Unfriended

Released: 2014

MPAA rating: R

Running time: 1 Hr. 22 mins.

Cyberbullying is a very hot button issue in today's high schools.  We are always hearing stories about some kid who was pushed to the

edge by people harassing them on the internet and through social media.  Tragically, this sometimes lead to that kid committing suicide.

"Unfriended" brings this issue to the forefront with the concept of a group of kids who cyberbullied one of their "friends" to that exact

point.  Although, in this movie, the suicide is just the beginning.  As the movie opens, we join a group of teens having a normal, mundane

Skype chat.  Shooting the shit, trying to figure out what to do that night, normal stuff.  Then, someone joins the chat without being called

or invited.  They have a generic Skype avatar and just begin to mess with these kids.  This mysterious person quickly identifies themselves

as their dead friend, Laura Barns, and she announces she is there to make them pay for their sins.  The movie follows the kids efforts to find

out who this hacker/practical joker really is, while  trying to remove them from their chat, but slowly finding themselves answering for their

sins, one by one.  Now, here is the interesting part:  This entire movie takes place from the point of view of one of the character's laptop screens.

Everything you see, everything you hear occurs in either the main chat window, a Facebook screen or YouTube accounts.  For the first 10-15

minutes, this concept annoyed me to no end, especially during the mundane opening dialogue mentioned earlier.  Characters were talking over

each other and some dialogue was hard to hear.  However, when the "Laura Barns" character started to get more involved, I found myself

getting sucked in to the storyline.  "Unfriended" may do for "desktop cinematography" what "The Blair Witch Project" did for shaky-cam

movies.  Once it got going, it had good suspense, some good twists and you find yourself wondering if you really have any sympathy for these

kids. Maybe, just maybe, they deserve what is happening to them.  This is not a top-tier horror film, by any stretch, but I thought it was very

entertaining and, at 82 minutes, it moves very quickly.

Grade: C