6/10

There will always be that one movie that i like each year where hundreds of people will disagree and ask for my reviewer credentials to be shredded, but i actually kind of dug ‘Unfriended’. The film unfolds over a teenager’s computer screen as she and her friends are stalked by an unseen figure who seeks vengeance for a shaming video that led a vicious bully to kill herself a year earlier. The movie isn’t great or even what i would call good. It has it’s problems, which i will get to later, but the film overall was very entertaining for me. With each peeling layer, the film reveals another truth about our five characters, and it’s in those truths that we grow to hate them more and more. What really made it entertaining was just how bad i really wanted to see these characters get their revenge for the hell they played on this poor girl. The film relies on two horror genre cliches that are completely overdone in today’s film world, but they both work and make sense for this particular movie. The POV shot actually has purpose for once because the movie is being relayed in real live time for the audience, so it’s not like we are watching this in a police station with our main character crying out injustice. The second cliche is what i mentioned before; terrible characters. The common theme in 2015 in horror films, is to make a movie with as many unlikable characters as possible. It actually makes sense in this film. We have to see what this vengeance seeker sees, and we need people who match their penalties. The film’s pacing was always moving at the right speed because Director Levan Gabriadze knows that the plot is very thin. There’s not much to this story, so the movie doesn’t need to go past it’s 76 minute run time, and that was greatly appreciated. The first time i checked my watch, i had ten minutes left of the film. If i had to point to some weaknesses in the film, i would first of all point to the title. ‘Unfriended’ is corny and a play on today’s psychological dependence of social media websites. I get what they are trying to do with it, but a title that isn’t as obvious won’t make people look back and shutter with a first rememberence of the film ten years down the line. The acting is awful. I let this one go a little bit because all of these kids are first time actors, but i never bought once that they were legitimately fearing for their lives. Some reactions are even a bit laughable. The film cost less than $400,000 to make, and it sometimes shows for the worse. The soundtrack choices were OK tone-wise, but it’s funny to see our main character’s playlist with artists like ‘The Beatles’, or ‘Prince’, or ‘U2’, but instead she always chooses some indie artist who we have never heard of. It’s called licensing rights. Sometimes you have to spend to make your teenagers feel more down to earth. One thing that bothered me about the chat scenes was how the conversation would pause every time Blaire (our main character) would go to search the web. We could still hear her friends on the line, but they never say anything until she comes back to the group. It was parts like this where it was a movie that felt like a movie, and took me out of suspension of disbelief. The only other thing to note isn’t really a positive or a negative, but i wish Gabriadze went with the first ending instead of the second. If you see this film, you will know what i mean, and i think a bigger impact would’ve been left with the first dose. Overall, ‘Unfriended’ isn’t going to be topping any year end lists for this reviewer, but i would be lying if i said i wasn’t entertained. It’s corny and cheap, but the film knows how 90’s suspension pacing works even without needing the blood necessary sometimes to show it. If you’re unsure about this one, wait until DVD. I don’t think it’s necessary to shell out a movie ticket to see it.