Killer AI is one of science fiction’s favorite nightmares. From rogue defense systems to self-aware machines deciding humanity is the problem, filmmakers have spent decades imagining what happens when technology outsmarts its creators. As a lifelong horror and sci-fi fan, I grew up with films like The Terminator, 2001: A Space Odyssey and WarGames that planted those ideas into my head long before artificial intelligence became something people casually talked about in everyday life.
Of course, not every killer AI movie was trying to be a deep philosophical warning about the future of technology. Some were just pure, unapologetic fun. One that always sticks in my mind is Chopping Mall, where a group of mall security robots go haywire and start hunting down teenagers trapped inside after closing time. The movie is campy in all the best ways, packed with cheesy one-liners, killer robots rolling through empty corridors and a synth-heavy soundtrack that still lives rent-free in my head decades later.
It’s exactly the kind of over-the-top sci-fi horror that reminds you the genre can be both thrilling and ridiculous at the same time. DRAGN may aim for a slightly more modern take on rogue artificial intelligence, but it’s playing in that same sandbox, where machines decide humans are suddenly expendable.
DRAGN is a streaming sci-fi horror action film from director Peter Webber. The story follows a group of employees from the tech company MANTIZ who are called together for what is supposedly a corporate team-building exercise by the company’s mysterious owner, Petros (Alex Lane). The reluctant participants include Tom (James Paxton), Adele (Lilly Krug), Daniel (Carlos Bardem) and Sebastian (Franz Drameh), while the entire experiment is quietly observed by Jacob (Jadran Malkovich).
The group is transported to a remote forest where they are told their task is simple: find their way to a nearby MANTIZ facility without the help of cell phones, GPS or any modern navigation tools. What starts as a frustrating corporate exercise quickly turns into a fight for survival when a heavily armed drone, codenamed DRAGN, begins stalking them through the woods.
Outfitted with an arsenal of weapons and guided by malicious artificial intelligence, the machine turns the wilderness into a deadly hunting ground, forcing the employees to work together if they have any hope of making it out alive.
DRAGN feels like a strange blend of several classic genre films. At times it reminded me of Predator, especially when the film switches to the drone’s point of view as it scans the forest and tracks its targets. Those moments give the audience the uncomfortable feeling that the characters are constantly being watched, hunted by something they can’t fully understand, fight or even see as it hovers above them.
Once the group finally reaches the MANTIZ facility, the tone shifts slightly and starts to feel more like Jurassic Park. Tom, our lead protagonist, moves cautiously through a darkened building trying to restore the power, knowing the deadly machine could appear at any moment. That suspenseful “something is stalking us” tension works really well.
And, of course, the idea of a rogue machine hunting people immediately brought Chopping Mall to mind. The film even leans into that throwback feeling with a synth-filled soundtrack that echoes the kind of music that defined many sci-fi films of that era. It’s a fun nod to the genre’s past while still delivering plenty of modern action.
James Paxton plays Tom as the emotional anchor of the group. From the moment things start going wrong, you can tell he is absolutely terrified of the situation, but he manages to keep a level head when the others begin to panic. That balance between fear and determination works well for the character. Tom isn’t some over-the-top action hero. He feels like a regular guy who has been dropped into a nightmare and is simply trying to survive it.
What really shapes Tom as the film’s central character is his motivation. Throughout the story, it’s clear he’s thinking about getting back home to his wife and child. That personal stake gives the character an extra layer of urgency and helps position him as the film’s “final guy.” Horror movies have long been known for the trope of the final girl, but here the film flips that dynamic a bit, letting Tom step into that survival role as the last person determined to outsmart the killer machine.
My only real complaint is that the story feels very familiar. Killer AI turning on humans is a concept we’ve seen explored countless times in science fiction, and DRAGN largely follows the same narrative beats that many of those films have already used. At times it almost feels like the movie is borrowing pieces from several different genre classics and stitching them together into its own story.
That doesn’t make the film bad, but it does make parts of it feel predictable. You can often see where the story is heading before it gets there. With a premise like rogue artificial intelligence hunting people in the wilderness, there was definitely an opportunity to bring something new or unexpected to the table. Instead, DRAGN mostly sticks to the formula that killer AI movies have been following for decades.
I give DRAGN a solid four out of five stars. In the end, it may not reinvent the killer AI genre, but it still manages to be a fun ride. The film pulls inspiration from several sci-fi classics, blending the hunter-versus-prey tension of Predator with the creeping suspense of Jurassic Park and the rogue-machine chaos that fans remember from Chopping Mall. Strong tension and a grounded performance from James Paxton help keep things entertaining even when the story follows familiar killer-AI territory.
It may borrow a few ideas from the genre’s past, but it does so in a way that’s energetic and enjoyable. And if there’s one lesson sci-fi has been trying to teach us for decades, it’s this: maybe we should stop giving armed robots so much responsibility. After all, we already learned that lesson the hard way.