#Unfriended US Premier: Revenge Comes Online

When your dogs are barking from a long day trekking over Austin, your glad for a moment to un-engage from the #SXSW crowds and sit down in a theater to catch a screening. Being #SXSW, its no ordinary movie screening…. Of course, it’s going to be something interactively special. It was only a matter or time before our technology turned on us, right? Good horror and science fiction movies have been touching up on the idea of gadgets gone badly for decades. But few fictions have been spun that incorporate our incessant need for social media into their horror buffet. Selfies, tweeting, texting, Skyping, Yelping and the like are fertile habits for the dark, and more accessible then haunted houses. Director Levan Gabriadze nails the possibilities in Universal Pictures Unfriended – making a big BOO! at #SXSW on Friday night.

The movie focuses on six friends, Blaire (Shelley Hennig), Mitch (Moses Jacob Storm), Jess (Renee Olstead), Adam (Will Peltz), Ken (Jacob Wysocki) and Val (Courtney Halverson). Just a carefree bunch of kids interacting in the 21st century “internet of things” – enough of a crew of stereotypes to satisfy all our chiller tropes but fully formed with super strong performances. They start up a group Skype call and shortly after, they get messages from someone claiming to be Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman), a girl from high school who committed suicide a year ago after someone anonymously posted a nasty video of her. CYBER BULLYING is the new terror touch point for a modern generation. Now “Laura”/billie227 (on Skype) wants some juicy (and bloody) revenge. If they don’t come clean about what they’ve done, she’ll kill them. Very – I Know What You Instagrammed Last Summer.

The entire flick takes place on Blaire’s computer screen during the Skype call with the other characters. Occasionally Blair pops into iMessage, peruses YouTube, or checks Facebook or turns on Spotify (Music to be murdered by!) It works, feels natural, and for many of you will be awfully personal. This trick completely works when you remember that almost every moment of our lives is being documented for digital distribution. It is reality, and it also gives Unfriended an unnerving claustrophobic quality. You are boxed in with Billie227, and the walls of the worldwide web are closing in quickly. Cinematographer Adam Sidman crafts the terror without cheap tricks, slowly building suspense with each messenger chime or reminder alert. In a mobile generation, it was only a matter of time before our familiar digital bells and whistles connected us to fear. 

Unfriended has some bumps and burps, but as potential summer blockbusters go – its pretty perfect. If you are looking for a real soul-searcher about online behavior and its underlining ethics, this ain’t for you. It is well-crafted popcorn horror that explores a new avenue in our lives, an avenue that has shadows and scares like any other. Few Millenials are going to be chilled by the idea of being picked off by hillbillies in the woods or crazed summer camp counselors these days – but infer our Facebook frenzy might lead to fatalities? Keep talking (tweeting)… 

Unfriended hits theaters April 17. But until then follow along on Facebook, and Twitter. 

We will be reporting live from SXSW all weekend. So if you’re in Austin, come connect with us! We’ll be blasting out all the cool social content we can find, so if you’re not in Austin be sure to follow along on Twitter (@InnovatorsPeak), Facebook, and right here on our blog.