“Unfriended” gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ghost in the machine.
A year after a high school junior, Laura (Heather Sossaman), committed suicide, she seems to come back to life online seeking revenge and punishing classmates who may have had a hand in a mortifying video posted about her. It was so embarrassing and the online reaction so vicious — including suggestions she kill herself — that she shot herself at her Fresno high school.
Starring: Shelley Hennig, Moses Storm, Renee Olstead, Will Peltz, Jacob Wysocki, Courtney Halverson, Heather Sossaman.
Rating: R for violent content, pervasive language, some sexuality, and drug and alcohol use — all involving teens.
The movie opens with Blaire (Shelley Hennig) and her boyfriend, Mitch (Moses Storm), engaging in some video flirtation and teasing. They soon are joined in a chat by four friends — Jess (Renee Olstead), Adam (Will Peltz), Val (Courtney Halverson) and Ken (Jacob Wysocki) — when an interloper appears on screen and eventually claims to be Laura.
It turns out those who live by the sword, or Skype, YouTube, Facebook, FaceTime, Instagram, Twitter and email, can die by it. And when secrets and bad-behavior videos or images are exposed to the light of day, friendships and friends can explode and implode.
“Unfriended” plays out entirely on one character’s computer screen in 82 minutes, and it moves briskly at the start until it turns into a conventional horror story where there’s no escape and the players are picked off in mysterious or gruesome ways. Still, it’s a natural idea for a world where life is lived online, adults (here) are largely absent and cyberbullying a sad byproduct.
However, this movie about high school students is rated R, which means much of the intended or most interested audience won’t be allowed to legally buy a ticket.
True, its cautionary message about being careful in what you do, record and post online will resonate for anyone with a screen at their flying fingertips. Not everyone, though, will relate to underage drinking parties and how quickly plans for a memorable prom night can turn to ashes thanks to fatally poisonous posts.
Barbara Vancheri: bvancheri@post-gazette.com or 412-263-16323.
First Published: April 17, 2015, 4:00 a.m.