Unfriended (2015)

At first I simply let this movie just, well, pass me by, that is until I discovered that there was going to be a sequel called 'The Dark Web' and the dark web has always intrigued me. More so, when I discovered that my university actually have the video available for digital download I thought I might actually watch it, if only to determine whether I would want to watch the sequel or not. Well, upon discovering what this film was actually about I'm not all that sure if I'm going to bother with the sequel, if this film is anything to go by. Honestly, I would probably describe this film as being 'The Blair Witch Project' on the internet. Well, not quite, but when I was released I knew that I probably wasn't going to like it all that much namely because I expected that it was little more than a slasher flick except this time the slasher is some unstable person who was unfriended on Facebook. Actually, I probably shouldn't joke about that because some people have become pretty unhinged due to somebody unfriending them on Facebook, but then again that particular website really does mess with your head at times. Anyway, it turned out to be one of those more experimental films, in the the entire film is basically set on somebody's desktop, namely the protagonist Blair. The entire movie is basically a skype conversation between friends, with a few other programs being intermittently used, including a chat program. However, it is more than that because as I mentioned it is also a horror film, so basically there happens to be this unknown person on their chat channel who also seems to be able to post things on their Facebook accounts, send emails, and basically torment them to a point that they basically all want to kill themselves - you could say that it is the ghost in the machine. Sure, it is pretty cheesy in that, but the idea was sure to come about sooner or later - making a movie (and they are usually always horror movies) simply with people interacting through their computers. Personally, it isn't a bad idea, except that as one commentator pointed out, if they wanted to watch people screaming their heads off over skype for an hour and a half, then they can just create their own group chats and do it themselves without having to watch this film. I probably agree, but then again I have much better things to do than spend an hour and a half on Skype screaming my head off. But there is something going on behind the scenes as well - sort of. The story is based on this girl who killed herself after a video was basically posted to the web. She was at this party, and had become pretty wasted, and her friends, if you would call them that, decided to share this with the world, of course urging her to kill herself as well. Look, sadly that is actually a part of growing up, and it is one of the really nasty things about the creation of the web. Honestly, not a day goes by without some celebrity being struck down because some thoughtless tweet from years ago has emerged. Here, this isn't even her doing it, but rather her friends. In a way it seems that you really have to be careful these days, just in case people get photos of you, and the start sharing them with the world. I could say that this film does deal with the issue of cyber bullying, but it also shows us how easy it is for hidden secrets suddenly to be exposed to the world, and how people can literally drive you from the web based on what has been revealed. There has even been stories of people who have had this happen to them and they literally cannot show their face in public again. Sure, there is this idea that people generally use social media to market their good sides, but what we must remember is that we do need to be cautious as to what we place on the web because it can seriously come back to bite us.

I bought this movie for a "bad horror movie" night. I would say that this wasnt even worth the 4 dollars I ended up spending on it. The characters are very unlikable. My partner and I spent the entire movie rooting for the ghost. It felt the movie tried to make the characters seem like nice, average people with dark secrets. They didnt succeed. The characters were douchebags who became more and more unsympathetic as the movie continued. Worst of all, the scares werent scary or even funny. They were really milquetoast, tbh. Even the final attempt at a "scare" was just boring. I wouldnt even reccommend this to an enemy, its just so bland and boring.Like, the idea was cute and all, but the execution was awful.

For anyone who is an internet nerd and loves going on forums and chatting and is in tune with the internet culture, this movie is hysterically accurate and really fun to watch. There is a lot going on in this movie, you can't multitask and follow the story, no, you have to focus and learn the names of the characters and about the drama that is going on between them all. It's very easy to get interested in this movie once it starts rolling, and I really enjoyed it.

I would have gotten 600% more enjoyment out of watching and hour long compilation of pewdiepie just screaming, constantly, nothing else but him screaming