Unfriended

Unfriended

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Leo Gabriadze
Produced by
Written by Nelson Greaves
Starring
Cinematography Adam Sidman
Edited by
  • Parker Laramie
  • Andrew Wesman
Production
companies
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • July 20, 2014 (2014-07-20) (Fantasia)
  • April 17, 2015 (2015-04-17) (United States)
Running time
 83 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1 million[2]
Box office $64.1 million[3]

Unfriended is a 2014 American found footage supernatural horror film directed by Russo-Georgian director Levan Gabriadze,[4][5][6] written by Nelson Greaves, exec-produced by Jason Blum, co-produced by Adam Sidman, and produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Greaves.

The film premiered at the Fantasia Festival on July 20, 2014, and at SXSW on March 13, 2015. It received a theatrical release on April 17, 2015. The film, which is told entirely through a high school student's Macbook screen,[7] stars Shelley Hennig as one of several friends who find themselves terrorized online by an anonymous person.[8] The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics and has grossed $64 million against a $1 million budget.

A sequel to the film has been greenlit and is in development.

Plot

In Fresno, California, high school student Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman) is relentlessly bullied and harassed after a video of her drunk at a party is uploaded to YouTube without her consent, causing her to take her own life.

A year later, her closest friend, Blaire Lily (Shelley Hennig), views a video of Laura's suicide on Liveleak. It shows her standing in the middle of what appears to be her school's basketball court pointing a gun to her head and, despite the pleas of nearby students, she pulls the trigger. Blaire is then contacted over Skype by her boyfriend Mitch Roussel (Moses Jacob Storm). As they discuss losing their virginities, they are suddenly joined by their classmates Jess Felton (Renee Olstead), Ken Smith (Jacob Wysocki), and Adam Sewell (Will Peltz). During their conversation they notice a random user dubbed "billie227" in their chat, who was not invited by any of the participants.

After several unsuccessful attempts to get rid of the stranger, the fivesome suspect that a sixth classmate named Val Rommel (Courtney Halverson) is messing around with them. After they invite Val to their chat, Jess's Facebook page is suddenly updated with photos of Val drinking and smoking marijuana at a party. Val berates Jess and demands that she delete them, but Jess (despite laughing at the situation) proclaims her innocence. Jess finally manages to delete the photos, which then reappear on Adam's account. After repeated threats from Billie, Val calls 911 to report online abuse and then signs off.

The fivesome soon discover that "billie227" is linked to Laura's Instagram account. Blaire is sent a link that reveals a screenshot of Laura messaging Val for her to remove the humiliating video and asking for friendship, only for Val to reject her by telling her to kill herself. Multiple Instagram users then libel Val, who is suddenly brought back into the chat, sitting motionless in her laundry room next to an open bottle of bleach. Thinking her camera is simply frozen, Blaire tries calling Val, but sees her phone vibrating on screen. Val then crashes to the floor just as the police arrive. At first, the friends believe she just experienced a seizure, but after researching the codes that the policemen relay to each other, they learn that Val died and the police are ruling it as a suicide, possibly from drinking the bleach.

Eventually, Ken uses anti-virus software to seemingly remove Billie from the chat for good. Their victory is short-lived however as when Adam tries to call the police, he is warned by a mysterious voice (most likely Billie's) against hanging up. Billie resurfaces with a camera view from across Ken's room. Ken walks over to have a look and freezes in horror at what he sees before his webcam cuts off. Shortly after, it reconnects to show him being attacked by an unseen force and then mangling his hand in a blender, before using the blades to slit his own throat, thus killing himself. Billie then displays the video that caused Laura's eventual suicide; titled "Leaky Laura", it shows a heavily drunk and barely conscious Laura laying face-down on the dirt behind a trailer, covered in her own menstrual blood and excrement.

Billie forces Adam, Blaire, Mitch, and Jess to play a game of Never Have I Ever, stating that the loser of the game will die. All four friends are forced to reveal dark secrets which put them at odds with each other: Jess spread a rumour that Blaire had an eating disorder, Blaire got drunk and crashed Jess' mother's car, Mitch kissed Laura soon before her death and reported Adam to the police for selling marijuana, Jess stole $800 from Adam, and Adam offered to trade Jess' life for his own. Adam becomes enraged and uses the game to force Blaire to reveal that she is no longer a virgin and had sex with him behind Mitch's back on two occasions, and Billie uploads a video of them having sex to YouTube to prove it. Mitch retaliates by forcing Adam to reveal that he date-raped a classmate named Ashley Dane using roofies at a party and then forced her to get an abortion after she became pregnant.

