Our creepy times now have their own creepy movie.

I normally review tech products, most of which make our lives better. But “The Circle” film that debuts this week—about a privacy-flouting version of Google, Apple, and Facebook wrapped into one—makes you want to move to the woods. Is surveillance a worthwhile trade-off for any digital service? And is Silicon Valley prepared for the evils its technologies unleash?

In the film, a CEO played by Tom Hanks holds a Steve Jobs-style product launch that fills the globe with tiny constantly broadcasting webcams. His Orwellian mission statement: “If it happens, we’ll know.”

The satire is having a hard time keeping up with reality. In the past two weeks, Facebook’s camera apps have become the go-to tech to broadcast killing: A man posted a video of himself shooting someone as if to brag; a 13-year-old accidentally shot himself live on Instagram; and in another live stream, a man killed his 11-month-old daughter.

I reached out to “The Circle” director and screenwriter James Ponsoldt, who showed me an advance screening and sat down for a chat in San Francisco. A self-described early adopter, Mr. Ponsoldt says it would be “naive propaganda” to suggest we should all just unplug. “But I don’t think that means we shouldn’t be asking questions,” he said.