Unfriended is a 2014 American found footage supernatural horror film directed by Levan Gabriadze, written by Nelson Greaves, executive produced by Jason Blum, co-produced by Adam Sidman, and produced by Greaves and Timur Bekmambetov. The film stars Shelley Hennig, Moses Jacob Storm, Renee Olstead, Will Peltz, Jacob Wysocki, and Courtney Halverson as high school students in a Skype conversation that is haunted by a student who was bullied and committed suicide named Laura Barns, played by Heather Sossaman.
The film premiered at the Fantasia Festival on July 20, 2014, and at SXSW on March 13, 2015. It received a theatrical release on April 17, 2015. The film, which is told almost entirely through a high school student's MacBook screen, stars Shelley Hennig as one of several friends who find themselves terrorized online by an anonymous person. The film received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $64 million against a $1 million budget. A sequel, Unfriended: Dark Web, had its premiere on March 9, 2018 at SXSW.
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Plot
The story is told through the point of view of Blaire's laptop screen. It takes place in Henderson, Nevada. High school student Laura Barns is bullied after an uploaded video of her passing out and defecating herself at a party goes viral, causing her to commit suicide by shooting herself in public. On the one-year anniversary of her death, her former best friend Blaire Lily enters a Skype chat with her boyfriend Mitch Roussel, during which they agree to lose their virginity to each other on prom night. Blaire attempts to strip for him, but are interrupted when both join a Skype group chat with their friends Jess Felton, Ken Smith, and Adam Sewell, which neither have approved of. On a separate private chat, it is implied Blaire and Adam were once involved, which Mitch is not aware of. The group notices a user named "billie227" in their chat, who was not invited by any of the participants. After unsuccessful attempts to disconnect the user, the entire group suspects their classmate Val Rommel is pranking them.
After they invite Val to their chat, Jess's Facebook page is updated with racy photos of Val at a party. Jess states she did not upload the photos and deletes them, but the pictures reappear on Adam's account. "billie227" posts a video of Laura Barns recording a video similar to that of Amanda Todd. Val calls the police to report online abuse and signs off Skype. Blaire is sent a screenshot of a past message in which Val told Laura to kill herself. Val is suddenly brought back into the chat, sitting still next to an open bottle of bleach before collapsing. The police arrive and the group listen to the police codes and discover Val is dead from a presumed suicide. Ken manages to remove "billie227" from the chat, but "billie227" resurfaces with a camera view which appears to come from the other side of his room. He approaches the camera source, but his Skype is disconnected and reconnects showing him shredding his hand inside an active blender before using the blades to kill himself.
"billie227" forces the remaining four to play a game of Never Have I Ever, stating the loser will die. They are forced to reveal secrets, mainly hurtful secrets the four did to each other. Tensions run high between Mitch and Adam, who begin to fight each other and use secrets against each other for the other to lose. Adam loses his temper and uses one round to force Blaire to reveal she cheated on Mitch with Adam twice, with "billie227" uploading a YouTube video of their tryst. Blaire and Adam receive messages sent to their printers which they refuse to show to the chat. Mitch demands that Blaire reveal her note and threatens to leave if she does not, and "billie227" warns them that Mitch will die if he leaves. In a moment of panic, Blaire shows her message on the paper: "If you reveal this note, Adam will die." Adam is forced to shoot himself in the face; his paper falls, revealing the note: : "If you reveal this note, Blaire will die." When Blaire convinces Jess not to continue playing, "billie227" cuts all the lights in Jess's house and disconnects her video feed. Blaire looks for help on Chatroulette and finds a stranger to call 911 and send a police unit to Jess' house. Soon after, Blaire receives a video of Jess with a curling iron forced down her throat.
"billie227", now revealed to be Laura herself, messages Blaire and Mitch, wanting them to confess who uploaded the video in the first place. Blaire tries to deny any involvement from Mitch but eventually reveals that he was the one who posted it. Mitch immediately grabs a knife and stabs himself in the eye. Laura starts a countdown timer and Blaire desperately tries to remind her of their friendship while she was alive. Blaire says that they drifted apart, but Laura says that's not how things happened. Laura uploads a different version of Laura's defecation video, showing Laura sleeping drunk on the ground. The camera turns around, revealing Blaire as the recorder. It is uploaded on Facebook, and her friends turn against her by posting angry and disgusted comments. Laura says what Blaire has done will live online forever and wishes she could forgive her, before signing off Skype as Blaire is left alone consumed in guilt and fear. Then Blaire's bedroom door creaks open and a pair of hands slam her laptop shut. Afterward, Laura's demonic face lunges at Blaire as the screen cuts to black, leaving her fate unknown.
How To Find Friends On Skype Video
Cast
- Shelley Hennig as Blaire Lily
- Moses Jacob Storm as Mitch Roussel
- Renee Olstead as Jess Felton
- Will Peltz as Adam Sewell
- Jacob Wysocki as Ken Smith
- Courtney Halverson as Val Rommel
- Heather Sossaman as Laura Barns
- Mickey River as Dank Jimmy
- Cal Barnes as Rando Pauls
- Matthew Bohrer as Matt
- Christa Hartsock as Chatroulette Girl
Production
Gabriadze was attracted to the project (then titled Offline) as it focused on the theme of bullying. He noted that the nature of bullying had changed since he was in school, as the Internet allowed for bullies to continue their actions even after school hours.
