User Reviews

"Friend Request" follows a college student named Laura (Alycia Debnam Carey) who receives a friend request on Facebook from a lonely girl named Marina (Liesl Ahlers) who has 0 friends. Laura accepts the friend request out of pity but quickly regrets it as Marina becomes obsessed with Laura in a very short amount of time. Once Marina's overwhelming advances of friendship are rejected by Laura, she decides to take her own life, film it, and put it on the internet. After Marina's death Laura begins to lose control of her life and her facebook account due to further harassment from Marina's ghost.

I felt like the plot was an OK lead in to a very familiar concept, college kids getting picked off one by one while one person tries to figure things out and find a way to stop the person or thing that is terrorizing them. After the initial set up this movie really starts to look a lot like a number of previous modern day horror films, it just makes no effort whatsoever to try to shake things up a bit. They took an overused formula and stuck to it pretty much to the tee. I even find it hard to write much about the film because it was so bland and just didn't really offer much at all. You will predict every twist, you will see every death coming, and you will not be shocked by the ending at all.

I tend to like these kinds of movies so I was willing to forgive a lot of the film's clichés, but it got to the point where it just felt like the film makers were going down a list of horror movie clichés and checking them off as they made the movie. It's not the worst movie ever, it looks good, the acting is good enough, and a few of the kills weren't bad. However there just isn't enough here to warrant watching it over many similar films that are much better. "Friend Request" is simply a film that is so Luke warm that it's hard to think of much good things or bad things about it.

4/10

I was quite looking forward to this movie, having seen the trailer, I thought it looked promising. It started well enough, with Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey) meeting Marina (Liesl Ahlers), who is new at the school, feeling a bit sorry for her and seeing that Marina has no Facebook friends, Laura accepts her friend request. It is quickly apparent that Marina is a bit strange and is practically stalking Laura. Laura decides to unfriend Marina and that's when thing's take a turn for the worse. It's here that the movie turns a bit flat and is pretty much like any other run of the mill horror. A few predictable jumps here and there and thats about it. Liesl Ahlers is perfectly cast as 'the creepy girl' but we have all seen this movie before and it offers nothing fresh at all.

Yeah it was jump scares ~ but they worked on me. People say this has been done before. I suppose using social media as the plot point, sure, but this was pretty well done. I was scared. The light's on in my room! Seriously, though, it wasn't completely predictably. That was good. Here's the thing for me, that makes a movie more complete. The dialogue when the story isn't being pushed. The writers and actors don't try to shove personalities down your throat in the down time. The banter was actually funny. The conversations kept things moving. I though it woulad go one way and it went another. Pretty good movie. And to think I almost didn't watch it because of all these wanna be critics.

We were looking for a movie to watch that night and we couldn't find nothing. I finally stopped on this one, expecting it to be a kind of "so bad it's good" horror film or for the least, something we could have fun of… It turned out that it was actually not bad at all. Sure, that's not the horror movie of the year, but I still found some satisfaction watching it. The actors are good, the direction also. There's a kind of thrill at the beginning, but at some point it becomes very predictable. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by that movie, and it didn't turned out to be the joke I thought it would be. It was well done and I think it's worth seeing.

Laura Woodson (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and her college friends all live online as most everybody else at school. She gets a friend request from fellow student Marina Mills. She notices that Marina has no friends but has created intriguing spooky art. She accepts the friend request and is quickly flooded with Marina's attention. She grows frightened by the nightmarish posts. Marina is angered when Laura fails to invite her to Laura's birthday. Laura decides to unfriend Marina setting off supernatural retributions. The class is told that Marina committed suicide but evidence of her has disappeared.

