Unfriended DVD Review: A Thrilling Point of View

Unfriended, from the producer of The Purge and Ouija, brings us a teen thriller about internet bullying and what happens when the bullied use that same medium for revenge.

Unfriended DVD Review

From the onset we learn that a young girl named Laura Barnes committed suicide after a video of her surfaces on the internet of her drunk and reckless. Her actual suicide is also filmed on posted online. What we aren’t immediately told is that the main characters were once her close companions. It makes sense eventually why they are targeted.

The story is intense because today 75% of the world is involved in social media. So to have that same form of communication come back to bite you can be extremely scary. Especially if the person who is haunting you is presumed dead.

Unfriended is a mix between The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, it is spooky and keeps the viewer entertained throughout despite its unbelievability.

Unfriended is far from being the best or scariest thriller ever made but with many young people committing suicide because of online bullying it seems more like a warning to bullies to be aware of their actions, especially online because nothing on the internet ever dies.

Unfriended has a unique visual appeal. We see the story play out through a real time screencast but it is actually quite annoying. There is so much going on and for most of the movie I found myself frustrated at seeing the cursor constantly stagnant. The internet is known for being this fast moving phenomenon so seeing the characters delayed reactions and replies to messages took away from feeling as if I was simply looking at my own computer screen, which is what I believe the director had in mind, otherwise why shoot this way?

Although the premise of Unfriended is extremely exaggerated, it’s entertaining and the anti bullying undertone is more than apparent making it more than worth the watch.