Five friends in a chat room are terrorized by
the vengeful ghost of their dead friend online. HORROR
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Unfriended (2014)Directed by Levan Gabriadze
Written by Nelson Greaves Starring Shelley Hennig, Moses Jacob Storm, Will Peltz, Renee Olstead, Jacob Wysocki, Courtney Halverson, Heather Sossaman |
Unfriended is a revolutionary found footage horror film that is one of the most original and entertaining horror flicks in recent years. The idea to use webcams for the entire film was brilliant and will no doubt be duplicated to death in the near future.
The performances are surprisingly top notch and believable, which to be fair is unusual for a teen horror flick. The story revolves around the suicide of a teen named Laura Barns, who returns from the grave to terrorize the group of friends who drove her to kill herself. The whole movie takes place on the main character's computer and is told through Skype, e-mail, YouTube, Facebook, and IM. This is without a doubt, the modern day social media Blair Witch. I'm sure this film will make waves and go down as a landmark horror film of this generation. While the tacked on ghost reveal ending is a tad much, the rest of the film more than makes up for it with genuine scares and an unsettling plot. |
Unfriended is a clever horror film that subverts both the found footage and teen slasher sub-genres. This helps create a highly entertaining horror movie with great performances and an inventive story. The sole usage of webcams for the film was executed brilliantly and looks to be something that will be copied in the future, knowing the Hollywood system.
As a massive horror fan, I've come to expect decent to bad performances, especially from this particular sub-genre. I was happy to learn, however, that this film featured great performances from its principle cast. They all really sold the terror they were facing as is starts to escalate. The story was not only inventive, but was hugely helped by the social commentary on today's cyberbullying. It's always nice to see a social issue like this be tackled in a movie, especially a horror movie where the stakes are significantly raised. I also have a good feeling this movie will go down in the horror history books as a classic of the genre in the future. Apart from the poorly done, tacked on ghost ending, the film is hugely enjoyable and scary. Horror fans, especially of this generation, will be more than happy. |