At first, I confused Alycia Debnam-Carey with Taissa Farmiga. It's symptomatic of this movie. It reminds me of bigger and better names. This is a B-movie version of better movies. There are issues holding it back. First, what's up with the boyfriend's apartment? Is he a millionaire? That's some view. For a more serious problem, the movie needs to foreshadow its supernatural bent earlier. I was expecting a more Single White Female situation. Also how do the cops figure out Marina had committed suicide if everything goes missing. And the cops are dumber than dirt. They keep accusing (not accusing) Laura. It's all ridiculously fake. That goes for everybody. I know we roll our eyes when people claim their dick pics are the result of hacking. It doesn't mean that hacking doesn't exist. I can't believe that Kobe is the only person to look into the code and find the witchcraft text. Every college has tech departments. It'd be cool to show this weird coding to computer students and professors. It's all dumber than dirt. There are two good things I got out of the movie. Black Mirror is one of my favorite shows. I figured it's a reference to the blackness of a computer screen but I didn't realize its old origins. Secondly, I got really excited by Kobe's solution to his problem. I hadn't thought of it but it's completely logical. It's a great twist but not nearly enough to save this dumb horror.

Horror movies about the evils of social media tend to be as transparent and sophomoric as the audiences they are intended for, and after seeing the abortion that was "Unfriended", I expected less than nothing from a film with a similar premise. How shocked was I to find that this film didn't suck, and actually did some very clever things despite being a movie about fake online friend lists. The acting was good to great, the SFX was extremely well done and nicely implemented, the script was written by people who know how real teens are supposed to talk (with swear words and sarcasm that isn't usually found in children's movies), and the story just wasn't awful, and I mean that in the best way possible. When you expect nothing and are still disappointed, it makes you wonder why you bothered watching the movie in the first place (as was the case with Unfriended). But this film does a great job of not being made for children, is often clever in the best way, and some of the events that transpire are the exact opposite of what I would have expected. Overall, I enjoyed my time with this movie. It's not a masterpiece, and it won't win any awards, but it was enjoyable. In the end, any movie that can just be enjoyed as it is is a winner in my book.

Wonder why such a low score for such a good film , was actually quite gripping and well executed.

When I showed this trailer to my wife, she swore she'd seen it. I told her that you're thinking of Unfriended. That's how alike these movies are. They differ in some ways and all in all I thought the movie wasn't too bad. God knows I've seen worse. The acting was good and the effects were decent. I really was impressed on how the lone girl, Marina, was so creepy. That girl we all saw in high school with black lipstick with one or no friends. She just has to be different and fight the norm. Yeah, we get it. It was the same frame of horror story though. A group of teens get caught up in a curse and they have to dig into the reason this is happening to them so they can find some way to break free from it. Typical. But, like I said...it wasn't terrible. Kept my interest...only wanted to see how it ended. Being a horror movie...badly of course. If you're bored and you have the time, watch it. It won't kill you. Ha.

Predictable jump scares (so much so that you can count them down in your head and be spot on every time); clichéd plot; awful tech references; nothing original.

You get the picture (no pun intended!)

Having said that, the camera work is fine, the acting is better than most of the genre and the direction isn't terrible either.

If you love this sort of movie, this will be more of the same and there's a chance you'll enjoy it.

If this sort of movie leaves a little cold then you might want to avoid it as you'll pick holes in it almost instantly.

If there's one notable horror movie that I would use as the dictionary definition example of wasted potential, it would be the 2016 supernatural psychological flick, Friend Request. Released in 2016 around Europe and 2017 in America, the film failed to garnish any notable attention and just swept under the rug with every other forgettable horror movie released in the 2010 decade. However, what does separate it from other generic supernatural flicks is the direction it could have gone had it not chosen the safe route that every other bland horror film does nowadays.

The film centers around a popular college student named Laura, who graciously accepts an online friend request from the socially outcast Marina, but once Laura unfriends her, Marina commits suicide. Soon, a disturbing video shows up on Laura's profile, causing her contacts to decrease and her friends to be murdered one by one. Based on that premise alone, the most interesting aspect of the movie would be the relationship between Laura and Marina, with one being a well known popular girl, and the other being a depressed and lonely outcast, albeit with a affinity for the macabre. Given how Laura meant so much to Marina to the point of losing her own mental capacity over a sudden mistake, the film almost highlights how some people are too toxic to be around, even if you want to be nice to them. The film itself could have been a fascinating character study of Marina that would have fleshed out just how unfortunately twisted she became, and to their credit, the filmmakers did try to give some decent exposition to Marina's past at an orphanage which led her down a dark path.

