Unfriended: Dark Web
Year: 2018
Director: Stephen Susco
Starring: Connor Del Rio, Betty Gabriel, Andrew Lees, Stephanie Nougeras, Rebecca Rittenhouse & Colin Woodell
Runtime: 92 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 23/01/23
Director: Stephen Susco
Starring: Connor Del Rio, Betty Gabriel, Andrew Lees, Stephanie Nougeras, Rebecca Rittenhouse & Colin Woodell
Runtime: 92 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 23/01/23
Unfreinded was an exceedingly simple supernatural horror film that was giving an edge due to its unique premise of taking place entirely on a computer screen. Forerunner of the ‘Screenlife’ genre, it’s a film that whilst enjoyable is almost entirely down to the way the film is designed. The genre had been developed further in 2018’s ‘Seaching’, but expectations were really mounted on the Unfriended sequel that released just a couple of months later. Unfreinded: Dark Web promised a massive expansion of the filmmaking ideas presented in the original film, as well as a more complex and gripping plot. So, did Dark Web deliver on these lofty claims?
Having found an abandoned laptop in a cybercafé, Matais (Colin Woodell) is excited to be able to share his advanced sign language app with his deaf girlfriend, Amaya (Stephanie Nogueras). Joining his friends for their weekly game night Skype call, Matais soon discovers that the laptop is filled with videos of kidnappings and executions which lands him and his friends in a game of life and death at the hands of the laptop’s original owner.
Having found an abandoned laptop in a cybercafé, Matais (Colin Woodell) is excited to be able to share his advanced sign language app with his deaf girlfriend, Amaya (Stephanie Nogueras). Joining his friends for their weekly game night Skype call, Matais soon discovers that the laptop is filled with videos of kidnappings and executions which lands him and his friends in a game of life and death at the hands of the laptop’s original owner.
Unfriended: Dark Web is in a lot of ways a great evolution of the series, but in other ways it’s just not as fun or novel as the original. I think a lot of this comes down to the story and how much of a departure it is from the original film. Whilst the narratives are entirely separate, it’s the genre shift from demons and the supernatural to cybercrime; from online bullying to murder for hire. Unfriended was dumb fun with a unique premise, a demon that is moving through a Skype call and causing the participants to kill themselves. Dark Web meanwhile feels considerably meaner because its more grounded in reality. A group of friends who are the targets of a cybercriminal organisation is extremely plausible and therefore the tone is much darker than before. Whilst the violence here isn’t as gory as that seen in the first film, because its much more believable it loses that pulpy fun factor that the first film had.
Dark Web does have as number of tricks up its sleeve in relation to how it presents the narrative. The original film took place entirely on Skype, whereas Dark Web utilises multiple different methods of communication, plus because the laptop belongs to an unknown person there are multiple times where new areas of the laptop are accessed and new information is gained. It feels more like a puzzle this time around compared to the first films more straightforward nature. The hacker group behind it all also hack into the laptop at various points to display live footage taken from smartphones or CCTV cameras, moving the action away from the confines of the laptop without losing that unique restriction the genre places on the action.
Unfriended: Dark Web will linger in your mind for much longer than the original film did thanks to its more grounded approach. However, this darker tone also works against the film to present something that’s much less fun, even if it does more interesting things with its premise. Where the original Unfriended I’m likely to return to every once in a while for a brainless slasher fix, Dark Web I’m unsure if I’ll ever want to see again because of its mean spirited and sadistic approach. In many ways an improvement, but in a lot of others a step back.
Dark Web does have as number of tricks up its sleeve in relation to how it presents the narrative. The original film took place entirely on Skype, whereas Dark Web utilises multiple different methods of communication, plus because the laptop belongs to an unknown person there are multiple times where new areas of the laptop are accessed and new information is gained. It feels more like a puzzle this time around compared to the first films more straightforward nature. The hacker group behind it all also hack into the laptop at various points to display live footage taken from smartphones or CCTV cameras, moving the action away from the confines of the laptop without losing that unique restriction the genre places on the action.
Unfriended: Dark Web will linger in your mind for much longer than the original film did thanks to its more grounded approach. However, this darker tone also works against the film to present something that’s much less fun, even if it does more interesting things with its premise. Where the original Unfriended I’m likely to return to every once in a while for a brainless slasher fix, Dark Web I’m unsure if I’ll ever want to see again because of its mean spirited and sadistic approach. In many ways an improvement, but in a lot of others a step back.