Blaire and Adam suddenly receive secret messages from their printers. Worried that they are still lying behind his back, Mitch furiously demands that Blaire reveal her note to him and threatens to leave if she doesn't. Billie assures Blaire that if Mitch leaves, he will die. In a moment of panic and high stress, Blaire shows her message: "If you reveal this note, Adam will die." Under Billie's thrall, Adam suddenly kills himself by shooting himself in the face; as he collapses, his camera reveals his note: "If you reveal this note, Blaire will die."

Billie then asks which of the threesome defaced Laura's grave. When Blaire warns Jess against answering said question, Billie cuts the power to all the lights in her house. Jess hides in her bathroom, while Blaire goes on Chatroulette and gets someone to call the police (who never arrive). Suddenly, the video feed disconnects after Jess is seen screaming and being thrown around the room by an unseen entity. Soon after, Blaire receives a Facebook notification from Jess's account, which is a video of Jess with a curling iron shoved down her throat that eventually kills her, and then a picture of it is uploaded with the caption "looks like she finally stfu".

Billie privately messages Blaire on Facebook, wanting her to confess who uploaded the Leaky Laura video in the first place. Blaire tries to deny any involvement from her and Mitch, but after Billie continues counting down the seconds she has to admit the truth, she finally says that Mitch did it. At that moment, Mitch grabs a knife and stabs himself in the eye, collapsing and disconnecting his video feed, leaving Blaire all alone.

As Blaire breaks down in tears, Billie - finally unveiled as Laura herself - declares her appreciation for Blaire's honesty, but asks her to confess one more thing before counting down again. A desperate Blaire tries to remind Laura of their friendship when she was alive, but Laura responds by uploading another video onto Blaire's account. It is the same Leaky Laura video, only this time the video continues to show the camera turning around and revealing that Blaire was the one recording it, laughing at Laura's misfortune and saying "I got her". With the truth finally revealed, Laura's account is soon bombarded with hateful comments from those who denounce Blaire for causing Laura to kill herself. Before signing off, Laura tells Blaire that she wishes she could forgive her.

Blaire is left alone once again; during a brief period of silence, her bedroom door creaks open before a pair of hands slam her laptop shut (revealing the movie was shown through a first-person perspective) before disappearing into the darkness. Seconds later, Laura's ghost violently lunges at Blaire as the screen cuts to black, presumably killing her, while Blaire unleashes one final scream.

Cast

Production

Gabriadze was attracted to the project (then titled Offline) as it focused on the theme of bullying. He noted that the nature of bullying had changed since he was in school, as the Internet allowed for bullies to continue their actions even after school hours.[9]

The film's title changed during shooting (and would also change prior to its theatrical release), as the film's crew felt that the title of Offline was "too general and not obvious" and that the then title of Cybernatural was "more to the point of what it is".[9] For wide release, the film was re-titled Unfriended. Production was 16 days total, including six 12-hour days of principal photography, three days of pick-ups and then a few more reshoots.[10]

Release

Unfriended initially had its world premiere on July 20, 2014 at the Fantasia Festival and screened on the film festival circuit under the title of Cybernatural.[11] A generally positive film festival reception and test screenings for the film prompted Universal Pictures to pick up the film rights with the intent to give it a wide theatrical release the following year.[12][13] The film's title was changed from Cybernatural to Unfriended and the film was theatrically released on April 17, 2015.[14] The film was screened at Playlist Live on February 6, 2015[15] and premiered at SXSW on March 13, 2015.[16]

Marketing

In July 2014, a teaser trailer was released with scenes from the film. The teaser shows the original title of the film which at the time was Cybernatural.[17] On January 12, 2015, the film's first official trailer with the title Unfriended was released.[18] Shortly after, on February 6, 2015, the film was screened at Playlist Live, a popular convention for internet celebrities from Vine and YouTube.[15] On March 13, 2015, the day of the film's official premiere at SXSW, scenes from the film were uploaded and a chat box appeared, where viewers could talk to Laura. Once she was finished talking, scenes appeared on the screen. Images were also released.[19]

