Unfriended

Ratings: 7.7/10

Film Class: C

Genre: Horror Thriller (Supernatural)

Scare factor: 3/5 (pretty intense)

Staying away from the trailers, I was able to keep my suspense up till the actual viewing of the movie. All I knew was that Unfriended is a movie about cyberbullying, which drove a teenage girl to commit suicide. A year later, the group of friends who caused her death was disrupted by an unknown presence in an online chat room. I was under the impression that there was some semi-supernatural stuff going on, perhaps a psychotic killer on the loose hoping to get some revenge, but nope, it was full on supernatural.

It was psychologically scary, due to its realism - filmed in the style of a first person's view of what she sees on her computer screen, *spoilers alert* with the exception of the last scene. The believable, but slightly exaggerated plot got me at the end of my seat throughout, it started with a bang, and ended with a slam. There weren't many "cheap scares", mainly because of the seemingly limited soundtrack. There were of course tension build ups, with several sudden sound scares, but most of the supernatural stuff weren't in your face-type. There were more gory-like, Final Destination style. 

You'll need a stomach for gore to be able to sit through this horror film, it was more disturbing than horrifying. Still, I was pretty shaken up. 

*warning, major spoilers ahead* It was slightly exaggerated because of the video that caused the girl's death... her shitting in her undies after getting senselessly drunk. While it's embarrassing, I don't see how it would lead to a girl shooting herself in her head. She didn't seem like an outcast, and the so-called "cyberbullying" wasn't that extreme. Just offending comments made in response to her video. But it does bring into light the issue of cyberbullying, and the consequences it might trigger. 

I especially liked the style of filming. Though simple, and minimalist, it created a great sense of realism, thanks to the unexpectedly convincing acting of the unknown cast. In fact, it didn't even seem like they were acting at all. Seemed like they were genuinely chilling out and acting according to how the story developed. I wouldn't be surprised to know that they were unaware of the script until the very last minute... which of course I know couldn't be so because of how they died. *opps, cover mouth* Ok, guess I spilled the beans, let out their dirty secrets, but hey, you've been warned. 

It was also partially enriching for me... I'm not sure if the chat room they used was Skype (yup, haven't used that before), and was impressed about how certain "bugs" were created for the purpose of the movie... Like not being able to disconnect a person in the chat group (is that even possible?), like disabling the "forward" option in email, like disabling "unfriending" in Facebook (FB), or even reporting a dead person's account in FB (does it even exist?). There's some serious eye-opening tech stuff being showcased here.

It's not the first to use the concept of online messaging, but definitely the first in making an entire movie out of it. Refreshing, seat-gripping, and raw, Unfriended is the fore-runner in low-budget horror films. No shaky camera work (ok, maybe a bit via the webcams) and I’m impressed with the occasional bad-connection pixelation, freeze panes and loading of screens which added suspense and more bonus points to realism. Though low budget, it feels like a well-thought of, well-made horror movie which has been scarcing out in recent years.