Usually, films that break the mould and basically invent an entire sub-genre are heralded as the greatest films of all time.
In the case of 2014’s Unfriended however, it appears as though the film has faded into obscurity despite the genre of ‘Screenlife’ having evolved and thrived since its conception in this low budget indie horror.
On the anniversary of their classmate’s suicide, a group of friends find themselves terrorised whilst on a Skype call by a mysterious hacker who claims to be the vengeful spirit of their former friend.
A tried and tested premise is always the best route to go when trying out a new way of delivering a story, and Unfriended is no different.
A group of teens stalked by a mysterious entity, that may or may not be paranormal, and killed off one by one. It’s a formula for success and one that rarely grows old because of how easily it can be moulded into whatever kind of story you want to tell.
Unfriended sets its sights on cyber bullying and the worrying rise of teen suicides seen in the 2010’s. An interesting angle for sure, but one that is sold entirely on the way the story is told.
In the case of 2014’s Unfriended however, it appears as though the film has faded into obscurity despite the genre of ‘Screenlife’ having evolved and thrived since its conception in this low budget indie horror.
On the anniversary of their classmate’s suicide, a group of friends find themselves terrorised whilst on a Skype call by a mysterious hacker who claims to be the vengeful spirit of their former friend.
A tried and tested premise is always the best route to go when trying out a new way of delivering a story, and Unfriended is no different.
A group of teens stalked by a mysterious entity, that may or may not be paranormal, and killed off one by one. It’s a formula for success and one that rarely grows old because of how easily it can be moulded into whatever kind of story you want to tell.
Unfriended sets its sights on cyber bullying and the worrying rise of teen suicides seen in the 2010’s. An interesting angle for sure, but one that is sold entirely on the way the story is told.
Unfriended plays out entirely on a computer screen belonging to leading lady Blaire (Shelley Hennig). She joins her friends Adam (Will Peltz), Jess (Renee Olstead), Ken (Jacob Wysocki), Val (Courtney Halverston), and her boyfriend Mitch (Moses Storm) on a Skype call, and we see and hear what she does on her computer. What she’s googling, what’s playing on her iTunes, and who she’s messaging.
It can be a difficult concept to settle into at first, but Unfriended ultimately succeeds in making you a participant in the film in the same way that found footage does.
This restrictive view makes the film claustrophobic and extremely tense. From the opening moments of Blaire watching an online clip of her former friend Laura (Heather Sossaman) killing herself, Unfriended keeps you on edge because of its restricted viewpoint. There’s nowhere else to look other than at the computer screen and when the scares start to come thick and fast in the second half of the film it’s seemingly impossible to escape because you're locked in to that one perspective.
Unfriended’s scares work excellently too as the majority of it comes across as computer glitches or having control wrestled away from you by a hacker. These are all things that can easily happen when using a computer, and giving them horror movie shocks works a treat.
Relying on a number of fake out jump scares in the opening act, Unfriended moves into some truly terrifying mind games in the second act before unleashing some gory kills in its third. It’s a great evolution over the course of the film that allows the stakes to continually escalate in believable ways.
It can be a difficult concept to settle into at first, but Unfriended ultimately succeeds in making you a participant in the film in the same way that found footage does.
This restrictive view makes the film claustrophobic and extremely tense. From the opening moments of Blaire watching an online clip of her former friend Laura (Heather Sossaman) killing herself, Unfriended keeps you on edge because of its restricted viewpoint. There’s nowhere else to look other than at the computer screen and when the scares start to come thick and fast in the second half of the film it’s seemingly impossible to escape because you're locked in to that one perspective.
Unfriended’s scares work excellently too as the majority of it comes across as computer glitches or having control wrestled away from you by a hacker. These are all things that can easily happen when using a computer, and giving them horror movie shocks works a treat.
Relying on a number of fake out jump scares in the opening act, Unfriended moves into some truly terrifying mind games in the second act before unleashing some gory kills in its third. It’s a great evolution over the course of the film that allows the stakes to continually escalate in believable ways.
But Unfriended isn’t perfect. The characters are all horrible people and you have little reason to root for them, combine this with some wooden performances and stilted dialogue mean that even though Unfriended’s scares land, you never become attached to the characters, nor fear for their safety. Plus despite being under ninety minutes long, Unfriended could have been made slightly tighter by skipping out a lot of the extended panic sequences and repeated dialogue.
I also feel that the final few seconds of the film ruin basically everything. I won’t get into spoilers, but there must have been a better way to end it than the way it does.
If you’ve never seen a screenlife film then Unfriended is an excellent place to start. The genre has of course been refined since its debut in this film, but Unfriended is an excellent starting point that explores the idea of a film taking place entirely on a computer screen. Flawed, but deserving of so much more recognition than it currently gets, Unfriended is really worth checking out.
I also feel that the final few seconds of the film ruin basically everything. I won’t get into spoilers, but there must have been a better way to end it than the way it does.
If you’ve never seen a screenlife film then Unfriended is an excellent place to start. The genre has of course been refined since its debut in this film, but Unfriended is an excellent starting point that explores the idea of a film taking place entirely on a computer screen. Flawed, but deserving of so much more recognition than it currently gets, Unfriended is really worth checking out.