Unfriended Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Unfriended Blu-ray Movie Review

"It's complicated."

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 24, 2015

Unfriended has "disaster" written all over it. A "Horror" movie in which teenagers speak with one another over the Internet? A poster art that features screaming and sobbing people looking into the webcam? Really? In the movie's defense, it's not like the "Cyber Horror" genre is a winner, a bastion of cinema excellence that repeatedly churns out hit after hit, classic after classic, example after example that exemplifies the cinematic art form. And Unfriended isn't going to be the start. A step in the right direction, maybe. But this is hardly great stuff. It's a movie made on the cheap that's basically an 80-minute mirror of someone's computer screen that features a rotation of webcams, various clicks through several sites and desktop applications, and a story cobbled together from the oldest "ghostly revenge" tale in the book, essentially a long-deceased person coming back to expose the people who wronged her. Basically, Unfriended gives "click, click, boom" a new meaning.

The mystery guest.

Teenagers Blair (Shelley Hennig) and Mitch (Moses Storm) are flirting on their webcams but are interrupted by several additional pals: Jess (Renee Olstead), Adam (Will Peltz), Ken (Jacob Wysocki), and Val (Courtney Halverson). They're joined by a mysterious guest they believe to be a bug, the work of a hacker, or one of them playing a prank. But things get serious when the added party appears to be connected to their deceased friend Laura, a victim of cyber bullying who took her own life as a result. And the mystery entity has it out for them all. As they sort out the truth behind who, or what, is behind the intrusion, various dark secrets are revealed, largely by way of incriminating photographs and videos that tear the friendships apart, all the while they're forced to protect themselves from a very real digital threat to their lives.

A good bit -- most, really -- of the movie consists of teenagers yapping over the Internet, sometimes to the point of audible confusion, about the goings-on that are plaguing their chat, and, slowly, knocking them off. They're not really worth any kind of emotional investment -- they're essentially a microcosm of modern youth with all of the standard baggage and connections -- but, to the movie's credit, it doesn't really make the story about them. Instead, they're merely pawns in a larger, and fortunately somewhat more interesting, tale about modern interconnectivity and, in a way, a parable for the idea that nothing ever escapes the web's clutches. Once it's there, it's there, and no amount of moving items to the trash or clicking "unfriend" can change the past, can erase a digital footprint, can wipe the digital world of a real-life transgression. It's a decent idea, executed questionably with a bland superficial overlay, but the movie at least explores a timely and relevant idea, even if it's fairly clandestine in doing so, letting a rather trite cornerstone plot take precedence.

And, again in the movie's credit, that façade is at least rather novel. The idea of a movie made entirely from someone's computer desktop -- when one of the most "intense" moments the movie has to offer involves getting the items in the trash deleted before a timer counts down to zero -- takes a bit of skill to pull off, to keep interesting, to make work. Director Leo Gabriadze (Lucky Trouble) manages to do just that by ensuring that the action almost always requires some clicking through to various windows and websites, and character conversations frequently switch between live-feed webcams and frantic instant messaging between private parties. The core dramatic tension comes in two ways, one being the general, and frequently chaotic, character interactions and the other the broader mystery centering around who is harassing them, why, and, when they answer those questions, how. On top of that, Gabriadze keeps the movie flowing well; it clocks in at around 80 minutes, just long enough to tell the story and short enough to keep out much in the way of unnecessary filler. It's a fairly well executed concept for the things it has at its disposal, which is basically what anyone would expect to find on a teenager's browser. The execution proves more impressive and interesting than the premise, at least that broader, generic premise, but for a film like Unfriended that bit of creativity goes a long way to making the movie passable.

Unfriended Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Unfriended's 1080p transfer is, essentially, a mixture of artifact-laden Internet video and crisp desktop graphics. The former produces all variety of issues -- macroblocking, stuttering, banding, aliasing, noise -- and all of those qualities help give the little video boxes an authentic feel and flavor. For once, less-than-ideal video is exactly what viewers will want to see. On the other hand, Blair's desktop offers beautifully sharp graphics, whether the top menu bar, the dock she occasionally calls up off to the left-hand side of the screen, and various graphics on web pages and applications. Colors here are pretty limited to the web video boxes and, again, assorted on-screen graphics that show things like dock icons looking just like they do in real life. The transfer is excellent, then, in everything it does. No complaints at all.

Unfriended Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mush like the video, Unfriended's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack features quite a bit of "bad" sound, but "bad" here replicates the real-life experience, essentially making it, for once, "good." Skype phone call rings are shallow and poorly defined, web chatter is often scratchy and tinny, and various screams and crashes and action effects heard through computer speakers are expectedly muddy and dull. The track offers some more impressive precision elements on Blair's side. When the track goes mostly silent, when background chatter is relegated to the far back and barely audible, the computer's whirring hard drive and Blair's keyboard strokes and mouse clicks come through with uncanny natural precision. Music that plays on her end, too, enjoys solid clarity and a good bit of support bass. The track is far from extraordinary, but it recreates the digital life well and has a few nice surprises throughout.

Unfriended Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfriended contains no bonus content. The package does include a DVD copy of the film as well as a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy.

Unfriended Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's apparently a sequel in the works, with Gabriadze once again set to direct. It's no doubt driven by the fact that this movie recouped its budget many, many times over, not a surprise given the relatively small expenses associated with the production. But unless Gabriadze can find a way to reinvent the formula, any sequel that's simply the same movie with different characters is likely to bomb. Horribly. Unfriended may have skirted the line and found a way to be novel and more deeply relevant than its superficialities suggest, but its style seems more suited for a one-off rather than a franchise that would appear to be destined to be dragged kicking and screaming through numerous DTV permutations in hope of making a few bucks. Here's hoping the filmmakers have something up their sleeve. Universal's Blu-ray release of Unfriended does feature the expectedly rock-solid video and audio, with the caveat that the technical quality is frequently less-than-ideal, but deliberately so. No extras are included. Recommended as a rental or purchase on a deep sale.