Review of Friend Request (2016) by Joseph D — 22 Sep 2017

Looks like Halloween's starting early, with a tale of dark magic, social media, & crazy creepy girls (the best kind)!

FRIEND REQUEST.

On the one hand, it's an ok ghost story, on the other, it's a pretty biting commentary on how mental illness & social media do not mix. At about 1.5 hours, it's a very slow burn, but steady, like a quiet stream that gradually picks up speed, hits rapids, & finally dumps you head first into a meat grinder, it definitely wasn't boring.

The cast wasn't quite the usual slasher fodder we're used to; the lead seems to be not only a social butterfly, but a bit of a humanitarian, which might explain why she accepts the friend request in the first place. The outcast inspires both fear, & pity, I didn't know weather to hug her, or sic an exorcist on her, her story is tragic, but she never tries to be anything other than a monster, she chooses to be a lost cause, it's kind've sad really. Rather than being just meat for the monster, the butterfly's friends & boyfriend, combined with a slowly reducing online friend list, are more of a gauge, keeping track of the butterfly as she slowly becomes just like her latest "friend". The way everyone turned on her, most likely, & disturbingly, mirrors just how fickle the social media masses are.

The effects were a combo of pretty decent makeup & gore effects, & kind've sub par CGI, which averaged out to an ok experience. A high point were these animated clips that illustrated what went on in the outcast's mind, & offered visually impressive foreshadowing. What brought it all together, though, was the audio; it was a combo of the usual jump-scare punctuation, a bit of music, & 3 cue sounds: that 'da-da-da, da-da-da, daa-daa' sound that pops up randomly in electrical devices, children whispering, & the buzzing of wasps, these sounds indicate that something is gonna happen, & they're very good at putting you on edge; serious props to the sound department!

3 stars out've 5, it might not be hard core fright feast enough for some, but it does provide commentary about how we seem to have become lost in our online presence, & how we really don't know who our "friends" are, & if we lose them all, will we even still exist? Think about that the next time you're about to click on your latest...friend request...

Catch ya on Facebook!!!