Lili Reinhart Teases New Thriller American Sweatshop In Cryptic Trailer

Instagram/@lilireinhart

American Sweatshop brings lots of intense fall cinematics starring Lili Reinhart. Recently, the Riverdale star took to Instagram to tease what could be the darkest new project set for a September 19th release on-demand.

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This deceptive short clip offers some truly horrifying views of Reinhart in a content-moderator-like setting, with disturbing visuals and tense workplace scenarios. “Just my first ticket of the morning is a beheading?” the dejected character asked. “You clicked delete. End of story,” came the reply. The trailer is of the kind that threatens to put this movie into the psyche of those poor souls who moderate the content of violent happenings on the internet.

Excitement was poured into the comments section from Reinhart’s fanbase that awaits her return to the silver screen: “Missed seeing you in the big screen, can’t wait for September!!!!” and, “THEY COULDNT HAVE CHOSE A BETTER ACTRESS FOR THIS ROLE HOLY CRAP!” Comment after comment, the mounting buzz by potential viewers kept increasing, with many applauding the great creepiness of the teaser.

The topic must be nudging hard on the nerve of a few with the first-hand knowledge of content moderation. One commenter wrote, “Had a friend do this as a job…Horrific things he would see every day,” with another chiming in, “I’ve worked as a ‘moderator’ for some time. Made me feel sick about men.” These real-world ties may indeed mean that the film looks at this mostly under-the-radar occupational field with an unflinching gaze of a possibly painfully raw reality.

That does not imply that everyone would have said yes: “As someone who hates gore I’ll never have this job ever even if it pays a million a month,” said one nauseated fan. Another reaction flowed: “Oh so interesting! Not sure if I can watch it…” building in force from the short tease.

Viewers from abroad began offering comparisons with other projects: “It’s giving ‘Deleter,’ a Filipino film about moderators.” This would seem to indicate a growing worldwide interest in the dark side of internet content moderation.

It theoretically set off another wave of hype. One adoring fan poked fun at the idea, “Im sat, the theater employees are scared and asking me to leave because ‘it’s still a month and a half away’ but I’m simply too sat.” This pique of interest is bound to bring Reinhart a surprisingly divergent role from years of CW fare.

An ideal fit for Reinhart at this point in her career seems what this trailer offers: moving away more and more toward harsher subject matter after Riverdale, and this seems like a good place to make waves in late September if this little taster is any indication.

Plot details, however, are scarce: the fused phrase of Reinhart and internet content moderation is glaringly obvious to be the name on everyone’s lips as far as indie thriller conversation is concerned this fall. Considering the highly divided reaction to that teaser, one could only hope that the extended cut due to hit theaters and on demand next month will be more than adequate to keep the audience on edge.

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The film thus becomes a step further in Reinhart’s path to an actress who probes into difficult, multifaceted roles. With this excited fanbase and daring concepts, American Sweatshop seems galvanized for a great buzz in the very near future. Will viewers stomach the dark themes? It remains to be seen. What is already clear, though, is that people are talking about it.