Unfriended: Dark Web (2018)

Matias O'Brien claims he bought a used laptop on Craigslist and prepares for a game night with his friends. He tries to talk to his girlfiend and programs crash left and right. When he signs in as the remembered user, half a dozen women start messaging him about getting them plane tickets. Snooping further into the computer and showing it to his friends on Skype, the memory appears full with no files until her uncovers hidden videos of people doing everyday things. Then he gets to the bottom of the list and finds much more horrific videos of women held captive and abducted from their beds. The computer's owner gets into contact with Matias and threatens all of his friends and his girlfriend if he doesn't get the computer back.

Unfriended: Dark Web takes the form of the first film and replaces the supernatural enemey with dark web denizens. As with the first movie, the entire film is a computer screen so we watch as Matias Skypes with his friends, Facebook messages, searches on Youtube and Google, and snoops around his stolen computer. I like that the programs and websites are ones people actually use instead of weird made up ones that end up feeling cheesy. The Dark Web of course figures largely with its reputation for urban legend level stories, specifically paying people to be kidnapped, tortured, and killed for the buyers' amusement. This particular syndicate is populated by mysterious, faceless people with the ability to hack into computers and cameras. They also seem to know what each character will do before they do it, which was the only real flaw of the film for me. The world goes outside of their homes so video chat on phones and surveillance footage of main characters trying to escape, fighting, and of course dying.

Besides abandoning the supernatural angle, the characters are so much better than the first movie. This group of friends are all at least college age and easy friends. They play Cards Against Humanity over Skype while they catch up on major events in their lives. Matias is the worst character because he basically refuses to learn sign language to better communicate with his deaf girlfriend Amaya, who rightfully thinks he's being immature and selfish. My favorite characters are Nari and Serena, a newly engaged couple going through a troubling time. Not only are they adorable together, but they also had the most sensible reaction to the whole situation and tried to do something to stop it. Their other friends are Damon (an English computer tech) and AJ (a conspiracy theorist and Youtuber). Their conversations and decision making were pretty well founded and logical. The friends were the worst thing about the first Unfriended and the best thing about this new one.

Unfriended: Dark Web has only one real flaw and it's a pretty well constructed horror film. The ending was more intense than I expected. It also has two endings in theaters and I loved the ending I saw. I'll probably see the second one when it comes out on DVD. I honestly didn't have high expectations coming in, but Dark Web had a lot of tension, surprising death scenes, and decent characters to actually care about. I would highly recommend it to people who liked The Den.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins