Teens staring at screens generate genuine screams

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/04/2015 (4194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Not since The Blair Witch Project in 1999 has a horror film taken such a creative approach to conjure scares as Unfriended. It’s a cautionary tale of a group of friends who become the target of an unseen cyber-entity starving for revenge.

What makes this film so different is that it’s shot looking at a computer screen. The actors interact through Skype, with back-story elements handled through online searches. Even the soundtrack is created using the tunes stored on one of the computers.

The approach — much as the “found footage” construction of The Blair Witch Project — is jarring at the start. The main image of the computer screen remains static while a flurry of action takes place in all the video screens. There are also text messages popping up, along with videos, which initially split your focus. Eventually the approach becomes familiar enough that it’s easier to concentrate on the story.

Taking a different tactic with the presentation is necessary because writer/producer Nelson Greaves has turned to a familiar horror movie theme. Whoever — or whatever — is stalking the teens is looking to avenge the death of a young woman so embarrassed by a video placed on YouTube that she committed suicide.

It’s a familiar story that comes across as fresh because of the fascinating way the movie was shot. Layers of information — which would normally slow the scare-factor pacing — can be added through the onscreen images. The viewer can either concentrate on the actors or try to take in the whirl of action taking place in every corner of the screen.

Because the cameras are always pointed at all of the actors, director Levan Gabriadze had to make sure that he was getting seamless work from the cast.

A traditional film has actors interacting or reacting to something in the scene. All of these performances are done facing directly into the camera, and each of these unknown players manages to believably convey the fear their characters are experiencing.

Unfriended is the first horror film for the electronic-device generation. The entity element drives this story, but behind the horror, the movie strongly suggests our lives have become open e-books because of the Internet. Secrets can’t be fully protected and the potential of this kind of exposure is enough to send a chill up the spine.

There’s a scary world only a couple of text messages away.

It will be interesting to see what happens after Unfriended ends its theatrical run and can be viewed on a home computer. That will create the unsettling situation where the viewer is almost a new participant in this online game of supernatural cyber-stalking.

— The Fresno Bee