A teen steals a laptop from a cafe, only to discover the owner will stop at nothing to get it back, including terrorizing the teen and his friends.

HORROR

Unfriended: Dark Web (2018)

Written and Directed by Stephen Susco

Starring Colin Woodell, Stephanie Nogueras, Andrew Lees,
​Rebecca Rittenhouse, Betty Gabriel, Connor Del Rio,
​Savira Windyani, Douglas Tait

Sequel to 2014's Unfriended

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Connor Eyzaguirre

July 22, 2018

8/10

I thought that the first Unfriended was a landmark horror film, seamlessly blending found footage and apps to create an entirely new subgenre. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the sequel, Unfriended: Dark Web. It's way more grounded than the first, opting to use real-life psychopaths instead of a ghost. This change makes the film all too realistic, because the Dark Web is a real place with real sick s**t including murderers for hire. This film kicks that fear into overdrive by showing us what happens when an unsuspecting teen becomes targeted by sadistic killers on the Dark Web.

Mathias (Colin Woodell) just got a new laptop that he found in the Lost & Found at a cafe. What he doesn't know is that the previous owner is a serial killer who wants it back and is watching everything he's doing online. The tension in this film is what keeps it together, as the scares are considerably less than the first film. But while the film doesn't exactly work as a bone-chilling horror flick, it certainly works as an unpredictable suspense thriller. The villains are clouded in mystery, known only as the Circle and codenames like Charon IV or Charon VI. I like this because it makes it seem like this could happen or has happened before. We don't know what goes on in the darkest depths of the Internet, and the deeper you go, the more horrific it becomes.

The performances are stellar, the concept is genius, and the use of Facebook, Skype, and IM is once again interesting and creative. I hope this sequel is successful, because I would love to see what this budding anthology series does next with this brilliant premise. More ghosts? A demonic presence? A lone killer? The possibilities truly are endless.