The screenlife subgenre includes films that are entirely captured through the video screen capture perspective of a computer or phone. Over the past few years, horror films, thrillers, and mysteries have used this format to add a unique perspective to a traditional story. Bizarrely, the concept has been described as groundbreaking every time it gets the spotlight, but its origin is unquestionably found inUnfriended.
Producer Timur Bekmambetov is broadly credited withcreating the screenlife subgenre. It borrows elements from found footage films, which had become somewhat overexposed by the 2010s. The contained screencast perspective has a certain immediacy that perfectly fits a story about cyberbullying and revenge.
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What isUnfriendedAbout?
Unfriendedopens with shaky footage of a high school girl’s suicide. The victim is Laura Barns, a once-popular young lady who drank herself into unconsciousness at a party and soiled herself. A video of the incident led to her receiving abuse from her classmates, eventually inciting her suicide. Exactly one year after Barns’s death, her former friend Blaire ison a Skype callwith her boyfriend Mitch. In short order, their friends Ken, Adam, and Jess join the call. Along with the five of them, a sixth user joins the call. The account belonged to Laura Barns, and no amount of ending and reconnecting seems to get rid of it. The five kids believe they’re being pranked, but Laura’s account swiftly demonstrates knowledge and capabilities that could only be explained by a vengeful spirit.
At its heart,Unfriendedis about five insufferable teenagers being horrifically tortured before their untimely death. A lot of slasher films do very little to inspire fondness for their victims, butUnfriendedseems to genuinely despise its main cast. Sure, when Blaire, Mitch, Ken, Adam, and Jess pop up intheir little Skype windows, they come across like perfectly normal kids. However, as Laura’s games go on, every one of them reveals a pitiful ugliness that makes their death feel ultimately meaningless. No one learns a lesson, but everyone suffers for their transgressions.
Romantic infidelity, theft, betrayal, and a mountain of ever-shifting lies bury the cast until their brutal punishment serves as a reprieve for the audience.Unfriendedis a controversial film, but it deserves some sort of acknowledgment for doubling down on its protagonists being trash at every turn. Their pitiful sniveling justification even after the truth comes out makes the skin crawl more than any shoddy gore effect. For all its clean MacBook aesthetics, it’s a spiritually unpleasant film. Its ending reinforces that theme.
What Happens at the End ofUnfriended?
Laura Barns takes her sweet time making her tormentors shame each other and butcher themselves. She eliminates their catty acquaintance Val by making her drink bleach before moving on to the main cast. Ken is almost the lone exception from his cast of awful friends, but he’s clearly still partially guilty of Laura’s death, so he dies first. Laura forces the gang to play “Never Have I Ever,” promising that the loser will be killed. Truths start coming out, so the game rapidly becomes antagonistic. Blaire and Adam’s printers produce notes. Whichever one reveals their note first dooms the other to death. Blaire shows off her note to keep Mitch in the game, killing Adam. The remaining three competitors get back to the game. Blaire convinces Jess to stop playing, so Laura kills Jess herself.
Blaire and Mitch are the only ones left alive. Their relationship is in shambles and all their friends are dead, but they can’t help but keep selling each other out. Laura demands to know who posted the video and Blaire blames Mitch. Mitch dies horribly, leaving Blairealone with the ghost. She desperately tries to elicit sympathy from her former friend, but her pleas are hollow. Laura posts the extended cut of the video that led to her suicide to Blaire’s Facebook, revealing to the world that she was holding the camera. Blaire is attacked on all sides by her online friends, subjected to a moment of the suffering she gave Laura. It ends abruptly, as the laptop closes for the first time. Laura’s spirit appears and attacks Blaire.
Where Can You WatchUnfriended?
Unfriendedis available on Netflix. It can be rented for $3.99 from YouTube, Google Play, Apple TV, Redbox, Vudu,and Amazon Prime Video.Unfriendedreceived some positive attention from critics and audiences, but it’s been roundly derided for several aspects as well. Most of the praise was directed towards the innovative new subgenre and the preachy anti-internet messaging. A few shining reviews of the film feel like they’re celebrating the possibility that the film mightscare a few kids off of their laptops. Despite the many problems with the film, there’s something about its structure and all-consuming ugliness that seems to hold a lot of appeal. Fans can jump back on this call anytime, though it’s tough to imagine a less appealing Skype session.
