Unfriended (also known as Cybernatural) is another found footage movie but presented in such a way that it's like you are using a lap top. Not only that, but it uses (here comes the product placement) Skype, Facebook, YouTube and a few more. Thing is, as much as I'm not the biggest fan of found footage movies (the best one in recent times was Project Almanac in my opinion) this does it different, and, if you are open to it, it's really pretty good.
The film starts with a girl called Blaire Lily, who has booted up her lap top to chat with her boyfriend. As they start getting a bit raunchy (don't get too excited - she only unbuttons her top) the rest of her friends invade Skype to have a 5 way conversation about their day. It all seems fairly monotonous until all through the convo they finally notice there is an extra caller who is not showing their photo on Skype. Funny things start to happen and soon it is revealed that this extra caller isn't exactly there to be very nice.
Backstory time - there is a young lady by the name of Laura Barns who is ridiculed/shamed on YouTube after getting very drunk at a get together in a field with her classmates. She passes out (I still cannot define whether she was raped or pooed herself or both) but the upshot of it was it was uploaded to YouTube with the tag line "LAURA BARNS KILL URSELF" and then posts were ridiculing her on the site. However, it didn't stop there and overflowed onto Facebook. This cyber bullying obviously affected Laura who took her own life by shooting herself in the head. That's as far as it goes for now, until this random chatter has joined the Skype Squad (I'm trademarking that) and starts talking. It's all kinda ominous until one person discloses it is a year since Laura took her own life and that the account these new messages are coming from are hers.
The film is basic, even some of the young men in the cinema who were noisily scoffing popcorn claimed "This film is rubbish - I could have made that on the computer" are completely missing the point. Yes, it's about as back to basics as found footage goes, but it is suspenseful, realistic and very grounded using things we take for granted every day. This includes authentic Facebook chat, Skype chats and the like. Although if you really look you can see glaring errors - like erroneous time stamps and the fact a 99kb photo takes over 15 seconds to download but a 1.8GB file takes less than 10 seconds is irrelevant. The film uses those things we see while being on the net as devices to add suspense - the freezing of the Skype picture as one of her friends is screaming and no-one knows what is going on then it stutters on to see a horrific image of a character meeting their fate, or the sinister extra caller issuing threats by chat message and following up on them is both unnerving and quite close to home.
It's been called the Blair Witch Project for the internet generation but it's definitely a horror. It's definitely a thriller. But it also has a message. It's social media gone crazy and it's inference is that a lot of the naughties children (who are now teens) have grown up with this in their lives and a small amount of them think it's funny or cool to degrade and hurt others through pictures, taunts or posts - it's bullying evolved. This film is an example of this to the nth degree. In this movie their dead class mate comes back through the internet to wreak her revenge on those who drove her to kill herself. Although it is highly unlikely that deceased people's Facebook and Skype's will start posting and ringing people, the fact of the matter is that cyber-bullying is very real and affects people in this way.
The film then is a horror - it's jumpy in parts. It's basic and it's premise is simple, but it's the message that is what was clearest for me. A lot of people left the movie at the end and didn't seem to struck on it and I guess it's an acquired taste. But it's clever, very clever.
Unfriended is at the cinema now and is rated 15.
The film starts with a girl called Blaire Lily, who has booted up her lap top to chat with her boyfriend. As they start getting a bit raunchy (don't get too excited - she only unbuttons her top) the rest of her friends invade Skype to have a 5 way conversation about their day. It all seems fairly monotonous until all through the convo they finally notice there is an extra caller who is not showing their photo on Skype. Funny things start to happen and soon it is revealed that this extra caller isn't exactly there to be very nice.
Backstory time - there is a young lady by the name of Laura Barns who is ridiculed/shamed on YouTube after getting very drunk at a get together in a field with her classmates. She passes out (I still cannot define whether she was raped or pooed herself or both) but the upshot of it was it was uploaded to YouTube with the tag line "LAURA BARNS KILL URSELF" and then posts were ridiculing her on the site. However, it didn't stop there and overflowed onto Facebook. This cyber bullying obviously affected Laura who took her own life by shooting herself in the head. That's as far as it goes for now, until this random chatter has joined the Skype Squad (I'm trademarking that) and starts talking. It's all kinda ominous until one person discloses it is a year since Laura took her own life and that the account these new messages are coming from are hers.
The film is basic, even some of the young men in the cinema who were noisily scoffing popcorn claimed "This film is rubbish - I could have made that on the computer" are completely missing the point. Yes, it's about as back to basics as found footage goes, but it is suspenseful, realistic and very grounded using things we take for granted every day. This includes authentic Facebook chat, Skype chats and the like. Although if you really look you can see glaring errors - like erroneous time stamps and the fact a 99kb photo takes over 15 seconds to download but a 1.8GB file takes less than 10 seconds is irrelevant. The film uses those things we see while being on the net as devices to add suspense - the freezing of the Skype picture as one of her friends is screaming and no-one knows what is going on then it stutters on to see a horrific image of a character meeting their fate, or the sinister extra caller issuing threats by chat message and following up on them is both unnerving and quite close to home.
It's been called the Blair Witch Project for the internet generation but it's definitely a horror. It's definitely a thriller. But it also has a message. It's social media gone crazy and it's inference is that a lot of the naughties children (who are now teens) have grown up with this in their lives and a small amount of them think it's funny or cool to degrade and hurt others through pictures, taunts or posts - it's bullying evolved. This film is an example of this to the nth degree. In this movie their dead class mate comes back through the internet to wreak her revenge on those who drove her to kill herself. Although it is highly unlikely that deceased people's Facebook and Skype's will start posting and ringing people, the fact of the matter is that cyber-bullying is very real and affects people in this way.
The film then is a horror - it's jumpy in parts. It's basic and it's premise is simple, but it's the message that is what was clearest for me. A lot of people left the movie at the end and didn't seem to struck on it and I guess it's an acquired taste. But it's clever, very clever.
Unfriended is at the cinema now and is rated 15.
POPSCORE: 8/10
What am I talking about? The movie Unfriended
Where can I find out more? http://www.unfriendedmovie.co.uk/
If you like this try: Paranormal Activity, The Ring, Blair Witch Project
If you like this try: Paranormal Activity, The Ring, Blair Witch Project
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