Film Review: Unfriended
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Cert: given a 15 but due to curtain content it should of been an 18 cert
Cert: given a 15 but due to curtain content it should of been an 18 cert
Director: Levan Gabriadze (as Leo Gabriadze)
Screen writer: Nelson Greaves
Starring: Shelley Hennig, Moses Storm , Renee Olstead , Will Peltz , Jacob Wysocki , Courtney Halverson , Heather Sossaman , Matthew Bohrer , Mickey River , Cal Barnes , Christa Hartsock , Konstantin Khabenskiy
Running time: 83 min
Parents advised to read before viewing film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.
Sex & Nudity: In a hazing video, a girl at a party is shown lying facedown after a hangover and a sexually explicit phrase is shown written on her leg in marker.
At an outdoor party shown in video, a girl is shown being hazed to wear panties lying facedown and people teasing her around her.
A girl is called many named after embarrassing herself at a party (whore, slut) and this leads her to commit suicide.
A very dimly lit scene shows a teen boy kissing a girl, and lying on top of him and the scene cuts as sex is implied. The scene lasts around 10 seconds.
A boy in a video chat tells a girl to strip and she starts to reveal her bare stomach and turns around go move her buttock area near the webcam, but no parts are seen as they are interrupted when others join.
A girl in a video chat admits to "screwing around" with a boy who is not her boyfriend
Violence & Gore: The entire movie takes place on a Skype call on teenagers' computers.
-The narrative occurs in the aftermath of a young woman's suicide, following her victimisation by 'cyber bullies' who spread a video depicting her unconscious at a party where she urinated and defecated in her clothes. The trauma caused by her bullying led to her apparent suicide, and forms the method with which the protagonists are then tormented, resulting in instances of seemingly forced suicide.
-There are occasional brief scenes of strong violence, including a suicide by shooting, a stabbing, a scene in which a woman has a burning object protruding from her mouth, and a sequence in which a man's hand and throat is mutilated in a food blender.
-The film begins with the captured video of Laura Barns' suicide on the high basketball courts where she in a distance holds a visible gun to her forehead and then suddenly fires. A distanced, blurred spray of blood is very quickly released upon her discharge of the bullet into her head.
-Levels of threat increase throughout as the protagonists are tormented psychologically and ultimately physically.
-The first victim of Laura Barns, Val has a violent seizure and smashes her head upon the ground, having off-screen, downed a bottle of bathroom bleach.
-Under Laura's thrall, Adam suddenly fires his father's gun on himself on the front region of his head (his face). There is a brief spurt of blood following the loud bang and he suddenly collapses.
-Jess is killed by a hair straightener (the insertion of which occurs relatively off-screen). It comes into focus on her buffering cam. Blood rushes from mouth down her chin & simmering steam blows out with the rushing blood.
-Ken (under Laura's thrall) forces his right arm into his bungalow blender. His hand starts to shred violently as blood combusts from the blender and splashes everywhere. The force of his arm in the blender, then causes it to shatter and the broken glass embeds into the remains of his right arm as well as his unshredded left arm. His neck is forced onto the exposed propeller blades of the blender which shreds his throat. Blood and pieces of flesh are spiraled in different directions before he is signed out.
-Mitch (under Laura's thrall) slams his kitchen knife down into his desk pinning it by it's bladed end to the table and then suddenly headbutts with extreme force the handle end. He is impaled near the right eye socket by the knife, breaking off the handle and end portion of the blade into his face. Blood is seen briefly rushing out, however, it gushes in a large quantity.
-In the post credits sequence, the torn-up body of Blaire is visible in an uploaded photo on Facebook. She has been dismembered by a bloodstained chainsaw.
Profanity: Close to 60 uses of "fuck" spoken, integrated into the fast moving chat scenes.
-One use of "cunt" shown very briefly on a chat page. Others used of "shit", "bitch", "ass", "dick", "slut" and one of "boobs."
Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: -In a video of a party, two boys are shown possibly smoking.
-In a past video, a girl is seen doing a bong.
-Students are seen at Adam's large blowout party drinking all types of alcohol (such as whiskey, bourbon, rum, wine, tequila and beer).
-Laura is intoxicated after drinking red cups of unspecified alcohol.
-Laura is drugged by Rohypnol slipped into her drink by Adam as part of a sadistic prank. She later passes out due to the intoxication of the Rohypnol and alcohol.
-Several other teenagers at Adam's house are seen smoking tobacco (and presumably marijuana, never confirmed).
-Early in the six-way call & after the initial threats from Laura's account, Adam begins drinking his father's rum in glasses.
-Before the call, Ken mixes up his own energy drink containing a portion of Rye.
-Pictures of Blaire and Laura's fathers are seen on Blaire's father's Facebook and Laura's memorial page, drinking bourbon and beer at a pub.
-Val is seen in Laura's uploaded photos through Jess and Adam's Facebook pages, smoking marijuana through a bong pipe and becoming intoxicated under the influence of the cannabis and alcohol. She is also seen drinking in the photos to the point of passing out.
