by Adam Riske
Not just another dumb horror movie for teenagers.
The first time I saw the trailer for Unfriended, I laughed at it. It seemed like a parody of a horror movie for teenagers and not a real movie. It’s as if it was trying to be super hip with its gimmick of being presented solely through Skype, chat sessions, instant messages etc. Then the quote blurbs hit the screen: “A new genre of horror,” “You’ve never experienced fear like this before,” followed by the tagline “Revenge comes online.” I couldn’t take it anymore and I laughed at the movie. I certainly didn’t have high expectations for Unfriended. But then early word came in and I was hearing that the movie was actually kind of good, so my curiosity increased and I decided to see it for myself.
Guess what? Those early reviews were right. Unfriended is good and a movie I’d much rather champion than malign. It’s energetic, entertaining, suspenseful and involving. I think it’s a bit hyperbolic to call the movie “a new genre of horror” (largely because this technique was utilized just last year in Open Windows, a movie I liked less than Unfriended) but it’s undeniable that the gimmick in which this movie was shot (i.e. seeing the action as you would if you were following along on your computer) does seem fresh and have some life left to it. It’s like you saw The Blair Witch Project in 1999 and still thought found footage was cool as opposed to what it is today, which is tired and played out. A better way to describe Unfriended is it that presents a new way of making a slasher movie about teenagers. Invention and experimentation in filmmaking is almost always welcome and, luckily in the case of Unfriended, the material is also pretty solid and not just the technique. I appreciate the effort put into trying something new instead of just paying aesthetic homage to horror movies of the past.
The plot in brief: One night while video chatting, a group of high school friends receive a message from Laura – a classmate of theirs who killed herself exactly one year before. At first the friends think it’s a prank but soon feel something more malicious is taking place as the unknown party crasher becomes more devious and threatening. The movie is told entirely from the point of view of a girl’s computer desktop.
I mentioned earlier that the material mined in Unfriended works, which is a godsend because otherwise the only thing to talk about here would be the technique in which it was shot. But instead, we have a slasher movie (in the classic "avenging spirit" trope) told with a cyber-bullying subtext. That is what makes the movie something special. It’s a movie with a curiosity and an opinion on cyber-bullying, which is that even “nice” teenagers are capable of being unthinking, remorseless monsters online when their decision-making process is instant and doesn’t go beyond “this will make my friends laugh.” Unfriended is a movie with believable behavior (from everyone except the villain); none of it seems out of the realm of possibility for this group of teenagers and that keeps the movie more grounded and effective. This movie lives in a world that I’m glad I was not a part of when I was in my teens. It’s scary out there. I think Unfriended is actually ingenious in a way because it’s having a discussion on cyber-bullying (via the slasher genre) that doesn’t feel like moralizing or some sort of dry lesson being taught by someone who knows better. It’s pop art about the irresponsibility of abusing technology and the great harm it can cause others.
The work of the cast and the direction are also effective and worth noting. While I don’t think any stars will pop from this cast, they do a good job of seeming like real teenagers, for better and for worse. This movie was shot in one long take after being shot in a series of long takes (with the cast acting out the entire movie), which is kind of amazing. The lead actress, Shelley Hennig, is pretty and interesting enough to be a future scream queen and there’s a guy who plays a character named Adam who looks and acts distractingly like a young Joaquin Phoenix. I kept noticing that throughout the movie. Unfriended was directed by Levan Gabriadze and I admire the way he is able to ease the viewer into the experience of watching the movie in an unfussy and accessible way. In the same way that I never felt distracted by the found-footage in The Blair Witch Project, I never felt annoyed by watching all of Unfriended through the point of view of a character’s computer screen. I also liked how the soundtrack consisted of songs on that character’s online playlists, which is a smart touch. The movie is very stylishly put together and well-paced. I’m looking forward to seeing the next movie from Levan Gabriadze, although I hope he doesn’t go back to the well twice and shoot another using computer POV. It works here but could become trite pretty quickly.
Unfriended has some minor issues, but none detract enough from me recommending you see the movie. The big one is that teenagers can be very annoying and this is a movie where you hear a group of teens acting cool, bickering and cursing at one another for feature length. The mood also could have been a little better handled. While a movie like Unfriended cries out for something somber like that of the original Japanese Pulse, this one is trying more to be in the vein of Scream. That isn’t all bad. I love Scream. Again, these are minor issues (centered on personal preference), but Scream wasn’t about cyber-bullying after all. Lastly, because the movie is entirely Skype video and pics of the cast, we don’t really get the added benefit of a variation of shots, except for close-ups. As a result, none of the characters feel bigger or smaller because of the proceedings largely due to the way it is shot. It’s so much close-up that it starts to mean nothing after a while.
As you can tell, I’m with Unfriended on the whole. It has good control and execution of its material and it doesn’t wear out its welcome at a short 82 minutes. It’s a really well-made thriller that can be a good influence on its audience, making them think about cyber-bullying. Unfriended is the type of movie I would call great trash, but saying that I feel undermines the movie a bit. It’s much better than I thought it would be and something I could see myself returning to for Scary Movie Month.
