Unfriended Dark Web (Movie Review)

 

Taking place entirely on a laptop computer screen, Stephen Susco’s follow-up to 2014’s desktop thriller Unfriended does its job. The movie’sdeep web site list shifts between windows, videos, chats and text messages create a tension-filled rhythm.

Matias and friends gather online for a video game night but their session is soon overshadowed by the previous laptop owner’s disturbing hard drive contents. Unsettling, voyeuristic and cruel, this social critique is both inventive and terrifying.
Matias (Colin Woodell)

Unfriended Dark Web is a sequel to 2014’s Unfriended. This time writer-director Stephen Susco (The Grudge) is in charge, and he maintains the spirit of the original but adds a more brutal, less mystical tone. Like the original, all the action takes place on a single computer screen with shifting windows, videos, chats, and timers creating a sense of cutting that builds suspense.

Matias steals a laptop from a cybercafe’s lost-and-found to build his Papaya software program faster and communicate with his deaf girlfriend Amaya. While on a video call with her, he accidentally opens Facebook and sees the login screen of Norah C. IV. He then realizes he accidentally stole the laptop from the same person as ‘Charon’ 68, whom Matias finds has a bitcoin account with ten million dollars in it.

Matias tries to convince his friends that he fabricated the entire scenario, but they are suspicious. The Circle begins drained of bitcoin, and the owner of the laptop is demanding it back. Matias digs deeper into the hard drive and discovers apparent snuff videos, including one of a girl chained in a warehouse. At the same time, a YouTube video plays on everyone’s screens of a Charon pushing Lexx off a roof. A scream erupts from the computer as the six friends watch in horror. AJ and Nari try to save them, but the Circle votes to kill them all.
Amaya (Stephanie Nogueras)

Stephanie Nogueras is an established actress who is best known for her work on Freeform’s acclaimed series Switched at Birth. She is a Deaf performer who brings authenticity and depth to her roles. She also works as a professional interpreter and ASL coach for television shows, films, and theaters. She is a passionate advocate for diversity in film and TV, and she has dedicated her life to empowering and inspiring others.

Writer-director Stephen Susco’s sequel to the 2014 desktop thriller Unfriended doesn’t stray far from its original premise. It once again follows a group of friends as they are terrorized online while video chatting and from the perspective of one of their screens.

This time around, however, the victims are being hunted down by denizens of the dark web. The sort of twisted people that make run of the mill reddit and 4chan users shudder. Rather than a vengeful ghost, the villains in this film are real people who have been lured to the digital underbelly with enticing promises of money and power.

Like the first movie, Unfriended Dark Web has some disturbing images and language. Parents are advised to exercise caution. Despite its slant towards a very specific segment of the internet user base, the film does raise some interesting issues. For example, when it comes to accessibility and the need to promote diversity in the media we consume, the movie doesn’t do much beyond a cursory mention of Amaya signing up for an American Sign Language class, instead choosing to depict her as someone who is unwilling to learn how to communicate in any other way.
Serena (Rebecca Rittenhouse) & Nari (Betty Gabriel)

While the original Unfriended was a fairly standard horror film, this sequel wrings every drop of blood out of its premise. It’s a gruesome, claustrophobic thriller that takes the viewer inside the screen of a laptop computer to suck them in for an intense ride.

This movie is all about a group of friends video chatting with one another on Skype and having their lives turned upside down by an anonymous hacker who they believe is stalking them online. It’s the sort of movie that works best in a group and is truly terrifying to watch. During a viewing with my friends, it caused us to scream and jump at many of the scenes.

Matias’ friends – the deaf woman Nari, the lesbian couple Serena and Norah, Londoner Damon, and musician Lexx – are also having game night on their computers. With the skill of someone who grew up online, Matias participates in their chat while keeping an eye on a YouTube video of a Charon account throwing Lexx off a roof and investigating what “Norah C” was doing to his bitcoin wallet.

The thing that makes this a true horror film is how the characters’ actions and reactions play out in real time. The pacing is fast, and the action is very visceral. It also highlights a number of issues that technology has brought about for modern internet users. It brings to light the practice of swatting (calling in a fake terrorist threat with the hope that a SWAT team will break into your house) and how easy it is for hackers to track down users through their public profiles.
Damon (Andrew Lees)

Andrew Lees is an Australian actor who is famous for his role as Lucien Castle in the CW series The Originals. He has also appeared in other shows such as Rescue: Special Ops and City Homicide. He has also starred in several theatre productions including a stage adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Lees was born on 10 June 1985 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

He is currently single. He prefers to focus on his career and does not want to reveal anything about his personal life in front of the public and fans. He is a hardworking person and wants to succeed in his career. Hence, he does not have time for relationships.

In Unfriended: Dark Web, Matias is using his new laptop to practice American Sign Language with his deaf girlfriend Amaya (Stephanie Nogueras). When the computer begins receiving strange messages from a person named Charon, he suspects that someone is spying on them. He tries to get admin access on the computer to find out more about who is behind it.

After he gains access, he discovers that the mysterious hacker is actually a dangerous criminal who has kidnapped his girlfriend and other people online. He tries to warn Amaya and the others about the danger they are in but it is too late. When SWAT officers storm AJ’s house, he plays a gun-loading sound effect from the computer to scare them away.
AJ (Connor Del Rio)

This sequel to 2014’s Unfriended begins a little slow and is at times grating due to the droning Skype chatter, but writer-director Stephen Susco (The Grudge, Texas Chainsaw 3D) quickly gets it up to speed with some sinister secrets. Matias swipes a laptop that someone absent-mindedly left behind at an Internet café and soon receives messages from anonymous users in a dark web chatroom demanding he give them the secret phrase to open hidden files.

Susco cleverly encapsulates much of the movie in Matias’ computer screen, using shifting videos, chat windows, and timers to build suspense, and the performances are solid, especially Woodell as his character gets drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game that holds his deaf girlfriend Amaya hostage. Del Rio, however, is a bit too annoying as the obnoxious loudmouth AJ.

As the movie progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that the real danger isn’t a group of obnoxious teens being slaughtered by some supernatural force but instead a dangerous hacking gang that’s willing to do anything to get what they want. It’s a smart and surprisingly believable plot idea that gives the film its final burst of energy. It’s a shame that the makers of the movie didn’t put more thought into the ending, as it would have been a much more satisfying experience. Still, Unfriended dark web is entertaining, and even if it ultimately fails to reach the heights of its predecessor, it offers enough creepy fun and popcorn-friendly thrills to make for a satisfying experience.
Lexx (Savira Windyani)

Savira Windyani is a Los Angeles-based, classically trained actress. She is best known for her role as ‘DJ Lexx Putri’ in the movie ‘Unfriended Dark Web’, which was her film debut. She has a large social media following and is active in her career. She has also worked on several television shows. She has made a name for herself in a short span of time and must have earned a lot of money. She is currently enrolled in an Advanced Intensive at Margie Haber Studios.

While Unfriended: Dark Web recycles many of the elements from the original 2014 desktop thriller (people video chatting on Skype during an online board game are terrorized by hackers), writer-director Stephen Susco adds a refreshingly dark twist. This is not a movie about a vengeful ghost getting revenge on people who wronged it, but rather about the darkest perversion of internet trolls that we could possibly imagine.

Moreover, the characters are far more believable and relatable than in the first movie. Matias figures out what’s happening to his friends before they do, but doesn’t tell them in order to save them. His choice is agonizing and believable, and one of the film’s strengths. It’s the kind of realistic decision that you can only get from a script written by someone who truly understands how we live in this digital age. Unfriended: Dark Web is the rare sequel that delivers on its promise and then some.