We’ve all seen the trailers for 2015′s Unfriended.  With the rampant issue of cyberbullying today, this film looks like a film targeted to today’s youth; people that grew up in the age where the internet was the center of their universe.  However, after days and days of sitting on how miserable I would be seeing this film, I went in incredibly closed-minded, and emerged pleasantly surprised.  This review is not going to give a lot away other than my opinion of the film.  It’s intentional.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the film (IMDB gives too much away, and I want you guys going in open-minded!  I promise it’s worth it!):

“One year before the film’s events, high school student Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman) committed suicide due to ridicule received over an embarrassing video of her passed out at a party.  Six of her classmates, Blaire Lily (Shelley Hennig), Jess Felton (Renee Olstead), Val Rommel (Courtney Halverson), Ken Smith (Jacob Wysocki), Adam Sewell (Will Peltz) and Mitch Roussel (Moses Jacob Storm), were especially horrible in their treatment of her, as they were unpopular and Laura was the most popular girl in school.  A year later, the six classmates decide to get together to talk with one another via Skype, but are ill-prepared when an uninvited seventh person logs onto Laura’s old Skype account and shows that he or she knows quite a bit about the prior year’s events.  The unknown person threatens the group and states that if they log out or stop talking, someone will die.  The person torments the friends, by attacking them in their houses.  As the chat progresses, the truth about who posted the video begins to emerge and other secrets are revealed that test their friendships.”

I know how it sounds, guys.  It sounds like you’re going to be watching someone’s Skype conversation for 2 hours.  Well, you do.  But in the midst of that, so much goes on that is really never touched upon in the trailers.  (To be honest, the trailer makes the film look awful).  But the film has heart, and a message that’s worth watching for anyone and everyone who has ever made fun of someone: the truth will always come back to hurt you.

I really don’t want to give too much away, because I know how skeptical people are about this film, and I believe everyone should really see it for themselves.  What I can tell you, is that I’m the kind of horror fan that normally can’t stand the films that come out now because they use jump scares over true horror.  Sure, Unfriended has plenty of jump scares.  They’re something I don’t do well with, and I jump every time, and it’s really embarrassing…I guess that’s the point, huh?  But over that, the film has something I didn’t expect: a decent amount of humor.  The film doesn’t hesitate to make fun of itself, and it makes it so much more enjoyable to watch knowing that it wasn’t taken too seriously.  Most of the theater was giggling while watching Blaire type over text or Facebook… something I will give away, is you will definitely be saying “girl, you need lessons in how to send a Facebook message.” It’s awful to watch her try to compose one, and it makes it hilarious.

Is this film gory? Not really.  Is it violent? Absolutely.  Do things happen that you probably wouldn’t expect from a film about Skype and Facebook?  Oh, yes.  There are deaths you probably wouldn’t expect from this kind of film, one of which had me almost cover my eyes, and I don’t really get disturbed by much.  But the deaths are very real; things you probably haven’t seen before.  I would compare them to Final Destination: they’re real in the sense that the deaths come from real things.  It’s hard to explain, but in the same way someone could die in a tanning bed, someone can die straightening their hair…I’ll leave it there so I don’t give too much away.

So, without further ado, I give you my rating of the film.  I know, my review was short and really didn’t tell you much, but that was my point!  Hold off on reading reviews or things that could ruin what goes on in the film and just see it for yourselves, I really believe old and new horror fans alike will enjoy it.

Story/Concept: 2
Direction/Style: 1
Scares: 2
Atmosphere: 1
Rewatchability: 2

TOTAL: 7/10

Until next time, my ghouls, stay spooky!

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Taylor Krauss

Taylor has been a horror fan for as long as she can remember, begging her parents to let her see The Exorcist at the tender age of just five years old. Since then, she has developed a lifelong obsession with all things strange, paranormal, and creepy. If you find her doing something other than watching a horror film, she’s probably raging as a dwarf barbarian playing Dungeons and Dragons (obsessively…it’s a problem), quoting Lord of the Rings incessantly, or trying to become Dana Scully.

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