GamesRadar+ Verdict

The all-Skype gimmick that drives this very modern horror is effective but you’ll need a high tolerance for teenage bullshit (and teenage Spotify playlists) to get through it.

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Screen queens...

Let’s get this out of the way: Unfriended is about a killer Skype call. In fact, the entire movie is one long video call (with a few plot-driven visits to Facebook, YouTube and Spotify) held by a group of irritating teenagers you wouldn’t want to spend two minutes with, never mind an hour and a half.

Unfriended does a bang-up job of exposing the casual cruelties of millennials’ social networking. A group of Breakfast Club-y high-school stereotypes are group chatting together when they notice a rogue profile has joined them – someone has hacked the profile of their deceased friend, a classmate who killed herself after one of them uploaded an embarrassing video of her online. But ghosts don’t use Skype – do they? That’s what our screamy teens have to figure out, as they’re offed, one by one, in messy on-screen splatter sequences.

Article continues below

While computer screen storytelling is utilized effectively, it seems like rather a waste of a cinema screen. Unfriended will make much more sense when watched on a computer, being the self-same place where the film unfolds; watching a screen on a screen mostly serves to highlight just how insular yet distracting modern life has become. Still, even with obnoxious characters and buffering clips, Unfriended delivers a classic narrative in a modern way.

It’ll be hopelessly dated in a few months but, for now, it’s a mean-spirited slasher that feels fresh and raw.

Ken McIntyre is a freelance writer who has spent years covering music and film. You'll find Ken in the pages of Total Film and here on GamesRadar, using his experience and expertise to dive into the history of cinema and review the latest films. You'll also find him writing features and columns for other Future Plc brands, such as Metal Hammer and Classic Rock magazine.