Unfriended

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.

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.

...or maybe the villain is Sheldon Cooper gone evil...Because you couldn't do the kinds of things that the villain does in this film unless you have all kinds of coding skills and superuser privileges. But I digress.

It was actually pretty interesting to me.A lot of people complain about it not being scary or containing the essence of a horror film, and I think that's kind of the point. The cliches of horror are there to throw you off the scent - the real horror comes from these kids and the depths of violence and cruelty that they show themselves to be capable of. They experience horror in the form of a ghost haunting them as they skype and chat online, but any violence that goes on is nothing compared to what they do to each other as they're forced to reveal their own and each other's secrets.

That alone, to me, makes it worth watching seriously. And the film has a "gimmick" that demonstrates a command of realism that returns to the fundamental idea of the verite style, after so many hackneyed "found footage" films made that term meaningless. The same is true for the dialogue - it's not good, because it's realistic. The characters do dumb things because it's realistic. And anyway, the idea of characters doing dumb things is a staple of horror films and makes for good writing. Characters making smart choices does not a good horror film make.

I'd recommend it.

A 21st century horror movie. The basic plot is A group of friends on an online chatroom get gatecrashed by stranger who then questions them about a friends death. A clever cheap way of making a movie that kept my attention, but not what I'd call scary. A novel idea which might frighten younger viewers.