‘UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB’ Review

2015’s Unfriended (formely titled Cybernatural, which we had a review of back in 2014 from Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal) was a pleasant surprise when I saw it theatrically. However, I was curious if it would play as well on a second viewing in addition to asking myself the question on if it would’ve been more effective as a film to watch on your laptop. 2018 brings a new chapter to the “Unfriended universe”, even though it doesn’t tie in to the previous film at all (which may be seen as a blessing to some or it may take away the most unique thing about the predecessor.

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Unfriended: Dark Web starts off with a MacBook starting up and someone trying to repeatedly guessing the login password. We are introduced to Matias who is trying to communicate and make amends with his deaf girlfriend. We get the background that he hasn’t been able to grasp sign language which, in turn, frustrates his girlfriend, Amaya. After having a fight and Amaya giving him the cold shoulder, Matias joins up with his friends on Skype for a planned game night (wait, what? Is this a normal thing to play Cards Against Humanity over Skype?). It is revealed through some actions that the audience sees that Matias, who seems to be struggling not only in his love life but possibly financially as well, has taken the opportunity of taking a laptop that was left at a local internet cafe. As I’m sure you can piece together (especially if you watched the trailer above), game night keeps getting interrupted by Matias’ curiosity of the owner’s Facebook page which leads him to an application called “The River”. Luckily for Matias, he has two savvy internet friends in his Skype session.

While I enjoyed (and own) Unfriended, I know it is not for everyone. As I said previously, I enjoyed it but haven’t watched it more than once at home. What Unfriended: Dark Web does is ditch the supernatural element to ground itself in reality by using the threatening element of the Dark Web. There is some disturbing stuff in this film, mainly because we’ve read the news and know that some of the heinous acts have been linked to the real Dark Web. The only problem is most of the disturbing, dark stuff is in the trailer and Unfriended: Dark Web seems to be cautious and hesitant to nosedive into such a dark, evil territory (which is why maybe I think it should have kept its original title Unfriended: Game Night). Throughout the second act, it is more or less a repeat of the previous film with one new element that is pretty easily telegraphed from the beginning yet is supposed to be a twist. There is one death that definitely feels more potent than the others because of how based in reality it is (a sound effect is used to seal someone’s fate) but other than that the characters and their deaths feel pretty anemic. The final act is a race to save characters and feels like it is rushing to wrap everything up with the ending not only being predictable but also pretty vanilla.

Where it gets tricky is that it was previously leaked that there are two different endings to the film as projectionists have two DCP files for the film. You can read more about that via this tweet (When I asked the PR rep about the two different endings, I was told “no comment”). However, I’m not sure on the method of decision making to know what ending you may get as I’m not sure if it is “dealer’s choice” or if one theater will commit to one version throughout its theatrical commitment. The ending that I saw is listed in the toggle below (click on it to expand).

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[toggle title=”THE ENDING I SAW (CLICK TO EXPAND)”]The ending that was presented at the screening was a vote by other players/members of the organization behind this “game” deciding Matias’ fate as he was on his bicycle in the middle of the road. Matias watched as the voting increased to alarming numbers (informing him just how many people are part of The River and, ultimately, his fate was decided as he should die. Matias looks up at a security camera from the street and is hit by a vehicle.[/toggle]
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Of note, producer Timur Bekmambetov seems to be tying himself via his company, Bazelevs Company, into these “screen capture horror” films as he is behind the Unfriended films and the upcoming Searching. As someone who was touted to be such a visionary director (who previously brought us Night Watch and Wanted), it is an interesting move in what might be a low-risk financial commitment for what is guaranteed to have a financial return.

Unfriended: Dark Web is worth a watch, but you may want to wait until it hits Blu-Ray (that way you can see both endings). If you didn’t like the first Unfriended, this one may not win you over completely but some people may find more enjoyment in it because of more development and diversity in the characters and some of the dark subject matter. Ultimately, it is more believable that this could happen in real life rather than a vengeful spirit who hooked into a LAN line somewhere.

UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB IS IN THEATRES TODAY