Production was 16 days total, including six 12-hour days of principal photography, three days of pick-ups and then a few more reshoots. When filming began, it mostly consisted of long takes around ten minutes in length. Shelley Hennig, who portrayed Blaire, found that this proved difficult for the energy and motivation needed from her and the other actors. At her request, at least one full, 80-minute-long take was filmed, with each actor in separate rooms with separate computers. The film's ending was captured during one of these feature-length takes.
The film's title changed during shooting (and would also change prior to its theatrical release), as the film's crew felt that the title of Offline was "too general and not obvious" and that the then title of Cybernatural was "more to the point of what it is". For wide release, the film was re-titled Unfriended.
Release
Unfriended initially had its world premiere on July 20, 2014 at the Fantasia Festival and screened on the film festival circuit under the title of Cybernatural. A generally positive film festival reception and test screenings for the film prompted Universal Pictures to pick up the film rights with the intent to give it a wide theatrical release the following year. The film's title was changed from Cybernatural to Unfriended and the film was theatrically released on April 17, 2015. The film was screened at Playlist Live on February 6, 2015 and premiered at SXSW on March 13, 2015.
Marketing
Unfriended was heavily marketed online, with 60% of the marketing budget being spent on digital platforms.
In July 2014, a teaser trailer was released with scenes from the film. The teaser shows the original title of the film which at the time was Cybernatural. On January 12, 2015, the film's first official trailer with the title Unfriended was released. Shortly after, on February 6, 2015, the film was screened at Playlist Live, a popular convention for internet celebrities from Vine and YouTube. Images were also released.
On February 13, 2015, a campaign was launched with Kik Messenger, in which Kik users could have a chat conversation with Laura. This made use of automated responses and pre-scripted responses, while also driving users to a dedicated microsite.
On March 13, 2015, after the film's premiere at SXSW, an after-party was hosted by Blumhouse. Exclusive Never Have I Ever cards were released at SXSW later, and a "NEVER HAVE I EVER" section was set up on the film's official website. Unfriended-themed photo booths were set up as well During production, official Facebook and Skype accounts were set up for the characters in the film, and, after the premiere at SXSW, people who attended were "friended" by the official Laura Barns Facebook account. There was also a Twitter account, which tweeted attendees of the after-party.
Home media and streaming
Unfriended was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 11, 2015. It received a Netflix release in May 2017.
Reception
Box office
Unfriended has grossed $32.5 million in North America and $31.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $64.1 million against a budget of $1 million.
In North America, the film opened simultaneously with Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 and Monkey Kingdom on April 17, 2015, across 2,739 theaters, earning $6.8 million on its opening day. In its opening weekend, Unfriended earned $15.8 million, which was higher than its $12 million range projection, and finished in third place at the box office behind Furious 7 ($29.2 million) and fellow newcomer Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 ($23.8 million). Its opening weekend is the biggest debut for an original horror movie since The Conjuring, which opened with $41.9 million in July 2013.
Critical reception
Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 63%, based on 163 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Unfriended subverts found-footage horror cliches to deliver a surprisingly scary entry in the teen slasher genre with a technological twist." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 59 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Reception at the Fantasia Film Festival was mostly positive. Common praise for the film centered upon its acting and visuals, and Twitch Film commented that the film was an "interesting look at modern methods of communication and the ramifications of the new normal of always-on social interaction." Variety commented that while the film was "exasperating" at points, they also felt that it was clever and innovative.
Dread Central also praised the film overall, but stated that they felt that the movie's one major flaw was "the fashion in which we are trafficked to each scare- through multi-screen clicking, copying, pasting and re-sizing, basically all-around multi-tasking. It can be trying to sit through and I liken it to sitting over someone's shoulder watching them web-surf... endlessly." It was named Most Innovative Film at the Fantasia Film Festival and received a Special Mention for Feature Film.
British film critic Mark Kermode gave the film a positive review, calling it a film which understands Skyping culture and cyber-bullying. He said, "Many people who've seen the trailer say, 'You're being stalked through the internet. Just log off.' The point is they can't because they're addicted." While on one hand admitting it was a "shrieky, teen-terrorized, slasher movie," on the other hand he said it was a film about how cyber-bullying only works if you cooperate with it.
Irish film critic Donald Clarke, writing for The Irish Times, gave the film a very positive review, describing it as "genuinely unsettling" and praising the filmmakers' "uncanny grasp of the complicated dynamics of contemporary interaction" and how they succeeded in "[retaining] a position on the moral high ground while bloody mayhem rages around their feet".
Brad Jones and David Gobble gave the film a very negative review, referring to it as repetitive, irritating, unoriginal, and insufferable. They said that it is based entirely on an awful gimmick. Gobble called it the third worst film of 2015, after Do You Believe? and War Room. Some critics found the film to contain unintentionally amusing moments that detracted from the experience. Lou Lumenick of the New York Post and Lauren Chval of RedEye found that the film's scenes involving Blaire's pleas for help on Chatroulette, as well as some of the phrases typed by Laura's ghost (including "but in this version [of a drinking game], the loser doesn't drink. The loser dies.") to be more humorous than frightening.
In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave Unfriended an average grade of "C", on an A+ to F scale.
Sequel
In April 2015, it was announced that Universal Pictures had greenlit a sequel, tentatively titled Unfriended 2. In October 2017, it was announced that the film was shot secretly and the film's working title would be Unfriended: Game Night. On March 9, 2018 the film's official title revealed to be Unfriended: Dark Web.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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