Cyber-horrors run amok in ‘Unfriended’

CHATTING pals (from left) Blaire (Shelley Hennig), Adam (Will Peltz) and Mitch (Moses Jacob Storm)

“UNFRIENDED” speaks to the Internet-literate crowd, a horror flick that did not require a huge budget to make—but it’s especially effective in its use of tools that most people take for granted.

Horror and modern technology aren’t strange bedfellows—some of the most chilling examples include “Ringu’s” video tape-television “portals”; “Blair Witch Project’s” innovative use of handheld cameras and “real” video imagery; and “Paranormal Activity’s” use of revealing security footage.

“Unfriended” takes contemporary tech and familiar social media functions and makes them unsettlingly creepy, using the connectedness of its main characters as a clever way to show them dealing with an online problem in one shared screen.

It kicks off in morbid fashion—a video of a teen girl’s suicide is being viewed by high school student Blaire (Shelley Hennig), who soon finds herself Skyping with her boyfriend Mitch (Moses Jacob Storm). Their intimate, private video conversation is interrupted by a group chat that neither of them approved. Their friends Jess (Renee Olstead), Adam (Will Peltz) and Ken (Jacob Wysocki) suddenly pop up—-accompanied by an anonymous user that they initially dismiss as a glitch.

It turns out that the day is the death anniversary of the girl, Laura (Heather Sossaman), Blaire’s estranged friend. Strange things happen while everyone is on their computers—the messages from the mystery user are pesky at first, then threatening. Not long after, bizarre incidents happen, witnessed by the shocked and perplexed group.

“Unfriended,” reportedly made with a modest $1M, has raked in over $30M to date. Directed by Levan Gabriadze, it inventively utilizes pacing, sound and visuals, creating a continuous sense of dread throughout its real-time unraveling.

The young actors, staring into their screens nearly the entire time, form a natural synergy; it’s impressive to see them react in their respective spaces whenever the mystery attacker pushes their buttons, so to speak.

Online abuse

The cyberbullying theme is timely, explored to the hilt here and reflective of the painfully real problem of online abuse. Narrative-wise, the use of multiple screens, popular sites and platforms allows a number of perspectives—while the group chats, two characters still get to converse behind their friends’ backs, giving the chaotic conference another layer that reveals valuable details.

With the film’s success, it won’t be a surprise if a sequel manifests eventually. It won’t be the same—“Unfriended” is predictable enough as it is—but the surprises that work here, if replicated, will likely be met with indifference. (Remember the second “Blair Witch” and the more recent “Paranormal” installments?)

Regardless, this has genuinely scary moments—from the inexplicable, unearthly kind to the equally frightening depictions of despicable behavior.