Review of Unfriended (2014) by Patrick L — 19 Aug 2015

"Unfriended is a cheap but clever gimmick that works".

Movie Review: Unfriended.

Date Viewed: April 22 2015.

Directed By Levan Gabriadze.

Written By Kiel Kimsey.

Starring: Shelley Hennig, Renee Olstead, Will Peltz, Fia Jacobs, Courtney Halverson, Jacob Wysocki and Heather Sossaman.

"Unfriended" may be another found footage movie but this time it's set on a teenager's computer screen. It is about a group of friends who are being stalked online by an unknown figure named billie227. The mysterious Skype account is seeking revenge on the six students who posted a shaming video online featuring Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman) completely wasted at a party. After the video was posted online, Laura committed suicide.

One year later, Laura's childhood friend, Blaire Lily (Shelley Hennig) is chatting with her friends on Skype and they all plan to lose their virginities after the prom. Soon, the online stalker known as billie227 sends them threatening messages but Blaire and her friends try to unfriend her and get the stalker out of their picture. Getting rid of billie227 won't be that simple because the account has Laura Barns' name on it. The stalker wants to play a game with her former friends and she picks them off one-by-one.

The idea of setting found footage on somebody's computer screen is a clever one but let's not do anymore sequels or knock-offs to this idea. "Unfriended" was produced by Jason Blum who is the master of low-budget horror. If you take "The Social Network", "Locke" and "The Blair Witch Project" and mush them together, you get "Unfriended", a cheap but smart gimmick that works. It is an inventive little horror movie that really surprised me.