View all newsletters
Sign up to our newsletters

Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Culture
30 April 2015updated 14 Sep 2021 3:12pm

Facetime your fears: Unfriended is a surprisingly up-to-date horror film – set on a laptop screen

We’ve seen too many Friday the thirteenth films to buy the sight of teenagers venturing into the deep, dark forest, but the deep, dark internet is another matter.

By Ryan Gilbey

Unfriended (15)
dir:Levan Gabriadze

The revolution in gaming and computing has affected cinema in many ways, from narrative formats and editing styles to the threat (real or exaggerated) posed to the industry by illegal downloading. One problem rarely discussed, though, is how to represent on film the uncinematic activity that consumes so much of modern life and leisure. Just as no television show before The Royle Family acknowledged that ordinary people watch TV, so movies have largely shied away from putting the common computer at the centre of the action. Small wonder, when the naff attempts to visualise online space in the WikiLeaks drama The Fifth Estate and the thriller Chatroom were enough to make Pac-Man cringe.

An on-screen Twitter feed was integral to the 2014 comedy Frank, starring Michael Fassbender. But cinema has found its Royle Family moment only now in the horror movie Unfriended, in which the action is confined to an 80-minute Skype conversation between six people. Or rather, five people and an “it”. Blaire (Shelley Hennig), a Californian teenager, knows all but one of her fellow callers. When the faceless contributor identifies herself as Laura Barns, a chill descends. Laura committed suicide a year earlier after a demeaning video of her was posted on YouTube. There’s nothing in Skype’s terms and conditions about blocking ghosts.

Numerous screens and tabs are opened by Blaire within the group call – we see Spotify, YouTube and Facebook, as well as private messages that provide a running commentary on the Skype chat. There are also ads and videos visible (“Depressed?” “Cat Does Backflip – Amazing!”). But we never leave the borders of her laptop; the disembodied, gloved-hand cursor floats eerily over the screen at all times.

In all the excitement about technology, the writers haven’t properly worked out the plot, which relies on people getting pressured into committing suicide at a moment’s notice. At least the old conventions have been updated. We’ve seen too many Friday the 13th films to buy the sight of teenagers venturing into the deep, dark forest, but the deep, dark internet is another matter. When trouble looms, these teenagers can’t alert passing motorists like in horror films of the past. They try to flag down strangers instead on the sleazy webcam lottery of Chatroulette.

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Being up to date is not the same thing as being on the ball, and Unfriended could afford to be cleverer. It has a good line in making the ordinary sinister: the burbling beeps that announce an incoming Skype or the visual shock when the image pixelates grotesquely. But any film that relies too much on technology is ruling out its own longevity. Unfriended will look like a period piece a year from now when Facebook and all the other sites have undergone multiple refurbishment. I can just hear cinemagoers of the future saying, “That’s, like, so 2015.”

Content from our partners
The promise of prevention
How Labour hopes to make the UK a leader in green energy
Is now the time to rethink health and care for older people? With Age UK

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU