ALL MY FRIENDS HATE ME - SYNOPSIS

Pete (Tom Stourton) returns from a stint abroad working with refugees. He's tried to move on from his youthful days of indulgence and wants to settle down with his girlfriend, the grounded and socially conscious Sonia (Charly Clive). His old university friends are delighted to have him back and invite the couple to a weekend away to celebrate Pete's birthday; to catch up, reminisce and get to know Sonia.

Whilst Sonia is smart and principled, the same cannot be said for Pete's old friends. Archie (Graham Dickson) is still taking drugs and making inappropriate jokes and Pete’s ex-girlfriend Claire (Antonia Clarke) seems just as fragile and aimless as the student Pete used to date. Although George (Josh McGuire) and Fig (Georgina Campbell) have established careers, and are kindly hosting the weekend, something about their cruel sense of humor seems wholly immature and stuck in the past. The ensuing clash of characters makes Pete very tense as he braces for an awkward weekend.

Somewhat perplexingly to Pete, his friends have spontaneously invited a feral stranger called Harry (Dustin Demri-Burns) from the local pub, to partake in the festivities. Harry has an unhinged energy and proves to be a source of entertainment for everyone. Everyone except for Pete who scorns this whole thing as the kind of outlandish (and frankly, he thinks, patronizing) jaunt they might have indulged at university. 

But although Pete disapproves of his friends’ offensiveness, it’s he who keeps offending people. Pete tells a story about a weird local he met up on the way up, only to realize the man is standing behind him and, it turns out, works for George. Later, Pete is accused of indirectly calling Harry a peasant, and the following morning he discovers that Claire has left the party because of something Pete said. He can’t catch a break, to the extent that Fig even pulls him aside to openly tell him how badly he’s doing. It’s like there’s a force working against him and at the center everything is Harry. Eerily, Pete is sure they’ve met before. 

Over the course of the weekend, the atmosphere goes from uncomfortable to terrifying, to downright surreal. Pete's mental state deteriorates as moment by moment he frantically navigates a maze of confusion and threat. When Sonia eventually joins the party, it momentarily feels like Pete might have found his relief and with her at his side he feels confident to accept that Harry is just a buffoon who needs to be ignored. Perhaps all these threats he was sensing were simply in his head after all. 

But his relief is soon to be upended when the weekend culminates in an extraordinary event which his friends refer to as ‘the big reveal’. As the group lay on a show all geared towards the revelation of who Harry really is. Pete’s sanity frays and he is pushed to breaking point as he desperately tries to unearth what’s going on. Is he being punished, is he paranoid, or is he just part of some sick joke?