ANCHOR INTRO: KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando says the new film Unfriended exploits the real life horror of cyber bullying for a teen revenge tale opening this weekend. Unfriended gets props for giving a new spin to the beleaguered found footage genre by weaving a tale that unfolds entirely on a computer screen. Six teens are targeted by a classmate they bullied online and whose suicide isn’t preventing her from cyber vengeance. CLIP This is Laura’s account… who would hack a dead girl’s account? Unfriended could’ve been more smartly scripted but it succeeds in holding your attention with just Skype calls, FaceBook updates, and instant messages that reveal a typical teen’s virtual life. It also reflects something truly scary – the casual cruelty of kids. And kudos for not being afraid to give us characters that are all guilty of not being innocent. Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
Companion Viewing
"Carrie" (1976)
"Bully" (2011)
"Afflicted" (2013)
Fifteen percent of high school students experienced cyberbullying last year, according to StopBullying.gov. The new film “Unfriended” (opening throughout San Diego on April 17) exploits the real life horror of cyberbullying for a teen revenge tale.
Any horror film coming on the heels of the inventive “It Follows” is going to suffer by comparison. Yet I have to give “Unfriended” props for giving a new spin to the beleaguered and much maligned found footage genre by weaving a tale that unfolds entirely on a computer screen.
“Unfriended” opens with an Internet video of high school student Laura Barnes (Heather Sossaman) committing suicide. It’s been a year since that video was posted and six of Laura’s classmates haven’t given much thought to her death. Blaire (Shelley Hennig) and Mitch (Moses Jacob Storm) are preoccupied with prom and having sex.
No surprises there.
As they chat online they are joined by four of their friends and one mysterious person. It’s odd but they figure it’s some glitch. They all log out and then back in again but the unidentified person is still online with them and engages them in a game that has lethal consequences. We eventually discover that all six were involved to some degree in bullying Laura online and now it appears that suicide isn’t preventing her from cyber vengeance.
Director Leo Gabriadze and writer Nelson Greaves could have crafted a smarter script.
The teens act in predictably stupid ways and nobody even seems to think about getting offline and maybe physically getting together. But even with a certain level of dumbness the film succeeds in holding your attention with just Skype calls, Facebook updates, and instant messages.
What the filmmakers accurately tap into is a portrait of a typical teen’s virtual life. And in so doing it reflects something truly scary – the casual cruelty of kids. All the kids come across as pretty typical and normal.
None of them seems sociopathic or bad and yet before the night’s out we come to discover that each one of them has been involved in some kind of online activity that proved hurtful or stupid and they have no excuse other than they just never gave it a second thought. So kudos to the filmmakers for not being afraid to give us characters that are all guilty of not being innocent.
Russian director Timur Bekmambetov (who made the kick-ass vampire film “Night Watch”) produced the film and the young filmmakers he’s selected for the project definitely show some skill and a willingness to try and be innovative in how they approach the structure of a horror film. Logistically the film is complicated with director Gabriadze coordinating six online conversations for a series of long, uninterrupted takes.
“Unfriended” (rated R for violent content, pervasive language, some sexuality, and drug and alcohol use - all involving teens) isn’t exactly groundbreaking but at least it attempts to revitalize a genre that had grown annoyingly stuck in its ways.