-Dank Jimmy and Rando Pauls on ChatRoulette (who Blaire attempts to get to contact the police upon Jess' attack by Laura) are high on marijuana and are concealing individual marijuana joints.
Frightening/Intense Scenes: The entire film follows the mature themes of cyberbullying, suicide, and betrayal.
-The film has a lot of jump scares.
-Occasionally, some of the death scenes are shown in detail for a brief second.
Story: While video chatting one night, six high school friends receive a Skype message from a classmate who killed herself exactly one year ago. At first they think it's a prank, but when the girl starts revealing the friends' darkest secrets, they realize they are dealing with something out of this world, something that wants them dead. Told entirely from a young girl's computer desktop, CYBERNATURAL redefines 'found footage' for a new generation of teens
Likes : One thing that is good which has given this film its credit in filming making, is im glad to see they didn't go down the found footage horror route which has become a stereo type movie that has been use to many time like the zombie sub-genre, this feel more fresh & someone is actually using imagination in bring fear to a horror with some brilliant acting.
I love the premisses of this film with the concept of bullying of trolling someone & think that bullying is funny, yet for these group of teenage this reckless childish & evil act which force this girl to commit suicide back fired on them, from what seem to be a spirit on a revenge path from beyond the grave.
There is just something unnerving about this film although it predictable, the concept of someone or something message a group of teenage on a dead girls Facebook making them reveal the darkest secret is seriously creepy, to be honest after what i saw the character blaire did to her boyfriends with some one else, i will admit i was feeling sorry for her at first but then see what she did & hiding it, i did start to feel you deserve everything you get, but then all of them deserve it to be honest, even though it was really twisted but as they say revenge is a dish served cold no pun intended.
it's ambitious and creative and an ingenious way of storytelling that hasn't been done quite as well in the past with other film, which is good that someone is learn how to make something right.
Special with the main story of the film, with the deaths in this film were dark & gruesome, like the blender death scene which was vicious!
Basically the 5 friends encounter an unknown user under the name Billie227, the user which they think is a hacker, but things rapidly spiral out of control & the spirit begins to start turning the friends against themselves with dark games & revealing how they were involved in her suicide! this alone make this a great film to really put a chill down your spine & make you think, have you been a good person to someone.
Dislikes : The only problem with this film really is that it is predictable, sadly this dose some what take the mystery out of the film the as the film start to kick you can see the ending coming, really this is the only problem that the film had.
Overall : unnerving concept, great revenge concept in the horror genre. predictable ending
Rating: 4.6 out of 5 for entertainment / 7.7 out of 10 for concept
Screen writer: Nelson Greaves
Starring: Shelley Hennig, Moses Storm , Renee Olstead , Will Peltz , Jacob Wysocki , Courtney Halverson , Heather Sossaman , Matthew Bohrer , Mickey River , Cal Barnes , Christa Hartsock , Konstantin Khabenskiy
Running time: 83 min
Parents advised to read before viewing film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.
Sex & Nudity: In a hazing video, a girl at a party is shown lying facedown after a hangover and a sexually explicit phrase is shown written on her leg in marker.
At an outdoor party shown in video, a girl is shown being hazed to wear panties lying facedown and people teasing her around her.
A girl is called many named after embarrassing herself at a party (whore, slut) and this leads her to commit suicide.
A very dimly lit scene shows a teen boy kissing a girl, and lying on top of him and the scene cuts as sex is implied. The scene lasts around 10 seconds.
A boy in a video chat tells a girl to strip and she starts to reveal her bare stomach and turns around go move her buttock area near the webcam, but no parts are seen as they are interrupted when others join.
A girl in a video chat admits to "screwing around" with a boy who is not her boyfriend
Violence & Gore: The entire movie takes place on a Skype call on teenagers' computers.
-The narrative occurs in the aftermath of a young woman's suicide, following her victimisation by 'cyber bullies' who spread a video depicting her unconscious at a party where she urinated and defecated in her clothes. The trauma caused by her bullying led to her apparent suicide, and forms the method with which the protagonists are then tormented, resulting in instances of seemingly forced suicide.
-There are occasional brief scenes of strong violence, including a suicide by shooting, a stabbing, a scene in which a woman has a burning object protruding from her mouth, and a sequence in which a man's hand and throat is mutilated in a food blender.
-The film begins with the captured video of Laura Barns' suicide on the high basketball courts where she in a distance holds a visible gun to her forehead and then suddenly fires. A distanced, blurred spray of blood is very quickly released upon her discharge of the bullet into her head.
-Levels of threat increase throughout as the protagonists are tormented psychologically and ultimately physically.
-The first victim of Laura Barns, Val has a violent seizure and smashes her head upon the ground, having off-screen, downed a bottle of bathroom bleach.
-Under Laura's thrall, Adam suddenly fires his father's gun on himself on the front region of his head (his face). There is a brief spurt of blood following the loud bang and he suddenly collapses.
