The rise of artificial intelligence has become one of the defining anxieties of the modern age – and it’s exactly that fear which sits at the heart of Jitters. The new British psychological horror thriller, directed by Marc Zammit and written by George Willcox, blends detective noir with AI paranoia, exploring what happens when the thing hunting you isn’t human at all.
The film follows world-weary detective Collymore, played by Fabrizio Santino (Captain America: The First Avenger, Hollyoaks), who is pulled into a disturbing investigation after the unexplained death of a young woman. What begins as a routine case soon spirals into something far darker, leading Collymore toward a mysterious online simulation known only as Jitters – a twisted digital game that weaponises its players’ deepest fears.
Jitters arrives on UK digital platforms on 16 March via Reel2Reel Films, followed by a US digital release on 17 March.
Ahead of the film’s release, I spoke with Santino about building Detective Collymore, collaborating again with Zammit, and why the film’s themes about technology and fear might feel a little too close to home.
Q&A with Fabrizio Santino
Detective Collymore feels like a very old-school detective who trusts his instincts above anything else. Were there any performances or films you looked at when shaping the character?
I’ve been asked that before actually. I was watching Bill Pullman in The Sinner and he had a very old-school approach to his work ethic, and he was also dealing with health issues like Collymore. When I read the script, that reminded me of that kind of character.
But I didn’t base the performance directly on anything I’d seen. I took my own approach to it and my own acting style. It’s also a strange world we’re in with this story – we’re not really in London or America, it’s almost its own place. That gave me the licence to make certain choices with the character.
One of the most unsettling parts of the film is that the threat isn’t really human. As an actor, how do you play scenes opposite something that has no humanity behind it?
That’s a good question. Luckily for me, the actor playing the clown – Daniel Jordan – performed those scenes in front of me in real life. We were in a dark studio together with very little lighting, so when I was reacting I had someone physically there.
The more challenging scenes were when I had to act opposite a laptop with nothing on the screen. I had to imagine how the character would respond, how he’d deliver his lines, and build the tension from that. But once you understand the scene and your character’s emotions – anger, confusion, curiosity – you can play it honestly.
In the film, the AI reflects people’s deepest fears back at them. If it scanned your mind, what fear do you think it would find?
I think I’d be incredibly anxious. If something like that hacked into my life – my conversations, my messages – I’d lose sleep over it.
The scary thing is that you can’t beat it physically. You can’t see it, touch it, or stop it. That would make me feel powerless, and I think that’s what would get to me the most.
Collymore seems more relaxed when he’s working alongside Detective Harding. Did you think about the characters’ relationship when building that dynamic?
Definitely. It helps when you genuinely get on with the person you’re working with. Anto Sharp, who plays Harding, and I became friends off screen.
We spent time together, rehearsed together, and built that chemistry. Sometimes in film you can be unlucky and there’s just no chemistry between actors – and that makes it very tough. But we had a natural connection and that translated onto the screen.
This is your third collaboration with director Marc Zammit. What keeps bringing you back to work with him?
I trust Marc. I trust where his mind goes creatively as a director.
When he calls me with a project, I don’t automatically say yes to everything – the role has to suit my energy and strengths. But with Jitters, we sat down and worked through the character together. Collymore actually started out as a British character before we shaped him into what he became.
Marc was very generous with creative input, and we built the character together. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I think he’s going to go very far.
The ending leaves the audience with a lingering sense that the technology can’t really be defeated. Was that something you thought about while making the film?
Yeah, because it raises a real question. What if something like that happened to you? What if you were hacked and didn’t know how to deal with it?
It makes you think about how vulnerable people are – especially older generations who aren’t as comfortable with technology. It’s something that’s already happening now.
Do you think technology and algorithms already understand us a little too well?
It’s scary. AI can be helpful – it can help you draft things or work things out quickly – but things are advancing so fast.
Sometimes it feels like the technology knows more than we do, or can think faster than we can. The real question is: what’s going to happen in ten or twenty years? That’s something I think about a lot.
JITTERS IS ON UK DIGITAL ON MARCH 16 FROM MIRACLE MEDIA AND COMES TO US DIGITAL ON MARCH 17 FROM REEL2REEL FILMS
