Friend Request – Film Review by Catherine Sanz

Director: Simon Verhoeven
Writers: Matthew Ballen, Philip Koch
Stars: Alycia Debnam-Carey, William Moseley, Connor Paolo

How can you not love a movie that slots in the line, “Unfriend that dead bitch,” with impeccable conviction? Well, for plenty of reasons.

Popular college student Laura Woodson has over 800 Facebook friends at the start of the movie Friend Request. She then “unfriends” a girl in her class named Marina, who is so devastated that she commits suicide and films it with her laptop.

“Who even does that?” Laura asks, right before her and all of her friends lives are haunted by Marina’s demonic ghost. As she is implicated in a string of horrific events, Laura’s friend count plummets and she gets a taste of Marina’s lonely medicine.

The film is the first major movie from German director Simon Verhoeven, and his first professional attempt at the horror genre. He wanted to distinguish it from the 2014 American film Unfriended by giving it a different title, and an identical storyline.

There are plenty of jump scares dotted throughout that keep you alert in the face of a predictable storyline. Verhoeven even includes vague references to the occult that try to give the story some historical credibility. The word “witch” was arbitrarily tossed around twice, along with images of wasps and black mirrors.

The real terrorist, however, was Facebook. Poor Laura couldn’t even delete her account, and apparently the customer service line is totally defunct when it comes to the supernatural. After she enlists the help of her “hacker” friend, he is aghast to find that the source code for Marina’s account glows in the dark and shuffles around the screen! Wait a minute…

The over-arching theme of cyber-bullying is made into a caricature so rife with simulated images that is likely to offend anyone genuinely affected by it. Merely broaching the subject and tacking on some hefty innuendos (like cult-follower), is not doing any favours to an issue clouded with assumptions.

With dark greasy hair hanging in her face, Marina bears a striking resemblance to Samara from The Ring. And funnily enough, each character sees their reflection (not a ring) in a black screen before they succumb to Marina’s torment. So instead of adopting another person’s terror in their final moments, the characters in Friend Request face their narcissistic reality. Or just the sheer disbelief that their phones died on full charge.

The only redemption for this film comes in the decent performance by Alycia Debnam-Carey, who manages to give some soul to the spoiled, girl-has-it-all character of Laura. The rest of the performances are forgettable, but amusing in their commitment to the far-fetched script.

If the aim is to have a few laughs, and a scream or two, then Friend Request is sure to delight. Just be sure to leave your sense of disbelief at the door, and heed the films many useful warnings. Staring into an unpowered phone screen may indeed cause imminent death.