Unfriended

Estar em frente dum sistema operativo de secretária durante 12 horas por dia e não o evitar mesmo à noite, quando quero desligá-lo durante um filme, não é nada de especial. E vendo nele (no grande ecrã, ainda por cima!) os diálogos de adolescentes aborrecidos, primeiro a discutir e finalmente assustados, interrompidos pelo constante zumbido e hang-up de Skype, de qualquer maneira não. Mas a aura do mal oculto e sobrenatural entra gradualmente em ação e alguns arrepios são provocados. É um conceito surpreendentemente promissor que, se tivesse sido pensado mais aprofundadamente, poderia ter mantido alguém fora da exploração das redes sociais durante uma noite. O que nunca nenhum filme conseguiu fazer. 3* mais fracas. (24/06/2015)

Ironically, the uniqueness of the form doesn't stand out as much in the theater as it does on my monitor at home, where it handles one of horror's most terrifying premises: that I have an Apple interface on my screen. Otherwise, it's a genuinely interesting bit of exotica that, while it can't sustain multiple films, now manages perfectly to bring that shit to your room, not to mention that the main cast are a bunch of complete jackasses and the avenging ghost isn't so much scary as a cool troll proving the age-old truth that Hell is 4chan. (06/10/2015)

I’m giving it a weak four stars with a clear conscience. It’s not a horror film that would make you pull at your hair in fear, cover your eyes or turn the lights on after watching it, but I appreciate the playful and fun way the vengeful spirit fucks with the Skypers, and, in particular, the original concept, how it’s maintained throughout the film and how convincingly it’s delivered. It’s not something entirely novel, films like The Den and Open Windows used a similar format, but the former switched to other cameras somewhere around the middle, and in the latter the laptop camera begins to disappear and in the end it goes God knows where, because the film completely breaks down conceptually. Unfriended is the first (as far as I know) film that strictly sticks to the concept. It feels realistic (not only technologically, but, surprisingly, also in the behaviour of the characters, including the performances of the actors) and also takes place in real time. For me, reason enough for an above average rating. (20/06/2015)

The movie Unfriended doesn't have very good acting performances, but it's enough to present the current young generation. The actors are more annoying than downright bad. You would expect exactly similar steps from them, and so what's happening doesn't even seem so much like a screenwriter's creation, but it all fits together nicely. The film has good progression, and by the end, I was quite engrossed, and at the same time, I realized how well it all came together. (25/05/2016)

This is good work, surprisingly. For the first fifteen minutes, I thought that this theme would only hold up in the short film format. But then the casual conversation film is disrupted, the relationships start to intensify, and evil starts to work through the tiny windows of the blurry Skype image. After that you're just waiting for it to devolve into standard genre explainer and it... great ending. (07/08/2015)