Reviews Film / Unfriended

The ending practically ruined the whole thing.

I really did enjoy this movie, and thought it was definitely worth the four dollars I paid to rent it. But MAN is it disappointing.

First off, I love that the film is done in one take. I love real time, and I love Oners. It really brings out the quality performances here. Second, I love how each death is foreshadowed. Story structure is great. Third, this film is great visually. Giving the spirit control over lighting and everything else was extremely entertaining, especially when watching on my laptop as opposed to a movie screen.

I didn't find it very scary, but on the other hand, I can list on one hand all the things that have actually scared me. (Except when I was a kid, and didn't know better.)

But I HATED the ending.

Everything was going perfectly. The twist was decently set up, and I didn't get it until the crucial video started playing again. I loved seeing Blaire's reaction to the hate comments on the video, everyone turning against her. I thought it would be a really great ending to have this final poetic justice- Blaire gets harassed and ostracized for her role in Laura's death.

But nope! Suddenly we switch into live-action, and we get the villain lunging at the screen before the credits. It pissed me off so much. This film really is one of a kind, but the ending is SO corny. Only way it could've been worse is if we saw Blaire die, and then Laura attacked "us." This isn't even how Laura works! She doesn't attack people physically!

The perfect ending would've been this- for a solid beat we watch Blaire watching the hate pile up in all her social feeds. We see her parents comments, we see hate emails, we see all the shit. Blaire, with a look of despair on her face, walks away from her computer.

The credits start rolling. But intercut with each credit, we see clips of other computer screens showing news reports and obituaries detailing the suicide of a local teen girl, which is revealed to be Blaire. The question that we're left with is "did Blaire kill herself, or did Laura possess her too?"

The ending was totally tone deaf, and I hated it. Other than that, I had a great time. Probably will watch the sequel at some point.