-Unfriended (2015) movie review: -Unfriended is the latest cyber-horror flick that sees a group of friends being targeted by the online accounts of their friend who killed herself on that day one year ago. Essentially a revenge slasher film, this one adds the unique element of having the entire film through the computer of the main character, which for most of the film is a video chat with the group.
-I did find a few things I liked about Unfriended. However, there is really nothing new this film has to offer, and to make it worse, nothing that the film offers is good. I tried to think of a better word. I really did.
-The story give an interesting and consequences and cyberbullying, but it has been done before too. The plot is pieced together by conveniences that usually make something in the film inconsistent or inexplicable.
-The film had a very slow start and didn't get to the actual plot until about 10 minutes in, which for an 80 minute film is slow.
-The cast has its ups and downs. I don't know any of them, but they are functional. None of them are that good and the harder they try at drama the more they feel like stage-actors not teens yelling at each other. They are not sci-fi original bad though.
-The characters in the film use all the horror clichés in the book except the back guy. There is the darker-haired protagonist, the somewhat questionable boyfriend who offers motivation for the protagonist, the blond, the jock, the smart but heavy kid, and the dislikable redshirt. Another major problem is that, although the characters have all done wrong things, it is not like this anonymous cyber villain or ghost or whatever is standing up for a perfect girl that killed herself.
-There was not much music in the film because it was on a screen. There was a good amount of bacnose to add tension, but it gave away every scary thing that would happen. There was one part though where these characters are yelling at each other and tensions are just going through the roof, so the cyber whatever plays a classy song about lying. I don't remember the song, but it was very funny.
-The scares were one of the worst things about the film. I didn't jump once and was not tense at all. Now I know I am harsh on jumpscares, but when a film tries so hard for jumpscares that it uses the same ambient music and the same internet connection glitches to try to throw the audience off for EVERY SINGLE ONE, they have no effect. Especially since they are all predictable and most of them were shown in the trailer. There was one moment that I didn't see coming, so I will give it that.
-The dialogue was pretty iffy and only existed to propel the plot. The entire film was supposed to add tension, but the only thing I was wondering in those moments was "Why is this girl taking 45 seconds to click every single thing. Normal people don't do that. Also there are no exposition websites that will tell you what happens next when the plot stalls. Google is the answer to everything, even plot-holes apparently.
-The film also banked on the whole cyber-thing to not give the film high quality, so it looked like it had a $20 budget. I also found out that "The filmmakers created a mock Skype interface for the film to avoid technical issues such as lag." Which is dumb because they depended on lag for 80% of the scares.
-One last thing. The whole 'one-take on a computer' thing that is supposed to be original? It is called Open Windows. You might remember it from my Top 10 Worst movies of 2014.
-It was not terrible, but that does not mean it was good. Unfriended only offered a few moments of writing to try to make up for the poor plot development, obvious clichés, failure to scare, and overall lack of effort. I am not going to give it my lowest rating because its actors tried hard and made a few parts entertaining and compelling. However, Unfriended is still not worth the time. Especially because It Follows is still in theaters! That is a good horror film! -Unfriended holds a somewhat confident R-rating, featuring a fair, but realistic amount of language including several F-words. It had some suggestive content and references, but showed no actual nudity. There is some violence, but the quality and insane amount of glitch-cuts make it watered-down. So R for language and one somewhat gross scene.
-I did find a few things I liked about Unfriended. However, there is really nothing new this film has to offer, and to make it worse, nothing that the film offers is good. I tried to think of a better word. I really did.
-The story give an interesting and consequences and cyberbullying, but it has been done before too. The plot is pieced together by conveniences that usually make something in the film inconsistent or inexplicable.
-The film had a very slow start and didn't get to the actual plot until about 10 minutes in, which for an 80 minute film is slow.
-The cast has its ups and downs. I don't know any of them, but they are functional. None of them are that good and the harder they try at drama the more they feel like stage-actors not teens yelling at each other. They are not sci-fi original bad though.
-The characters in the film use all the horror clichés in the book except the back guy. There is the darker-haired protagonist, the somewhat questionable boyfriend who offers motivation for the protagonist, the blond, the jock, the smart but heavy kid, and the dislikable redshirt. Another major problem is that, although the characters have all done wrong things, it is not like this anonymous cyber villain or ghost or whatever is standing up for a perfect girl that killed herself.
-There was not much music in the film because it was on a screen. There was a good amount of bacnose to add tension, but it gave away every scary thing that would happen. There was one part though where these characters are yelling at each other and tensions are just going through the roof, so the cyber whatever plays a classy song about lying. I don't remember the song, but it was very funny.
-The scares were one of the worst things about the film. I didn't jump once and was not tense at all. Now I know I am harsh on jumpscares, but when a film tries so hard for jumpscares that it uses the same ambient music and the same internet connection glitches to try to throw the audience off for EVERY SINGLE ONE, they have no effect. Especially since they are all predictable and most of them were shown in the trailer. There was one moment that I didn't see coming, so I will give it that.
-The dialogue was pretty iffy and only existed to propel the plot. The entire film was supposed to add tension, but the only thing I was wondering in those moments was "Why is this girl taking 45 seconds to click every single thing. Normal people don't do that. Also there are no exposition websites that will tell you what happens next when the plot stalls. Google is the answer to everything, even plot-holes apparently.
-The film also banked on the whole cyber-thing to not give the film high quality, so it looked like it had a $20 budget. I also found out that "The filmmakers created a mock Skype interface for the film to avoid technical issues such as lag." Which is dumb because they depended on lag for 80% of the scares.
-One last thing. The whole 'one-take on a computer' thing that is supposed to be original? It is called Open Windows. You might remember it from my Top 10 Worst movies of 2014.
-It was not terrible, but that does not mean it was good. Unfriended only offered a few moments of writing to try to make up for the poor plot development, obvious clichés, failure to scare, and overall lack of effort. I am not going to give it my lowest rating because its actors tried hard and made a few parts entertaining and compelling. However, Unfriended is still not worth the time. Especially because It Follows is still in theaters! That is a good horror film! -Unfriended holds a somewhat confident R-rating, featuring a fair, but realistic amount of language including several F-words. It had some suggestive content and references, but showed no actual nudity. There is some violence, but the quality and insane amount of glitch-cuts make it watered-down. So R for language and one somewhat gross scene.