Unfriended

A cautionary tale of a group of high-school friends who become the target of an unseen cyber-stalker, Unfriended has viewers looking at a computer screen as the teens communicate through Skype and backstory information is handled through texts and online searches (even the soundtrack is comprised of stored tunes). The stream-of-consciousness story takes place in real time on the Apple desktop of popular Blaire (Shelley Hennig), who begins to receive mysterious Facebook messages from the account of her former BFF Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman), a disturbing development given that Laura committed suicide exactly a year earlier by shooting herself (Laura was humiliated when a prank video was anonymously posted on YouTube). Faced with this taunting, enigmatic entity seeking vengeance, Blaire is obviously conflicted: she says one thing to a friend on Skype, while contradicting herself in text messages to someone else. Her multitasking online cohorts include boyfriend Mitch (Moses Storm), yuppie Adam (Will Peltz), wisecracking Ken (Jacob Wysocki), vain Jess (Renee Olstead), and volatile Val (Courtney Halverson). Director Levan Gabriadze utilizes ubiquitous WiFi access and social media to develop a thriller that is tediously similar to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. Surprisingly, what never occurs to any of the participants here is to simply turn their computers off and take a break from the screaming hysterics. Delving into the daily digital lives of Internet-obsessed teens, this gimmick film is optional, at best. (S. Granger)