Unfriended, by all means, was a commercial success. It took $1 million to make and grossed $64 million at the box office. The movie was simple, it used about six actors and had a computer screen as the viewing platform. This is a refreshing visual take on a found footage movie. However, that's where being refreshing atmosphere ends. If I had to describe this movie in one word; it would be "cliche". Oh dear, was this movie cliched, even for my taste. I understand B horror and I appreciate it, but
Unfriended made me cringe. What's more baffling, is all the praise it seems to be receiving. I understand this is a new way of doing things, but painting a Geo Metro red doesn't make it more reliable.
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| what have I done....? |
The plot is simple in design. A group of high schoolers are being punished by the spirit of a recently deceased girl whom they cyber-bullied into suicide. Each one of the teens will be brutally punished for their hand in her death. I'm fine with simple plots. Movies of a higher caliber have been made with less. However, this idea isn't something new.
Flatliners,
Nightmare on Elm Street, and
Insidious; all were very entertaining movies borrowing the same idea and yet much better. The problem is not the story, but the acting and the writing.
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| lets play a game? really!!!!?! |
By far, the biggest weakness in this movie is the actors. The cast is like someone took the MTV studio and grabbed the first six teenagers walking out. Everyone of these kids was more vapid and lifeless than the last. When watching a horror movie, you want to have at least one person live. To be honest, I didn't like any of them enough to care if they got murdered. They were all awful people. I especially hated the one kid who was a generic obese, stoned, computer whiz. He didn't say or do one likable thing in the movie and when he met his end (via blender) I can't say I was upset. I may have felt some small connection to the lead girl. However, that might be because there isn't any character development except for her the whole movie. Each kid was written in quick cliched fashion. Why am I caring about their problems when I'm not caring about them? Certainly the violence helped make the movie exciting...right?
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| well...we can only go up from here guys |
Nope, the deaths are mediocre at best. I get that horror doesn't have to be violent.
The Others is an amazing example of how suspense and the unknown will scare the hell out of an audience. This movie fell short in trying to do either. When someone was about to die, a timer would start. Then once the timer hit zero, the screen would glitch and "OH NO!" someone got killed in amazingly grainy quality. The first death, you don't even happen. This was 45 minutes into the movie! Come on give me something exciting for watching this crap for this long. The rest die in mediocre fashion like, blender to the face, knife to the face, bullet to the face, and hair straightener... to the face. Also, I wasn't shocked by any of the deaths. I saw all of them coming (I admit it, the hair straightener was surprising) especially the blender which was in the trailer. The movie also wasn't very scary. It was actually very boring for a horror. The definitive scary scene was the end of the movie. The last person left is the protagonist viewing the computer screen we are watching. A countdown happens, and then hands grab the screen and shut it. Now, everything is dark and silent for 5 seconds and then GHOST...to the face! I admit that being in a dark room watching this movie on a computer, kind of made me jarred.
Unfriended gets praises from a lot of people because of its innovation and creation. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, but I feel like this movie is average. The only thing setting this movie apart was the perspective in which it was filmed. This movie is no different from the other exploitation films of our time like the
Saw series or the
Paranormal Activity series. The only difference between this movie and the others is that they were scarier than this. If you like realy terrible b movies, then this is one to watch. For others looking for good scares and a good time, look else where. I give
Unfriended three screaming teenagers out of ten.
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| don't fret, more coming tomorrow |
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