Unfriended

The only reason I watched this, is because my sister and I traded blu rays so we can each see horror films the other has that we haven't. I was very skeptical to watch this. Blumhouse lately is a hit or miss. Truthfully they find some amazing horror films, then add sequels until they're bled dry. This film, by the trailer looked, seemed similar to The Gallows which I was forced to go to with my younger brother-in-law and my wife even though I knew it would be terrible; it was by the way. The movie luckily was not like The Gallows. In fact he biggest thing that surprised me was that the writing and acting was actually good. Usually with low budget horror films they grab some teenagers that have never acted in their life. Drama seems to be the easiest catagory to act but still, the acting was believable. As for the writing, the premise is simple. However they take a simple idea of Skyping and add elements to the internet that push the story along without just showing the faces of the actors interacting. However, I would probably have more of a hard time watching his again. Films like Burried and Locke are the same premise as this film in a way and those are both incredible. This film shows more to the watchers eye, however it depends on the performance if you need that. I think with both it adds enough. One thing I hate in teen based horror movies, is lingo. Thank god this film didn't throw a bunch in which also helps age the film. All in all, it's worth watching at least once. It was entertaining. Blumhouse hit a triple with this film, and thanks to my sister I got to view it.

This was a very cool idea to do and can be potentially scary. However, the execution is absolutely awful. There's a lot of unexplained details and plot holes weirdly enough and it bugged me. Many things were mediocre and done pretty stupid. I will give credit when it's due however, it gave unintentional laughs with being so bad at some points and the deaths were a little satisfying. However, we don't know enough about the characters to care. The details that are noticed are more than baffling. This all around had some potential and it was thrown away, this was a legitimately cool idea but it's just not utilized. 5/10.

Or "Unknown User" as it is being called in Germany. Before you come up with things like innovative and never seen before, let me refer to something called "Open Windows" (which by comparison might feel like a masterpiece and it isn't either). That's just one example there are others too (The Den to name another which is also slightly better than this).

That doesn't mean you can't have "fun" with this movie too. It's just that it feels weird to say the least. I still was curious to see where it would go, but at times it felt like watching someone type ... which it sort of is too (literally at points). Also teenager drama can be annoying, characters swing their moods more often than a pendulum and the "twist" is so mad, that it almost destroys the whole movie ... A shame for some more than interesting points the movie has.

Unfriended can be described as Paranormal Activity/Saw taking place over a Skype session. The pluses and minuses of Unfriended seem to balance out. This movie did well with using current technology trends such as Facebook, Skype, and iChat to bring a sense of reality to it and speaks to this generation about the growing concern of cyberbullying. What I really liked about the film is the role karma plays in the lives of cyberbullies. With technology these kids like to wear two faces. They will be your best friend in real life but in an online society, most of them will like to bring out a deceitful dark side or tough guy mentality. With that being said, Unfriended was a great idea for a horror film, but like most horror films, its script could have used some work, the death scenes were a little cheesy, and there was a lack of common sense. The beginning will be a little boring because it takes time to get use to a whole movie taking place on a computer screen.

This film is certainly a breath fresh air in its genre. The execution is very unique for a full movie but even it you disregard that, it can stand on its feet as one of those "small group of people stuck together and they have talk to figure things out" sort of dramas. On the other hand if you expect a serious horror, you might be disappointed. This is about creating tension by exposing secrets at a figurative gunpoint. Not about scary supernatural things or jump scares. In other words the horror is in the theme, not the presentation. If that's what you are after it's as interesting and surprisingly satisfying story.

In terms of technique, the film is presented as Blaire's computer screen and this allows for the kind of multiple media (Skype, YouTube, Facebook, etc) storytelling that's usually limited to alternate reality games. It enables the characters to communicate each other privately which would be impossible if they were physically in the same room. It also means that every time someone is in trouble the helplessness of the others adds to the drama. Not all is perfect though. There are some cringey parts related to the scene, like Ken's anti-Trojan program looked about as authentic as the virus uploader from Independence Day and when you consider that Laura is not really a hacker it makes zero sense to find hundreds of infected files on a damn OSX! The question "what is a troll" and the answers were equally embarrassing in this day and age. The corrupted video compression that plagued the Skype calls served little purpose. It signified nothing and it was way too random. Usually effects like this exist to telegraph some "presence", but here the corruption started way too early. Another downside is that the cinematography was even more non-existent than with the usual found footage films, because it's face-time all the time.

They used an interesting technique to bring in music which is usually absent from found footage: Blaire has a Spotify player running in the background. Unfortunately this excellent idea was way underused and when it was used it was very on-the-nose. If you've ever watched an ARG like EveryMan Hybrid, where (distorted) music is used to communicate subtext or hidden messages you know what a missed opportunity this is!

Overall it's worth a shot. If you only watch films you might even find this ground breaking. But let me assure you - there is nothing here that hasn't been thoroughly explored by various web series you can find freely. Sadly this movie is another instance of old media trying to play catch-up with new media and not quite getting it.