Federico D’Alessandro directs Maika Monroe, Ed Skrein and Gary Oldman in this claustrophobic sci-fi thriller where a kidnapped woman becomes an experimental guinea pig in a sealed off house run by an artificial intelligence.

Maika Monroe gives good scream queen as always; sexy, resourceful and tough. The film is bathed in glowing neon lights, entire sequences are washed and soaked in electric reds and blues. The computer and robot design is original and convincing. That makes this passable but it is essentially an update of Demonseed with no real thrill, transgressions or invention. Tau is no HAL. The geometric robo-enforcer is not as scary as ED-209 or Hardware. A lot of sheen covers up not a lot of pleasure.

5