There are flashes of inspiration here, such as repeated references to internet addiction without any legitimate point, except that it literally will kill you , an unsettling and dynamic shot of rows of computer monitors illuminating a dark room with images of the face and eye of the spirit, and, most notably, a series of animations that tell the story of Marina's lonely, unfortunate past without the witchy hokum. It's probably an unintentional bit of social commentary that she still has hundreds of friends after two such videos are posted to her page. The only requirement is that the screenplay written by , , and Verhoeven provides an angle that seems a bit different, if only to distract from how familiar the rest of the movie's game is. Director dutifully gives us multiple jump scares, in which an arm violently enters into frame or a face is suddenly in complete close-up on the screen. Their limit, apparently, was a third video showing someone's bloody death.
Advertisement One could say that it doesn't disappoint, although one would also have to lower the bar of expectations to say that in a way that possesses any significance. The last count we actually see has her hovering around 80 friends, and that's after three suicide videos appear on her page. The angle is that the supernatural killer is the spirit of a college girl named Marina , who committed suicide after Laura unfriended her on the safe-from-claims-of-copyright-infringement website. Advertisement Laura and her friendsâincluding her boyfriend Tyler , her jealous ex Kobe , and her best friend Olivia âlook into Marina's past to determine how this is happening. When her real-life friends start dying mysterious, cruel deaths, Laura must figure out how to break the deadly curse before it's too late.
. When she least expects it, the face of the cat transforms into a monstrous one, with sharp, pointy teeth and a roar. The ghost in the machine takes control of Laura's page, posting videos of her friends killing themselves in gruesome ways, starting with Marina, who hangs herself over a roaring fire. Against Laura is the fact that Marina's own social networking profile was filled with clues about an unstable personality, such as unsettling photos of mangled faces and a video of someone stomping on a doll's head. Soon, demonic forces start killing off Laura's friends in revenge.
In Laura's defense, we learn from a lengthy, sort-of flashback that Marina was a cyber-stalker, who commented on every one of her posts, sent her repeated video chat requests, and started following her around in real life. To everyone's shock, Marina takes her own life in a ritual meant to torment Laura, which appears in a video posted on Laura's profile. You probably know the drill by this point: The plot is a mystery, in which the charactersâthe ones who haven't been killed off, of courseâhave to figure out the reason that their friends are dying one at a time. This is what the movie promises from the start, so there must be at least a few points awarded for truth in advertising, I suppose. None of it really matters, because the movie's sole purpose is to get each of the characters alone in a dark space, toss some unsettling sights and sounds their way, and, to top it off, have something pop on screen, with some loud growls and screams accompanying it. The movie's deaths areâuncomfortably, since it's simply a gimmicky hookâcentered on suicide or, better, demonic possessions that make the deaths look like it.
Even though it wasn't Laura who posted the video, or other creepy content that begins appearing on her page, her Facebook friend count begins to dwindle as a result. Yes, this is going to be one of those horror movies. Synopsis A popular college student named Laura Alycia Debnam-Carey accepts a Facebook friend request from a lonely gal who went to her high school, but quickly unfriends her when she tries to parlay their virtual connection into a real-life bond. She graciously accepts social outcast Marina's Liesl Ahlers online friend request, until Marina crosses the line and Laura unfriends her. In the process, some evil force is picking them off by supernatural means. As her online friendsâall of whom the evil spirt tags in the postsâstart to see the videos, they begin to unfriend Laura.
All of the movie's mythology is explained in a flashback, which involves a coven of witches, a devastating fire, a boarding school, and a couple of child murders. This means that a few hundred people thought that someone posting two suicide videos was fine. . . . . .
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