However, where the film really wastes its promising concept is in the execution, as it chose to scrap any chance of proper development on Marina in favor of a generic slasher movie arc. Throughout the picture, Laura's friends are murdered one by one in a typical Friday the 13th fashion, with the same old boring jump scares and tired slow moving gimmicks we've come to expect now. Admittedly, the ways the people are killed off are creative in their own way, but the fun is sadly undermined by how weak the whole build up to them are. Plus, the arc of Laura losing friends socially would have been an interesting moment of karma, but even that's sadly undermined from how flat most of the people and even Laura herself are, as we're never given enough time to really care for them enough to feel sorry for them. And without giving away the ending, talk about leaving on an unresolved and frankly pathetic conclusion, as it feels more like the story chose to stop rather than making a satisfying book end to the narrative. When a movie chooses to highlight gimmicks over substance, that's a surefire sign of failure.

In the end, while Friend Request had the makings of a potentially interesting character study disguised as a horror movie, it squandered all of that with generic scares, bland characters and a weak ending. Even for a movie that utilizes social communication as a commentary for people's mental health, Facebook no less, it surprisingly has little to do with the "technology that it ostensibly exists to critique" (Jessica Kiang of Variety). If you're going to promote websites like that and twist them around as caution for teens to use, then you should use it to its full advantage, not as plug in gimmicks like how this movie attempts to scare us.

My wife and I started it, expecting to watch another bad horror movie on Netflix and laugh at it, but we were actually kinda surprised at how scared we got. It's not a classic by any means, and it's not great, but it's solidly spooky, even though it relies on a bunch of jump scares.

I'm a huge fan of horror. Generally, I'll watch every horror film that released in theater, so last night I went to see Friend Request. I didn't know it was opening night either and there were about 6 other people there. I walked in a couple minutes late during the intro sequence and found myself confused as I watched about three to five minutes of Facebook snapshots set to weird pop music. The movie then started, I guess, and that feeling of confusion never subsided. It got right into the plot and completely skipped any character development. I didn't care at all whether the lead character, or any other character in the film for that matter, lived or died. I didn't understand the motivation of the antagonist and it wasn't ever really explained. Apparently she was a witch or something similar and had magical powers for some reason. She wanted to kill all of the main characters friends for no reason other than she felt lonely, I think. I don't even know. The ending was even more jumbled and nonsensical. By the time the credits rolled, nothing was explained whatsoever. This was by far the worst film I've seen in theaters in recent memory. In fact, I don't remember ever seeing anything worse. Spare yourself the pain and save yourself two hours. I'd rather mow the lawn or something than have to sit through Friend Request again.

Oh very scary. This is a modern day horror movie. Though the story is not much appreciating, but it is fresh and new. Few unexpected u-turns and few disappointing scenes, but it is just a part of the story. "If I make you lonely", you will be mine. Forever". Above is my line but that is the theme of the movie. Isn't that scary to read. Imagine what if you watch movie based on the same theme.

I feared the worst for this movie from the very first minutes, but I still truly wanted to give it a chance until the end. Despite some mind-bogglingly unforgivably stupid scenes you want to think that maybe somehow they can turn this crap-fest around in the end, so that it makes sense. They don't and it doesn't.

This is the kind of movie that will actually make you upset that you wasted over an hour of your life in it. Unless you're something like 16, entirely swayed by baseless emotions and not too brightly lit. Only then might it be terrible for you, and that's the only way I can explain the surprisingly good average rating on IMDb.

Certainly some actually talented people were involved with the production: both the visual and audio design and FX are pretty good, and that's what makes this somewhat of a tragedy. You know, because not a grain of that talent is to be found in the writing, acting or direction.

Watch only if for whatever reason you really want to annoy yourself.

I've seen the story in other movies one way or another. The plot was OK. I'm not going to watch this movie a second time.