On February 13, 2015, a campaign was launched with Kik Messenger, in which Kik users could have a chat conversation with Laura.[20] This made use of automated responses and pre-scripted responses, while also driving users to a dedicated microsite.[21]

On March 13, 2015, after the film's premiere at SXSW, an after-party was hosted by Blumhouse. Exclusive Never Have I Ever cards were released at SXSW later, and a "NEVER HAVE I EVER" section was set up on the film's official website. Unfriended-themed photo booths were set up as well[22] During production, official Facebook and Skype accounts were set up for the characters in the film, and, after the premiere at SXSW, people who attended were "friended" by the official Laura Barns Facebook account. There was also a Twitter account, which tweeted attendees of the after-party.[23]

Unfriended was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 11.[24][25]

Reception

Box office

Unfriended has grossed $32.5 million in North America and $31.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $64.1 million against a budget of $1 million.[3]

In North America, the film opened simultaneously with Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 and Monkey Kingdom on April 17, 2015, across 2,739 theaters, earning $6.8 million on its opening day.[26] In its opening weekend, Unfriended earned $15.8 million, which was higher than its $12 million range projection, and finished in third place at the box office behind Furious 7 ($29.2 million) and fellow newcomer Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 ($23.8 million).[27] Its opening weekend is the biggest debut for an original horror movie since The Conjuring, which opened with $41.9 million in July 2013.[28]

Critical reception

Unfriended received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 63%, based on 150 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Unfriended subverts found-footage horror cliches to deliver a surprisingly scary entry in the teen slasher genre with a technological twist."[29] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 59 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[30]

Reception at the Fantasia Film Festival was mostly positive.[31][32] Common praise for the film centered upon its acting and visuals,[33] and Twitch Film commented that the film was an "interesting look at modern methods of communication and the ramifications of the new normal of always-on social interaction."[34] Variety commented that while the film was "exasperating" at points, they also felt that it was clever and innovative.[35]

Dread Central also praised the film overall, but stated that they felt that the movie's one major flaw was "the fashion in which we are trafficked to each scare- through multi-screen clicking, copying, pasting and re-sizing, basically all-around multi-tasking. It can be trying to sit through and I liken it to sitting over someone's shoulder watching them web-surf... endlessly."[36] It was named Most Innovative Film at the Fantasia Film Festival and received a Special Mention for Feature Film.[37]

British film critic Mark Kermode gave the film a positive review, calling it a film which understands Skyping culture and cyber-bullying. He said, "Many people who've seen the trailer say, 'You're being stalked through the internet. Just log off.' The point is they can't because they're addicted." While on one hand admitting it was a "shrieky, teen-terrorized, slasher movie," on the other hand he said it was a film about how cyber-bullying only works if you cooperate with it.[38]

Irish film critic Donald Clarke, writing for The Irish Times, gave the film a very positive review, describing it as "genuinely unsettling" and praising the filmmakers' "uncanny grasp of the complicated dynamics of contemporary interaction" and how they succeeded in "[retaining] a position on the moral high ground while bloody mayhem rages around their feet".[39]

Brad Jones and David Gobble gave the film a very negative review, referring to it as repetitive, irritating, unoriginal, and insufferable. They said that it is based entirely on an awful gimmick. Gobble called it the third worst film of 2015, after Do You Believe? and War Room.

In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave Unfriended an average grade of "C", on an A+ to F scale.[40]

Spin-off film

It was revealed in December 2015 that due to the film's popularity, it was decided by Warner Bros. that a German version based on the film, entitled Friend Request would be released on January 7, 2016.

