Hey guys (and girls obvs)
I hope you have had a great week, I know I have!
Today I'm going to review a movie called Unfriended (in case you hadn't guessed from the title) which is a supernatural horror set in a very modern world.
The movie starts with someone watching a movie on LiveLeak - which you may or may not know is a website that often has gnarly footage of stuff you would get banned on youtube for posting. This movie shows a girl who basically shoots herself in what looks like her neck but she gets the job done and unfortunately dies.
Then the 'viewer' clicks onto youtube where there is a link to the video which caused this girl to kill herself.
Long story short, she has awful friends who let her get drunk to the point that she really makes a fool out of herself and ends up passed out after an epic shartfest.
This then leads to horrific bullying I imagine, and like many young people these days, this leads her to sadly take her own life.
The whole movie uses only social media to tell the story, which I found absolutely fascinating. Sites used were: Skype, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and Gmail.
So, here are my nine favourite things about Unfriended
1. Never Have I Ever
Now, apparently, this game was invented for this movie - but I know that is a loada tosh! The rules for this game (the way it is played in the movie) is everyone puts up five fingers and then Billie227 (a.k.a The ghost of Laura Barns) asks questions - if they have done whatever it is, they put a finger down. The one who puts down all of their fingers first... DIES. I'd like to point out, that normally it ends with a drink, not a death.
The reason I liked this game is because in a really short time we learned an awful lot about the characters. One cheated on her man with his best buddy (whilst all the time telling him she was a virgin), one shopped the other for drug possession, and one slept with Laura Barns whilst he was with his girlfriend! There were many more of these truths and frankly, I was gripped!
2. The Use of Computers
I absolutely LOVED the fact that this movie was filmed entirely from Blaire's computer - and the way we were shown it is gripping because it is like YOU are the one sat on the computer receiving the Facebook messages and Skyping with your friends. I've never seen something like this before and I thought it was really well executed (much like all of the cast! - I know, I should be on the stage.) I also think that this highlights the damage that online trolls . bullies can cause for young people. I mean, the characters here were teenagers, but if you had 12 year olds on the internet then you can understand how they can be so affected by what other people say online about them.
3. Functions we take for granted
Ever forwarded an email that you thought was funny? Ever blocked someone from Facebook because they are veing vile or posting a lot of things that you don't agree with? What about reporting someone for content that really shouldn't be on social media? What if you couldn't do that, and someone was threatening your life and the lives of others that you knew? To me, that is quite a scary scenario. Such a simple thing, but has a lot of impact!
4. The Deaths...
Of course this wouldn't be a revenge horror if nobody died! I thought that the death scenes were a little bit different than the norm (If you don't want to know how people buy it, don't read the rest of this paragraph). So... By drinking detergent, by putting hands and neck in a blender, by putting straighteners (that were on) down their throat, by stabby stabby in the eyeball and then via a ghost. So yeah, like I say, not your average death scenes!
5. The Use of an 'Unknown' Person
How many times have you had a friend request from someone that you don't know? Or have had a Skype contact want to add you and you have no idea who they are? A lot of people these days will have a quick look at their profile and think, 'Meh, why not?' I would like to point out that I myself am one of those people. But imagine if once you have opened the door to this person seeing into YOUR life... and in the case of Skye, literally see YOU; and you couldn't get rid of them - what would you do? Although these guys didn't 'add' Laura into her conversation, none of them (until Blaire did some digging) knew who this person was or what they were capable of. I think the majority of society as a whole has low expectations of how vile people can be, and what they are capable of. They thought this was just a prank. Until it got nasty!*
*I'm not saying every randomer that adds you is an evil ghost that wants revenge by making you eat your hair styling products whilst they are switched on and hotter than the sun; but you never can be too careful.
6. The Printers
I loved this scene SO much. To set it up for you, Blaire (who is in a relationship with Mitch) has just admitted through the medium of 'Never Have I Ever' that she slept with his best friend Adam, who is also playing the game. Then something prints off on Adam's printer which he reads and then neglects to show to the other kids. Then one prints off on Blaire's Printer... *Cue dramatic chords*. By this time, Mitch is full on about to flip his sh*t and demands to see what the paper says. Here's what it said.
 |
| Guess we know who she likes more. |
When Adam does the deed and offs himself, we then see what his note says. Which just replaced the word 'Adam' with 'Blaire'. I have a wireless printer and if something like that printed off, I think I would just die on the spot of heart failure.
7. The Special Effects
This movie didn't really need masses of special effects to keep us interested - I think the use of words was enough. However the special effects that were used were good. I mean, I'm not sure why, but I feel like they could have been a little bit more OTT. As a side note, when Val drinks the detergent - if you weren't observant and didn't actually see the bottle next to her (how you would miss it, I don't know but I have missed major stuff before) then you wouldn't have put two and two together and made chemical-burns-from-the-inside-out. Even if she was holding the bottle or SOMETHING. Not really a special effect but it bugged me none the less.
8. The Irony of Death
The part of this movie that really struck a chord with me, was when Blaire is looking through Laura's memorial page. She says something along the lines of more people like her now that she is dead than when she was alive. And its always sad to see the memorial pages on Facebook created by people who have lost a loved one - but in the case of bullying victims, you never really know who 'likes' that page; they may have even caused the untimely demise of the poor soul. Social media is a powerful tool to hide behind- and although you may not 100% be safe from being caught, you can cruelly ruin someone with a few typed words. You may or may not have heard the story of Amanda Todd. She was mercilessly bullied, moved areas and schools many times - she was 15 when she died and became one of the most famous bullying victims. This girl is one of the inspirations for this movie as it was through Facebook that she was victimised.
9. How the Movie Ends
Warning, this IS how the movie ends. I thought it was a brilliant conclusion! What do you think?
Thanks for reading, I hope you liked my review!
And remember,
Have a Scary Movie Sunday!
If you, or anyone else is suffering at the hands of online, or any type of bullies and are thinking of harming yourself, please talk to someone.
If you're in the UK you can call the Samaritans on 116 123
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