Unfriended (2015)

* out of ****

In general, I admire a moviemaker that tries to do something a little different and “Unfriended” is surely that. Too bad a nice effort was undone by the fact it sucks. Hard.

The entire film takes place on a single computer screen. A group of teenage friends are Skyping each other, and there is an unwelcome guest to the communication that they can't get rid of. Turns out it's a former friend of theirs that committed suicide, back to exact revenge on those that had wronged her. Leaving the call will somehow allow her to possess you and force you to kill yourself, so they all stay on the call as the dead girl slowly unveils the worst secrets they all have.

I'm sure this is meant to be allegorical to the dangers of cyber-bullying and the impersonalization of much of today's youth due to their obsession with “screens”, but I found this film failed at every level. You never get any explanation about how it all works (other than a single webpage stating “Don't Communicate With the Dead”), and though I admire many movies that leave things up to your imagination (“Blair Witch Project” or the original “The Haunting” for instance), this one does it simply because there's nothing they COULD put there.....

Add to that the fact that each of the teens on the call end up being a horrendous person. Their all about 17 and they've all done far more horrible things to each other than I could ever dream of doing to any friend. To a man, you don't particularly care if the “ghost” takes them out. That's how awful they are.

Admirable attempt to do something unique, and unique it is. I just thought it was a horrible movie.