Tom Ashley

Set in the 1990s, Tricky begins in a London animation studio run by a husband-and-wife team famous for creating beloved cereal mascots. Their world crumbles when new regulations ban sugary ads targeted at children, effectively cancelling their entire industry overnight. The husband flees to America, leaving behind his wife and their daughter, Maya. Decades later, Maya’s 12-year-old daughter, Charli, discovers a VHS tape of the old commercials. Hoping to connect with the grandfather she’s never met, she uploads digitized clips to TikTok using AI tools. But the experiment goes horribly wrong: her viral videos open a portal between worlds, unleashing the once-cute mascots, now twisted, AI-enhanced monstrosities, into the real world.

After his mother ditches him in a dingy roadside motel, naive teen Otis sets out to make his way to Las Vegas, hitching a ride with a pair of charismatic, middle-aged schemers. Once in Sin City, Otis finds himself drawn into an elaborate poker heist plotted by his shady new "friends" and a grizzled con artist. But Otis soon learns that his acquaintances are not to be trusted.