For a teen horror film that looks to be mostly found footage, this doesn’t look bad at all. It’s going to be a movie “based on true events” and that’s what makes it particularly intense and chilling. If anything, this will hopefully teach the youth of America how not to abuse their friends’ civil liberties by posting inappropriate photos and videos on Facebook. It’s a trend that’s been occurring a lot recently, instances where young women take their own lives because of the psychological torture they receive from their peers after raunchy, private videos of them are shared on social media. In October 2012 a 15-year-old girl in Canada killed herself after online bullies kept hounding her. 19-year-old Alyssa Funkes killed herself in May 2014 after classmates found her sex tape and started sharing it online. Probably the worst of them all, a 17-year-old girl in Canada killed herself in April of 2013 after she was gang raped while passed out at a party and her peers took pictures and traded them around school.
Unfriended looks to explore these unfortunate circumstances and give the victim a different story, a story of revenge. I’m not so sure if that’s the right way to go, though. Maybe a documentary to try and teach the children would be better, but one thing’s for sure, my attention has been grabbed. I’m going to tune in to this one only because I know it’s going to strike a major nerve with a lot of people. In Unfriended, “While video chatting one night, six high school friends receive a Skype message from a classmate who killed herself exactly one year ago. At first they think it’s a prank, but when the girl starts revealing the friends’ darkest secrets, they realize they are dealing with something out of this world, something that wants them dead. Told entirely from a young girl’s computer desktop, Unfriended redefines ‘found footage’ for a new generation of teens.”
Unfriended hits theaters nationwide on April 17, 2015.
Unfriended is written by Nelson Greaves and directed by Levan Gabriadze. Cast members include Matthew Bohrer (“General Hospital”), Courtney Halverson (“Death Valley”), Shelley Hennig (“Teen Wolf,” Ouija), Renee Olstead (“Secret Life of the American Teenager”), Will Peltz (The Collection), Heather Sossaman (“Days of Our Lives”), Moses Jacob Storm, and Jacob Wysocki. This is a great line-up because it’ll attract both horror viewers and the crop of audience the film is aimed at – teens.
Being that this may have been a trigger for some people, I would just like to include this to end the article. If you or someone you know is contemplating hurting themselves because of social media bullying, please seek help. This is just a movie and your life is worth more than a Hollywood script. Please visit the National Suicide Hotline for more information.
