Review: I never thought about and accept Unfriended as one deadly fun horror movie before I finally watch it myself. The premise sounds ridiculous in the beginning: a ghost is threatening a bunch of social media generation teenagers for retribution with subtext to cyber-bullying. The way it presents the idea is far more ridiculous: a whole screen of MacBook with multiple tabs with a Skype window as the highlight.
15 minutes going into the plot, Unfriended suddenly makes all senses. At the same time, it comes with more proofs certifying itself as a clever horror movie that finds a way to cyber era.
The social media presence isn’t just some gimmick; it’s a device to keep the plot progressing. Through the MacBook screen, which is Blaire’s (Shelley Hennig), we learn that a high school student, Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman), committed suicide after an embarrassing video went viral. From the same screen, we learn that it’s the anniversary night of Laura’s suicide; and at the same time, Blaire and her “small gang” plan to do video-conference.
Unfriended feels so close to our daily basis, especially in terms of social media utilization. Well, it might feel closer to people from first world, though, but basically, it’s similar. Those teenagers talk and chat in a way that we also use daily. Even their online habit, reflected in Blaire’s, is somehow ours as well: switching quick from Skype window to iMessage for a more personal chat; opening various tabs on Google Chrome; utilizing Facebook chat, Google search, YouTube and all.
Things get more absurd, silly, and interesting at the same thing when a stranger suddenly mingles to the group chat, threatening those guys to unravel something from the past which might have relation with Laura Barns’ suicide. This is where things turn into a joyride – the terror begins in an updated version of mockumentary through Blaire’s screen only.
It might look like a horror with moral value, but that’s not the fun. When you suddenly realize that you’ve been in the middle of the movie without realizing it’s in the middle, and you want more of every lunacy that Unfriended tries to convey. Most importantly, it’s something you think you might have seen before but, in fact, you just watch it and it wants you to get more.
Unfriended (2015)
Horror, Mystery, Thriller Directed by: Levan Gabriadze Written by: Nelson Greaves Starred by: Shelley Hennig, Heather Sossaman, Courtney Halverson, Moses Storm, Renee Olstead, Will Peltz Runtime: 83 mins Rated R
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