Movie Review: Unfriended

Kids haunt the darndest things.

In Levan Gabriadze’s diabolical techno-thriller Unfriended, six teenagers wind up Skyping with their dead schoolmate, forced to defend themselves from accusations they were instrumental in her suicide.

One by one, this literal ghost in the machine takes her vengeance. Everyone else watches, too terrified to log off, or maybe their FOMO is even more overpowering than their fear of the undead.

We see it all unfold from the perspective of heroine Blaire’s (Shelley Hennig) computer screen, while she simultaneously Googles advice for dealing with the supernatural and tries to delete reputation-ruining photos being posted to Facebook from beyond the grave.

Even her Spotify account becomes possessed. Yes, the killer is calling from inside the house… music playlist.

Unfriended has two gimmicks - playing out in real time and never turning away from Blaire's laptop monitor – but they’re both executed ingeniously, like a modern-day Rope. My initial doubts about finding something to fear in everyday technology were quickly dispelled by the manner in which Gabriadze uses the computer’s familiar audible dings and blarts to startle us. It works every time.

He and screenwriter Nelson Greaves wring a fair amount of tension from their simple premise with these novel tricks, early on at least.

Unfortunately, when the late Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman) starts doing away with her ex-pals (played by Hennig, Moses Jacob Storm, Renee Olstead, Jacob Wysocki, Will Peltz, and Courtney Halverson), Unfriended’s ability to terrify dissipates quickly.

The manner in which they’re eradicated – which I won’t spoil here – is, frankly, just not scary enough. The film reveals its hand with the first death, and never manages to convince us to remain frightened for the rest of them.

(Much of the dread is also ruined by the cast’s near-constant screaming throughout the final act. Imagine the close-up crying scene from The Blair Witch Project playing out for thirty minutes, with four actors doing their own howling monologue at the exact same time. Bring earplugs.)

What does make Unfriended unsettling and even a little powerful is the absolute cruelty of its seemingly normal subjects, evoking Larry Clark's controversial features Kids and Bully more than most modern schlockfests.

As we learn, each character here is responsible, in their own, not-little way, for bullying Laura to death.

Unfriended similarly shows them zero compassion in return.

I hate to call it a movie with a message, because nothing turns away potential viewers faster. However, Unfriended – despite its twisted sense of morality – is a parable, begging the viewer to be a good person, even if social media makes it so easy to be a privately terrible one.

It gets better? Not for this lot.

3/5

In cinemas now. Rated MA15+ for strong themes, violence and coarse language.