Unfriended: Dark Web  ★★★

HARD on the heels of Searching comes another multi-media based film.

Unfriended: Dark Web is a follow-up, as opposed to a sequel, to 2014’s Unfriended with different characters and a new story.

There have been at least a half-dozen theatrical releases that have eschewed traditional methods to exclusively use personal and social media screens, such as Outlook, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, for their visual story-telling.

They are definitely getting better with Searching and now this Unfriended follow-up offering more entertaining fare in 2018 than earlier examples like Open Windows, the original Unfriended and Friend Request.

All of them have been relatively creative and have stuck to the rules they create to varying degrees. But the main difference with the latest films is simply that the scripts are getting better.

Unfriended: Dark Web starts with a personal view of one user’s desktop before broadening out to a chat room involving multiple participants and screens, complemented by playing of video files.

The main character has a new laptop that he initially says has been loaned to him. Later we find out he has actually stolen it and the owners want it back, or more specifically the evidence of criminal activities on the video files.

The story unfolds slowly and deliberately with a minimum of need to suspend disbelief before considerably raising tension levels for the final act.

It’s decently acted, particularly Colin Woodell playing the lead, and benefits from a director with a clear purpose and a couple of previous writing credits, including the original US version of The Grudge and the survival thriller Beyond The Reach from 2014.

The only major negative is trying to follow the story closely when, at times, writing on screens is hard to read and audio from files is hard to hear.

Then again, maybe that’s just my failing eyesight and hearing.