-Jess is killed by a hair straightener (the insertion of which occurs relatively off-screen). It comes into focus on her buffering cam. Blood rushes from mouth down her chin & simmering steam blows out with the rushing blood.
-Ken (under Laura's thrall) forces his right arm into his bungalow blender. His hand starts to shred violently as blood combusts from the blender and splashes everywhere. The force of his arm in the blender, then causes it to shatter and the broken glass embeds into the remains of his right arm as well as his unshredded left arm. His neck is forced onto the exposed propeller blades of the blender which shreds his throat. Blood and pieces of flesh are spiraled in different directions before he is signed out.
-Mitch (under Laura's thrall) slams his kitchen knife down into his desk pinning it by it's bladed end to the table and then suddenly headbutts with extreme force the handle end. He is impaled near the right eye socket by the knife, breaking off the handle and end portion of the blade into his face. Blood is seen briefly rushing out, however, it gushes in a large quantity.
-In the post credits sequence, the torn-up body of Blaire is visible in an uploaded photo on Facebook. She has been dismembered by a bloodstained chainsaw.
Profanity: Close to 60 uses of "fuck" spoken, integrated into the fast moving chat scenes.
-One use of "cunt" shown very briefly on a chat page. Others used of "shit", "bitch", "ass", "dick", "slut" and one of "boobs."
Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: -In a video of a party, two boys are shown possibly smoking.
-In a past video, a girl is seen doing a bong.
-Students are seen at Adam's large blowout party drinking all types of alcohol (such as whiskey, bourbon, rum, wine, tequila and beer).
-Laura is intoxicated after drinking red cups of unspecified alcohol.
-Laura is drugged by Rohypnol slipped into her drink by Adam as part of a sadistic prank. She later passes out due to the intoxication of the Rohypnol and alcohol.
-Several other teenagers at Adam's house are seen smoking tobacco (and presumably marijuana, never confirmed).
-Early in the six-way call & after the initial threats from Laura's account, Adam begins drinking his father's rum in glasses.
-Before the call, Ken mixes up his own energy drink containing a portion of Rye.
-Pictures of Blaire and Laura's fathers are seen on Blaire's father's Facebook and Laura's memorial page, drinking bourbon and beer at a pub.
-Val is seen in Laura's uploaded photos through Jess and Adam's Facebook pages, smoking marijuana through a bong pipe and becoming intoxicated under the influence of the cannabis and alcohol. She is also seen drinking in the photos to the point of passing out.
-Dank Jimmy and Rando Pauls on ChatRoulette (who Blaire attempts to get to contact the police upon Jess' attack by Laura) are high on marijuana and are concealing individual marijuana joints.
Frightening/Intense Scenes: The entire film follows the mature themes of cyberbullying, suicide, and betrayal.
-The film has a lot of jump scares.
-Occasionally, some of the death scenes are shown in detail for a brief second.
Story: While video chatting one night, six high school friends receive a Skype message from a classmate who killed herself exactly one year ago. At first they think it's a prank, but when the girl starts revealing the friends' darkest secrets, they realize they are dealing with something out of this world, something that wants them dead. Told entirely from a young girl's computer desktop, CYBERNATURAL redefines 'found footage' for a new generation of teens
Likes : One thing that is good which has given this film its credit in filming making, is im glad to see they didn't go down the found footage horror route which has become a stereo type movie that has been use to many time like the zombie sub-genre, this feel more fresh & someone is actually using imagination in bring fear to a horror with some brilliant acting.
I love the premisses of this film with the concept of bullying of trolling someone & think that bullying is funny, yet for these group of teenage this reckless childish & evil act which force this girl to commit suicide back fired on them, from what seem to be a spirit on a revenge path from beyond the grave.
There is just something unnerving about this film although it predictable, the concept of someone or something message a group of teenage on a dead girls Facebook making them reveal the darkest secret is seriously creepy, to be honest after what i saw the character blaire did to her boyfriends with some one else, i will admit i was feeling sorry for her at first but then see what she did & hiding it, i did start to feel you deserve everything you get, but then all of them deserve it to be honest, even though it was really twisted but as they say revenge is a dish served cold no pun intended.
it's ambitious and creative and an ingenious way of storytelling that hasn't been done quite as well in the past with other film, which is good that someone is learn how to make something right.
Special with the main story of the film, with the deaths in this film were dark & gruesome, like the blender death scene which was vicious!
Basically the 5 friends encounter an unknown user under the name Billie227, the user which they think is a hacker, but things rapidly spiral out of control & the spirit begins to start turning the friends against themselves with dark games & revealing how they were involved in her suicide! this alone make this a great film to really put a chill down your spine & make you think, have you been a good person to someone.
Dislikes : The only problem with this film really is that it is predictable, sadly this dose some what take the mystery out of the film the as the film start to kick you can see the ending coming, really this is the only problem that the film had.
Overall : unnerving concept, great revenge concept in the horror genre. predictable ending
Rating: 4.6 out of 5 for entertainment / 7.7 out of 10 for concept
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