When I saw this movie first on IMDb list , I thought this is just a new crap cyber movie, just a copy of Unfriended (2015) but it's nothing like Unfriended (thanks God) This movie contains jump-scares, decent plot line , good acting and a pretty dark story behind all that. If you're searching for a decent new horror movie, you should definitely add "Friend Request" to the list, you won't regret. At least I didn't , and I'm usually harsh with new horror movies because they're so bad I can't even watch them. Friend Request is not one of those crappy movies, it has something special and it will keep you in front of the TV screen till the end.

This film isn't amazing or terrible, it's one of the very middle rate horrors but it's still very enjoyable, entertaining and well made. It's slightly predictable and follows the same kids premise of unfriended but in a far more watchable film- without being all on a computer screen flicking between apps! Personally I think unfriended was a slightly better film but I still really like this and have rated them both the same- 6/10. I know everyone will have an opinion and a lot of them negative but give it a go, it's worth a watch! I've sat though many high rated films that I've not enjoyed as much as this film! All in all I've watched it 4 times now and still enjoy it every time I see it!

Cyber based horror has become quite a popular sub-genre in the last couple of years, 2015's Unfriended being the other example that comes to mind. Friend Request is directed by Simon Verhoeven (No relation to Robocop director Paul), and is his first directorial feature that is not a comedy, and in the English language.

Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey) is a popular college student who is highly active on social media, which includes her Facebook account (totalling over 800 friends). She then receives a friend request from Marina Mills (Liesl Ahlers) a classmate she barely knows who has no Facebook friends. Out of pity she accepts the request. After being messaged constantly by Marina she decides to lie about going out for her birthday in order to avoid her, however photos from the evening end up on Facebook and soon after Marina attacks Laura at school before filming herself committing suicide, which is posted all over Facebook. Following the suicide Laura and her friends come under attack from a demonic force that appears to be Marina out for revenge.

Friend Request is a pleasantly surprising horror feature, which is well-acted by the ensemble. The dialogue between the characters is quite natural and creates a feeling of camaraderie between Laura and her friendship group in the opening scenes of the film. The overarching themes regarding our reliance on social media and how the platforms can manage and manipulate our lives are quite cleverly staged for the most part. Watching Laura's social media being hijacked creates a realistic parallel with stories that are relatable for us watching. Sure maybe when it happens to us it isn't a cyber-demon we went to college with, but having a Facebook Page which serves as an outlet for our thoughts, memories and, well, lives being hacked and seeing spam being sent from a source masquerading under the guise of our identity is an upsetting experience for most. We now see social media accounts as an extension of ourselves, and each other, and Friend Request uses this parallel to make the haunting Laura is experiencing relatable to the audience. However Despite this praise Friend Request suffers from one rather major flaw, it isn't scary. It's certainly jumpy, and had me leaping a couple of times with its scary demons occasionally popping out like demented Whack-a-moles. But it fails to create a sense of dread, or withhold an unsettling atmosphere that makes a great horror movie. The concept of fusing witchcraft with modern technology is quite interesting, but has been covered in previous films to better effect and in the final act Friend Request throws aside any attempt of being a disturbing social commentary in lieu of illogical narrative choices, that I will not disclose to any who wish to see the film. The music in the film is scored by Gary Go and he does a fine job instilling a chilling layer of texture in the latter parts of the movie.

Friend Request is an entertaining, thoughtful, film. But it lacks further detail to make it essential viewing, along with not being unsettling enough to be scary on a baser level. Having left the cinema I, in an absent minded fashion, checked my Facebook page almost immediately without thinking, which merited a chuckle. While there is clearly some observant commentary in the film it doesn't transcend into horror at any point, which is a missed opportunity, but it is still relevant enough to entertain for 90 minutes or so if you're in the mood for a jump-scare or two.

Review by Alexander Halsall, for more reviews of the latest films follow my blog at thebeestheysting.wordpress.com/reviews/

Decent movie. Just don't expect too much.

A couple good jump scares, acting is decent, plot is predictable.

Worth a watch.