I went to see Unfriended with a bit of hope. It was decently hyped, and I thought the subject – a revenge of a bullied girl – was creative enough. As the title shows, I was very disappointed. I went into the movie theater without hearing or reading any reviews, as I did not want any prejudice regarding it, but now I regret not being warned about this silly, confusing, idiotic movie.

The plot is simple – perhaps too simple so that teenagers buried in their screens, not necessarily the huge one in front of them, can follow with half of their attention on their phone. The story is about a group of friends Skype-chatting who are haunted by Laura Barns, a girl who committed suicide. One thing that is interesting about this movie is that THE ENTIRE MOVIE IS ON A COMPUTER SCREEN. Seriously, who makes the ENTIRE movie like that? There was no suspense, no genuine scare, no rising action, little to no plot, and some gore. It reminds me of Oculus, a movie about a haunted mirror, as it manages to both handle a rather creative subject and turn it into an absolute garbage. It was very predictable (though I won’t be ruining the ending for you) and screams low-budget. It made characters flat and very unlikable, leading me to not care what happened to them. Heck, the most hilarious moment was the one that was supposed to be the most suspenseful – when the characters play “Never Have I Ever”… Clichés such as “the anniversary of Laura’s death” did not help with this. I can safely say that is was a waste of money, and the only one dying will be you – out of boredom.

It was a great idea. Cyber bullying and its effects are a subject that directly translate to teenage minds. However, buffering Skypes, intended to give a sense of superficiality, only annoyed the audience, Facebook messengers, iMessages, and others dragged the film to the point that 83 minute film was 83 minutes too long, and leaving me swearing at myself for sitting through it. I jumped, not out of fear, but out of slumber.

So now that I got that out of my system, let’s look at the positives. Like I said, it had so much potential. The subject of cyber bullying was both creative and important. I was just hoping that the producers would have taken a different route and gotten off the computer screen. The actors portray the teenagers very well, as they converse as if they are a genuinely terrified group of youngins. It attracts the right audience, the technology-driven kids of today’s generation, and attempts to teach them a valuable lesson. The drift between characters through the revelation of secrets, while many of which are quite random, drives each other apart to create an interesting dynamic.

In the end, if someone had tried to make this juvenile horror movie into a more serious movie with some real value, it would have been a great. Unfortunately, it has failed miserably. If you want to see intoxicated teenagers freaking out over their webcams, just open your laptop and go on Omegle. But if, for whatever reason, you really want to watch it, just wait until it comes out on DVD. Trust me, you’re not missing much.