Unfriended

            Hey everyone, I’m that one girl who seems to disappear more often than she is here, TheCinemaChick!  I’ve actually been doing real work as of late and let me tell you, wrangling children is tiring work.  Not to mention, I can officially say I have been spit up on.  Here’s a lesson I learned the hard way, never wear your favorite shirt to work if it means you’re handling babies.  Especially babies with full tummies.  They can projectile spit up.

            As usual, you’re not here to listen to me whine about work, you just want to know about the movies!  Have I seen anything good lately?  Nope!  I’m disappointed in the movie I’m reviewing, however, I also feel it is deserving of praise in its own special way.  It touches on a very hot topic in a way I haven’t seen before.  The content was fairly disturbing and I was far more annoyed than I was scared but overall, it wasn’t completely horrible.  So, close Facebook, finish that iMessage and step away from Skype, we’re going to look at “Unfriended”.

            I have to admit, I didn’t have high hopes for this one.  The trailer did have me intrigued, but even then, it seemed like another typical horror movie.  A group of friends did something wrong in the past so a vengeful spirit is out to get them, how original.  (Note the intended sarcasm here)  It had the potential to be good but it starts off with a weak, overdone premise.  A teenager has committed suicide, it’s the anniversary of the death and weird things start happening to a group of friends who knew her.  Plus, it’s a found footage film and you should all know how I feel about those.  I want this genre to die.  I am so sick of it.  And on top of all that, we have the stereotypical teens.  We have a drama queen, a slut, a pothead, a party boy, an airhead and a jealous boyfriend.

            My biggest pet peeve?  The fact that you know how these characters are going to die as soon as you meet them.  And this one won’t be a spoiler since it’s in the trailer: One of them is shown mutilating his hand by sticking it in a running blender.  Well, when we first meet him, he’s got a blender in his hand and he’s talking about his salsa.

            However, do remember that I see more movies than the usual person, so I have figured out the formula to almost every movie out there.  This is why I hate romantic comedies and I can never seem to be scared by horror films.  While I’m usually bored to tears with most films, some of them have qualities that redeem them.  Believe it or not, “Unfriended” has some things about it that I liked enough to keep this movie off of my “Worst of” list this year.  One of them is the topic of cyber-bullying, another one being the end of the film.

            Again, since the trailer shows this, it’s not a spoiler.  It centers around a girl who commit suicide due to some videos that had been posted of her online.  After putting up with a lot of abuse on YouTube and Facebook, she kills herself with a gunshot to the head.  The movie starts on the one year anniversary of her death, as is the cliché.  The movie starts off innocent enough and I have to admit, that’s something I liked.  It’s a bunch of teenagers having a call on skype just to talk about casual teen things.  It feels realistic.  I have skype calls with my friends and we talk about the dumbest things.

            As the movie progresses, things get incredibly tense.  You don’t know who’s going to be next or for what reason Laura will target them.  The more you find out, the more you realize that these teens are horrible people.  They have done things so shameful I can’t even repeat it.  Plus, if I did, that’d be major spoilers.  But I was shocked at what took place.  Okay, okay, I know things have changed drastically since I was roughly seventeen or eighteen.  And yes, I know teens drink, do drugs and have sex but back in my day (I feel so old now) it wasn’t as prominent.  Underage sex was more of a taboo.  Movies never addressed it, television never showed it and the music was a lot more…the best word I can think of is wholesome. 

            Am I ranting about sex?  Yeah, I am a little.  Sex and sexuality have become a mainstream topic these days.  And you know, that does bother me.  I’m sorry but I was raised to believe that what happened in the bedroom stayed there.  Now we have things like “Fifty Shades” out there which…I plan to review it, I just don’t know if I can do it without needing a shower after.  I don’t like this borderline glorification of sex and how it’s become so common and casual.  There’s more of it in movies, television shows and I can’t even listen to the radio now because so many of the songs offend me with their content.

            Enough about that.  I could go on for a while.

            Like every horror movie that comes out lately, this one’s full of the typical tropes.  It’s predictable, you know what’ll happen, things I’ve already pointed out.  And the idea of doing it all on a computer screen isn’t even new.  There’s a film out there called “The Den”, which I haven’t seen yet, that did something similar.  However, I like the idea that it’s all shown through Blair’s (the “main” character) laptop.  We get to see everything she sees and the panic becomes more and more real.  It’s like staring at your own screen as these things take place, which gives it a nice edge.

            But you get to see the strange messages she gets, see the music she picks but honestly, if you’re in a group call, why are you listening to music?  Another element I liked is that as the movie goes on, Laura seems to be more and more in control of the situation.  She starts picking the songs, she answers Blair’s messages before she can even send them.  There is a genuine sense of tension and panic throughout.  I also have to commend the use of various means of social media throughout.  It was good. 

            Like I said, this won’t by my favorite film this year but it won’t be the worst.  I did enjoy it and I might actually sit through it again at some point.  To me, the overall tone was just annoyance because the notification sounds are amplified so they are way too loud.  That’s the one thing that kept getting to me.  I’d be bored, dozing off then DING!  You have message!  To the movie’s credit, it’s a great way to keep your audience awake during the slow parts.  Personally, I think it could have been downplayed a lot more and still had a good effect on the general feel.

            Would I recommend “Unfriended” to the masses?  I would actually say this is a good movie that the younger crowd needs to watch.  Let this one be a lesson about what you post online.  Remember, what you put on the internet becomes permanent.  That picture you took in college where you’re drunk, half naked and holding of a bottle of Jack?  Your parents might find that.  Pictures of you cuddling an ex?  Oh yeah, the internet remembers that.  Keep that in mind next time you take a ton of pictures at the next party when you’re drunk.

I’m TheCinemaChick and I’m haunting your Skype right now.