Log in / Sign up
 
    Share this page

    Unfriended

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    I took a chance and went to see “Unfriended” despite the fact that I heard mostly negative things from the general audience (the critics were split, with it leaning a bit more towards it being good) and I’m glad I did because it’s yet another film that points me towards the idea that horror movie fans have no idea what they want to see. I’d even say that they have become this weird group of fanatics that will dismiss any film that is original or inventive because it isn’t EXACTLY the type of picture they have viewed before. I liked this movie a lot. I think it’s original in its premise, it’s a film that uses its medium very effectively and also builds tension extremely well, I was frightened and I liked some of the subtle choices made in the making of it. I also admire the fact that this movie was made right now. With its premise (which I’ll get to in a moment) there is no other time in which this story could have taken place or been so poignant.

    This twist on the slasher genre has a very clever way of conveying its story, one that is tied into the premise exceptionally well. The entire film is shown as if it was being played on a computer screen through our main character scrolling through pages, watching videos on the internet and talking through video-chat on Skype with her friends. It’s the anniversary of Laura Barns’ suicide (Laura played by Heather Sossaman) The young woman killed herself because of incessant cyber bullying, specifically a demeaning and needlessly cruel Youtube video that sparked an unending wave of messages telling her to “kill urself”. When Laura’s childhood friend Blaire (Shelley Hennig) receives a series of strange and cryptic messages from Laura’s Facebook and Skype accounts, she and her friends have their darkest secrets exposed and are systematically terrorized by an anonymous person who knows all about what part they played in the young Laura’s death.

    I think the best thing about this movie is how it uses the scenario and the setting to generate tension and scares. The way “Unfriended” is shot, it’s essentially a twist on the “found footage” medium. Here, in addition to seeing what is happening to these people from the point of view of Blaire, we also get a really eerie view of everyone involved in the story. Basically, you see them speaking into a camera, so you can always see what is going on behind them, but they can’t. I thought this was absolutely terrific. It’s like sitting at your computer blogging about a horror movie you’ve just seen with the drapes closed. If you hear something outside, like a weird noise that could be something harmless, or could be a something terrible. You don’t know what to do (particularly if your imagination is running wild) Do you open up the drapes to see what is going on outside? It would be comforting to see... unless it was a really creepy guy with a William Shatner mask, brandishing a knife. Then it would be absolutely terrifying. So terrifying that you almost wish you hadn’t opened the drapes (even though doing so just gave you crucial information that could save your life) because you didn’t want to know that there was someone trying to sneak up on you. The fact that there are up to six people at a time, and that you can always look at what is behind them it made me very tense. I was constantly looking at all of the different windows trying to figure out what was going to happen to whom next. Additionally, the film uses sound and the camera to very great effect. Most of the film is very quiet, with people simply talking to each other. Once in a while though, there are some startling sound that will make you tense. The thing about these sounds... is that they aren’t cheap scares like a cat screeching or something falling over. It’s simply the sound that you hear every time someone calls you on Skype. The thing is, the person calling could be a friend, but it could also be the person that has been terrorizing our protagonists this whole time. It plays with the very best element of the “slasher genre” in that it takes the completely harmless, familiar stuff and turns it into something scary. All of a sudden, Facebook, Youtube, Skype and your friends are no longer things you can rely on; they are instruments for this villain to use in order to get their revenge.

    This is a very internet savvy film that uses little things that you would take for granted to great effect. For example, when some of our characters are talking on Skype, they also send each other private messages (basically they’re talking behind each other’s backs), or convey emotion in the way they type things. In frenetic moments, they make typos; in moments where they are trying to save face or they are unsure what the right thing to say is, they will type a long sentence then erase parts of it, or all of it to change the implication of what they are saying. You wouldn’t think it, but there’s a lot that can be said when a response that reads “Yes, you’re definitely right” is changed to “sure”. It’s just the wording, but those words speak a lot. What I like about “Unfriended” is that details like this could have, and would not have, worked in any movie made before 2015. We didn’t have camera chat or instant messaging back in the 80’s. This is a movie that feels fresh because it actually looks at our world and adapts horror tropes to what we have around.

    Finally, one particularly noteworthy aspect of the film is the commentary it’s making about today’s culture. Cyber bullying is something serious, but it doesn’t feel like the people who are most often affected by it, the tech savvy teenagers that are in high school take it seriously. If you ever look at the comments on a Youtube video, you will see that people can be incredibly cruel when they have the power to say something to someone without being directly in front of them. If you want to lose faith in humanity completely, watch any video that has a black man in it, or an opinionated feminist in it. It’s unfortunate that if you scroll through those comments you will see a slew of racist, sexist and violent remarks made by people who would unapologetically dismiss them as “simple jokes”. I love that this movie addresses that. It shows how cruel people can be, and in a way that reminds me of recurring horror of “The Ring”. What I mean is that this situation, with the teenagers being targeted because of the bullying they did, is exposed and they are then harassed by each other, by this stranger, by the people on the internet and even by the real life audiences watching the film. They will go “yeah, that […] deserved to be scared like that. I wish she would die”. Wait a minute. Isn’t wishing something like death onto someone that was shown in an unflattering light what sparked this whole story in the first place? Now we are onto something a lot more complex than just a bunch of teenagers being scared in their living rooms. I also think that there is a lot of complexity in the sense that the victims in this story are not necessarily bad people, but like all teenagers out there they can be cruel and reluctant to come to term with the consequences of their actions. They’re not cartoons.

    All that, and we also have a compelling mystery about how exactly everyone is tied to this story, what is going to happen to them and how they can escape the punishment that whoever is behind all of this has in store for them. It’s an innovative film that has a grasp on the reality of our new 21t century world. The clichés of cellphones not working, people being isolated in a cabin in the woods... we’ve seen that before and it’s completely absent from this story. What we haven’t seen is a horror film that dives in up to its elbows and says “yes, teenagers can be cruel, but they might not seem like it on the surface” and does it without waving its finger at us disapprovingly. It’s well acted, it keeps the scares coming by providing just the right amount of information, it’s cleverly shot and makes the most of its tiny budget. I really think that this film has a lot of brains behind it and I admire “Unfriended” tremendously. (Theatrical version on the big screen, May 14, 2015)

    9
    HelpfulNot helpful  Reply
    adamwatchesmovies@  18.5.2015 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

    Show all reviews for this movie
    Note: The movie review posted on this page reflects a personal opinion of one user. We are not responsible for its content.

    Did you see ''Unfriended''?

    There is a problem with your e-mail address and we are unable to communicate with you. Please go to My Account to update your email.

    How do you rate this movie?

    Select stars from 1 to 10.
    10 - A masterpiece, go, see it now
    9 - Excellent movie, a must see
    8 - Great movie, don't miss it
    7 - Good movie, worth seeing
    6 - Not bad, could be much better
    5 - So so, okay if you don't pay
    4 - Not good, even if you don't pay
    3 - Poor movie, not recommended
    2 - Very bad, forget about it
    1 - Worst ever, avoid at all costs

    Please explain. Write your comment here:

    Please choose a username to sign your comments. Only letters, digits, dash - or period. Minimum 4 characters.

    Your age and sex:

    We publish all comments, except abusive, at our discretion.