'Tau' Trailer: Gary Oldman Voices A Smart House In The Netflix Sci-Fi Thriller

Netflix has become a new hub for sci-fi thrillers, and it looks like its latest film is one to watch out for. Tau is a brutal, horror-tinged thriller starring Gary Oldman as an AI house that terrorizes its inhabitants in a horrifying game of cat and mouse. And while the Oscar winner doesn't appear on screen himself, his voice is chilling enough.

Maika Monroe (It Follows) stars as a young woman living in a futuristic city who gets kidnapped and injected by a mysterious stranger. She wakes up strapped to a chair in a strange house run by the artificial intelligence Tau, a program invented by Ed Skrein's psychotic inventor. He gives her a choice: do as the house says, or die. (Some choice.)

But she's not the only one stuck in the house. She meets another man and a woman, both kidnapped and held against their will in the house. As they team up to escape, Tau becomes a complex battle of wits to outsmart the smart house — but I get the feeling friendship may be the answer all along?

Here is the official Tau synopsis:

Held captive in a futuristic smart house, a woman hopes to escape by befriending the A.I. program that controls the house.

There's no hint of Monroe's character befriending the AI in the trailer like the synopsis says, but she does chat with Oldman's voice a lot, which may hint at a wary alliance down the road. It would certainly add a fascinating twist in what otherwise appears to be a cut-and-dry chase thriller.

There's not much to say about this trailer except that it looks promising. Netflix has had a spotty track record with its sci-fi properties lately (Bright, Mute, Altered Carbon, and The Cloverfield Paradox were mostly unimpressive), so it can only go up from here. Monroe is a bright talent, having made an impact in the subversive horror movie It Follows, and could be the star that elevates Tau from a direct-to-video B-movie to a genuinely good sci-fi movie.

Tau premieres on Netflix on June 29, 2018.