Review of Unfriended (2014) by Alicia B — 14 Aug 2015

The found footage genre is washed up and beaten to death. Ever since the horror genre got ahold of it, we've seen anything and everything done with it. Well, Unfriended comes along and shakes things up, showing that a whole lot can be done with very, very little.

Unfriended brings a group of high school friends together on a Skype call, only to have the call be intruded by someone from their past. For starters, the filmmakers and writers not only managed to tell an interesting story through a single computer screen, but they also managed to write teenagers exactly how they are in the real world, which is no easy feat.

To back things up, yes, this entire film is told through a single computer screen. But throughout the film, we bounce through Skype calls, instant messaging, web browsing, etc., all of which keep the film flowing smoothly and moving briskly.

Coming in at a little over 80 minutes, the film flies by so quick that if you blink, you'll literally miss either some key dialogue or plot development. On the acting front, our group of nobody teenagers plays their despicable parts nicely, with the exception of some bad overacting towards the end.

But they do deserve a good bit of credit considering they are the only people in this film. On the technical front, the film is impressive. Not many films can hold interest on a larger landscape like a plane, but this film manages to do it with one computer screen.

But the real delight is how real it all feels. The filmmakers include everything from video buffering, long loading times, dropped calls, and everything in between. The masterminds behind it all really knew their stuff.

And by the time the film ends, the viewer is given a refreshing take on the found footage genre that is filled with vicious humor, legitimate scares and thrills, a deadly home hitting message, and a great way to spend an hour and a half.