Review of Unfriended (2014) by Jesse O — 08 Sep 2015

While this film may have ended on a cheap jump scare, I was actually really liking this movie. While it does have a supernatural tinge to the proceedings, the film focusing on the consequences of posting a shaming video online is far more relevant than I've seen any horror film be in a really long fucking time.

At least when it comes to the typical 'teenagers getting horrifically killed as a consequence of their actions.' It's a modern film that definitely uses its concept, the entire film takes place during a Skype conversation, in a real clever fashion.

It's not your typical found footage horror film, it's actually good and the usage of the style actually makes sense within this context. This is always one of the big problems with some of the real bad found footage films, like you're never given a reason why the film is taking place in this style other than the fact that it's cheap to do so.

But, of course, they can't say this explicitly. This film uses the concept and there's an actual reason behind it. What's even better is the fact that it all feels fluid, like it's all taken place in real time, even though you know it's actually not.

The editing in the film does a great job at making it feel like one long conversation. Another thing about the film that I liked, and this goes on a deeper level, and that is how this film, in spite of all the scares and deaths, is really a deconstruction about teenage friendships in the social media age and how much you really don't know about some of the people that you would call your closest friends.

Granted, this is a theme that's universal, in a way, but I think the social media age, where everything is posted on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, etc, and how some of those people you call your closest friends can have the darkest secrets hiding on something as simple as their cell phone, laptop or tablet.

You see how people hide under anonymous usernames to make fun of and belittle others for X or Y reason. There's this scene where the villain of the film plays the 'Never have I ever' game with these teens in order to get them to reveal their darkest secrets.

It's actually a pretty damn great scene because there's some pretty fucked up revelations during this scene. It, again, highlights how very little these group of so-called friends actually know about each other and the type of people they actually are.

Outside of everything else, all the horror and the deaths, that's probably what I liked the most, how it examines friendships in this era where you can post absolutely anything and everything online.

Perhaps the only drawback to the film is the ending, it just feels like a real cheap ending to everything that had been built up in the film. I was almost expecting an April Fool's Day-type ending, where it's all revealed to be a very elaborate prank in order to reveal who actually posted the video that led to Laura Barns' suicide, but it was not to be.

I don't even think that this prank ending would've felt cheap, I think it would actually fit within the context of the story, but I can see how some people would actually hate this ending. The jump scare ending, however, is not really that much better.

It's just typical horror stuff, particularly considering how some parts of the film feel tied to the real world. Exaggerated to a point, yes, but still grounded in something that felt real. That's perhaps the only complaint I have with the entire film.

In spite of giving it just 3 stars, I really liked this movie a lot. It's gonna take a while before it really gets interesting, but I think it offers a relevant take on friendships in a horror setting.

It's a really fun horror film to watch. This is an easy recommendation.