Good read, Adam. The trailer for this was attached to It Follows, and I had to sit through it twice, and both times I thought it looked terrible. I'm glad to hear that it's not as bad as I expected. Btw, did anyone swallow their pride to see Paul Blart 2? It's got a rare 0% on RT, and it's got me morbidly interested. Could it possibly be that bad?
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing worse than a bad comedy, especially if it's a sequel. For me at least that trumps morbid curiosity.
DeleteThanks Adam. It is certainly a film I would of probably ignored on concept alone but that's a stupid reason I know, I am now kinda interested, 82 mins is a good running time for this type of movie, it might be just be just me but these days with a busy life ( I'm like 82 mins! Okay im in) thanks for the review, i will keep my eyes out for this one
ReplyDeleteCool. I get ignoring a movie based on concept alone. If it doesn't interest you, it doesn't interest you. It's like me with Age of Adaline. That could be the best movie of the year and I still wouldn't want to see it.
DeleteGood review, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI saw PB2, and it is pretty bad. Lazy, lazy movie.
Were you a fan of the first PB? How does it compare?
DeleteI don't know if "fan" is accurate, but it was by far better than 2. I only saw PB once, in the theater, and remember thinking it was funny during several scenes. To be fair, I saw PB with my wife when my first daughter was probably about 10 or 11 months old and I am pretty sure it was the first time we ever had left and had a kind of "date night" since she had been born. It was definitely a well needed break at the time... I may be remembering it more fondly than it deserves because of the whole evening dynamics.
DeleteGood write-up, I was going to ignore the hell out of this movie, now I wanna check it out. I was really afraid the gimmick would get frustrating, and it still might to me, but this review makes me wanna give it a shot.
ReplyDeleteCool. Let me know what you think after you see it.
DeleteI thought it was pretty good. I agree with your review. I was worried it was going to go down a few alternate paths, and I was glad that it played out as it did. The tension building was impressive given the limited scope.
DeleteHoly shit, that dialog was brutal, especially in what the female 'lead' had to spew out in high emotion scenes. Also, I think they hit the perfect pace, the brief run-time was a good call. Get out before the gimmick gets too stale.
As a horror fan, I really appreciate when filmmakers try something new. I hope this style doesn't become the next found footage style, but it worked better than I expected.
Great review. I can't believe you made me want to see this movie. I thought for sure that this would be another horrible found footage movie with a trendy pop culture spin on it. To be fair this movie was marketed horribly. I don't know of anyone who was interested by the trailer or advertisement in the slightest.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree about the marketing. They made it look like the most obnoxious version of this movie which the actual movie is not. I hope you like it. I don't want to oversell it. It's like a B maybe B+ movie to me.
DeleteMy mind just boggles at the logistics of pulling a film like this off.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The more I read into how they made it (e.g. long takes), the more impressed I was with how well they pulled it off.
DeleteI did get to see it this afternoon (partly on your recommendation), and was like you pretty taken with it. Until a final shot that has befouled many otherwise strong horror films of the last few years (I'm looking at YOU, "Sinister"…), I thought it was very well-made and well-acted. And I DO think it's a film that could sway a lot of teens about cyberbullying, mainly because it plays on something that is common to both many teens and the internet era in general: Extreme narcissism. It's a film that persuades people not to cyberbully because it could end up harming THEM.
DeleteThanks for the review Adam - I was seeing some ok reviews for this but yours clinched it - I'm going to brave a theatre full of teenagers and watch this soon!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it's got an anti-bullying message - do you think it's such that a young audience would actually take it to heart?
I think it has the potential to change a few people's minds but on the whole I doubt it sadly.
DeleteI tend to agree with your review. I was a little surprised by the R rating, but I guess they did drop the F Bomb a few times. I didn't think it was because of the brief gore shots, but maybe.
ReplyDeleteI noticed while I was watching The Raid 2 recently, that I forget sometimes that I am reading subtitles...just becomes a natural part of digesting the story. This is like subtitles for teenagers. A couple times while watching Unfriended, I took notice of how much of the story is told through text. I was surprised at how comfortable it was for me to follow with all the technology (skype, Facebook, search engine, instant messaging, YouTube, etc.) used, but on second thought, I guess I do it all day long in real life.
Yeah, they cursed up a storm in this movie if I remember correctly. I was surprised that the gore was pretty tame for a horror movie. Good call on subtitles for teenagers. I thought that stuff was really effective especially when the lead character would type something and then delete it and send something else.
DeleteDefinitely...It also seemed like they nailed the timing with some of that. After a sentence would be typed, there would be a pause and you could feel her think before hitting send. Then delete half a sentence, a whole sentence, pause, change a word...I thought that really said a lot without using spoken words or text.
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