Sequel

Blumhouse Productions has confirmed that a sequel has been greenlit and began development.[41][42]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "UNFRIENDED (15)". British Board of Film Classification. April 10, 2015. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ Pamela McClintock. "Box Office Preview: 'Paul Blart 2,' 'Unfriended' No Match for 'Furious 7'". The Hollywood Reporter.
  3. 1 2 Unfriended at Box Office Mojo
  4. ↑ Miller, Ryan. "Levan Gabriadze's Cybernatural gets a title change". JoBlo. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  5. ↑ Hunter, Rob. "‘Cybernatural’ Review Fantasia 2014: Because ‘Ghost in the Machine’ Was Already Taken". Film School Rejects. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  6. ↑ Davis, Edward. "Fantasia Exclusive: Horror Goes Online In Trailer For 'Cybernatural' Produced By Timur Bekmambetov". IndieWire. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  7. ↑ Smith, Nigel M (24 April 2015). "How the Team Behind 'Unfriended' Pulled Off the Most Ingenious Horror Film in Years". Indiewire. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  8. ↑ "Cybernatural". Fantasia Festival. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  9. 1 2 Loeffler, Shawn. "FANTASIA 2014: GENRE REDEFINED – AN INTERVIEW WITH CYBERNATURAL’S DIRECTOR, LEO GABRIADZE". Yell Magazine. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  10. ↑ "The Unfriended Movie Was Filmed In A Single Take". slashfilm.
  11. ↑ Chipman, Bob. "Trailer: Unfriended is The First Social-Media Horror Movie". Escapist Magazine. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  12. ↑ Miller, Ryan. "Levan Gabriadze's Cybernatural picked up by Universal". JoBlo. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  13. ↑ Seddon, Gem. "First Trailer For Unfriended Plays Like A Skype Generation Slasher". We Got This Covered. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  14. ↑ Orange, B. Allen. "'Unfriended Trailer': A Killer Stalks Teen Prey Online". MovieWeb. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  15. 1 2 We just saw an advanced screening of #unfriended at #PlaylistLive. It. Was. AWESOME. on Twitter.
  16. ↑ "Unfriended". unfriendedmovie.com.
  17. ↑ Cybernatural on Vimeo
  18. ↑ Unfriended Official Trailer MTV on YouTube
  19. ↑ "Unfriended". unfriendedmovie.com.
  20. ↑ "Chat with me on Kik!". Kik.
  21. ↑ "Unfriended". unfriendedonkik.com.
  22. ↑ Have u done these things on the #NeverHaveIEver free #Unfriended card deck at @UnfriendedMovie #SXSW party? ? on Twitter.
  23. ↑ #Unfriended SXSW Party...@MissLauraBarns is coming for you!!! on Twitter.
  24. ↑ "Unfriended (Blu-ray + DVD + DIGITAL HD with UltraViolet)". Amazon. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Unfriended (2014)". DVDs Release Dates. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  26. ↑ Pamela McClintock (April 17, 2015). "Box Office: 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2' Heads for $22M; 'Furious 7' Stays No. 1". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  27. ↑ Brent Lang (April 19, 2015). "Box Office: ‘Furious 7′ Out Runs ‘Paul Blart 2,’ ‘Unfriended’". Variety. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  28. ↑ Ray Subers (April 19, 2015). "Weekend Report: 'Furious 7' Beats 'Blart,' Passes $1.1 Billion Worldwide". Box Office Mojo. (Amazon.com). Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  29. ↑ Unfriended at Rotten Tomatoes
  30. ↑ Unfriended at Metacritic
  31. ↑ Gingold, Michael. ""CYBERNATURAL" (Fantasia Movie Review)". Fangoria. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  32. ↑ Turek, Ryan. "Fantasia Capsule Reviews: Animosity, Closer to God, Cybernatural, Dys-". STYD. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  33. ↑ Marsh, Calum. "Fantasia International Film Festival 2014: Starry Eyes and Cybernatural". Slant Magazine. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  34. ↑ Gorber, Jason. "Fantasia 2014 Review: CYBERNATURAL". Twitch Film. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  35. ↑ Debruge, Peter. "Film Review: ‘Cybernatural’". Variety. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  36. ↑ Boiselle, Matt. "Cybernatural (review)". Dread Central. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  37. ↑ Mack, Andrew. "Fantasia 2014: Award Winners Announced". Twitch Film. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  38. ↑ Mark Kermode reviews Unfriended on YouTube
  39. ↑ Clarke, Donald. "Unfriended review: imaginative and genuinely unsettling horror classic". Irish Times. Irish Times. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  40. ↑ "CinemaScore". cinemascore. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  41. ↑ Garofalo, Alex (April 28, 2015). "'Unfriended 2' In The Works; Why The Horror Sequel Got The Green Light [VIDEO]". International Business Times. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
  42. ↑ Romano, Nick. "Unfriended 2 Is Happening, Who Knows What Social Media Horrors Await". Cinema Blend. Retrieved May 17, 2015.

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