known for I Saw the TV Glow (2024); they also have Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026), both of which created or are creating quite the buzz.

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is a charming film. It’s not exactly good. Not on the whole Though a horror film, it’s rarely scary. Though a tale of teen internet usage, it doesn’t leave the viewer (or at least me) with any overbearing sense of what it has to say about teen internet usage. The movie did, however, leave me with the sense that Schoenbrun is extremely talented. It occasionally shocks. Some of the visuals (like the one on the cover) stick with you. Given the movie appears to have been made for about $50 and a couple trips to McDonalds, it’s astonishing that it looks so good and creates the “vibe” it does.

The film contains only two characters: Casey (Anna Cobb) and JLB (Michael J. Rogers). The former is an adult man coaching Casey (not her real name), a teenage girl, through a Creepypasta-like online game called “I’m Going to the World’s Fair.” The plot is light; the audience is rarely sure if the two are playing a game or not. Does Casey actually think he’s going insane? Is JLB trustworthy? Does he mean her harm? His childhood bedroom is a nice, creepy touch.

But there’s never any resolution and having the two eventually meet in person almost feels like a cop out. The movie, as best I can tell, wants to deal with the emotional depth but ephemerality of online relationships, the strange way many kids are raised by and on the computer. A worthy and, I believe, underexplored facet of our evolving reality. Many have tried. Few, if any, have done so adequately. I’m not quite sure We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is the big “internet movie” we’ve all been waiting for. Creepy, thematically elastic, but ultimately just “a vibe.”

A shame. But a phenomenal start—can’t wait check out Schoenbrun’s more recent work.

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