Friend Request (2016)

Predictable jump scares (so much so that you can count them down in your head and be spot on every time); clichéd plot; awful tech references; nothing original.

You get the picture (no pun intended!)

Having said that, the camera work is fine, the acting is better than most of the genre and the direction isn't terrible either.

If you love this sort of movie, this will be more of the same and there's a chance you'll enjoy it.

If this sort of movie leaves a little cold then you might want to avoid it as you'll pick holes in it almost instantly.

Fmovies: Cyber based horror has become quite a popular sub-genre in the last couple of years, 2015's Unfriended being the other example that comes to mind. Friend Request is directed by Simon Verhoeven (No relation to Robocop director Paul), and is his first directorial feature that is not a comedy, and in the English language.

Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey) is a popular college student who is highly active on social media, which includes her Facebook account (totalling over 800 friends). She then receives a friend request from Marina Mills (Liesl Ahlers) a classmate she barely knows who has no Facebook friends. Out of pity she accepts the request. After being messaged constantly by Marina she decides to lie about going out for her birthday in order to avoid her, however photos from the evening end up on Facebook and soon after Marina attacks Laura at school before filming herself committing suicide, which is posted all over Facebook. Following the suicide Laura and her friends come under attack from a demonic force that appears to be Marina out for revenge.

Friend Request is a pleasantly surprising horror feature, which is well-acted by the ensemble. The dialogue between the characters is quite natural and creates a feeling of camaraderie between Laura and her friendship group in the opening scenes of the film. The overarching themes regarding our reliance on social media and how the platforms can manage and manipulate our lives are quite cleverly staged for the most part. Watching Laura's social media being hijacked creates a realistic parallel with stories that are relatable for us watching. Sure maybe when it happens to us it isn't a cyber-demon we went to college with, but having a Facebook Page which serves as an outlet for our thoughts, memories and, well, lives being hacked and seeing spam being sent from a source masquerading under the guise of our identity is an upsetting experience for most. We now see social media accounts as an extension of ourselves, and each other, and Friend Request uses this parallel to make the haunting Laura is experiencing relatable to the audience. However Despite this praise Friend Request suffers from one rather major flaw, it isn't scary. It's certainly jumpy, and had me leaping a couple of times with its scary demons occasionally popping out like demented Whack-a-moles. But it fails to create a sense of dread, or withhold an unsettling atmosphere that makes a great horror movie. The concept of fusing witchcraft with modern technology is quite interesting, but has been covered in previous films to better effect and in the final act Friend Request throws aside any attempt of being a disturbing social commentary in lieu of illogical narrative choices, that I will not disclose to any who wish to see the film. The music in the film is scored by Gary Go and he does a fine job instilling a chilling layer of texture in the latter parts of the movie.

Friend Request is an entertaining, thoughtful, film. But it lacks further detail to make it essential viewing, along with not being unsettling enough to be scary on a baser level. Having left the cinema I, in an absent minded fashion, checked my Facebook page almost immediately without thinking, which merited a chuckle. While there is clearly some observant commentary in the film it doesn't transcend into horror at any point, which is a missed opportunity, but it is still relevant enough to entertain for 90 minutes or so if you're in the mood for a jump-scare or two.

Review by Alexander Halsall, for more

When I saw this movie first on IMDb list , I thought this is just a new crap cyber movie, just a copy of Unfriended (2015) but it's nothing like Unfriended (thanks God) This movie contains jump-scares, decent plot line , good acting and a pretty dark story behind all that. If you're searching for a decent new horror movie, you should definitely add "Friend Request" to the list, you won't regret. At least I didn't , and I'm usually harsh with new horror movies because they're so bad I can't even watch them. Friend Request is not one of those crappy movies, it has something special and it will keep you in front of the TV screen till the end.

Friend Request fmovies. Wonder why such a low score for such a good film , was actually quite gripping and well executed.

Horror movies about the evils of social media tend to be as transparent and sophomoric as the audiences they are intended for, and after seeing the abortion that was "Unfriended", I expected less than nothing from a film with a similar premise. How shocked was I to find that this film didn't suck, and actually did some very clever things despite being a movie about fake online friend lists. The acting was good to great, the SFX was extremely well done and nicely implemented, the script was written by people who know how real teens are supposed to talk (with swear words and sarcasm that isn't usually found in children's movies), and the story just wasn't awful, and I mean that in the best way possible. When you expect nothing and are still disappointed, it makes you wonder why you bothered watching the movie in the first place (as was the case with Unfriended). But this film does a great job of not being made for children, is often clever in the best way, and some of the events that transpire are the exact opposite of what I would have expected. Overall, I enjoyed my time with this movie. It's not a masterpiece, and it won't win any awards, but it was enjoyable. In the end, any movie that can just be enjoyed as it is is a winner in my book.

We were looking for a movie to watch that night and we couldn't find nothing. I finally stopped on this one, expecting it to be a kind of "so bad it's good" horror film or for the least, something we could have fun ofÂ… It turned out that it was actually not bad at all. Sure, that's not the horror movie of the year, but I still found some satisfaction watching it. The actors are good, the direction also. There's a kind of thrill at the beginning, but at some point it becomes very predictable. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by that movie, and it didn't turned out to be the joke I thought it would be. It was well done and I think it's worth seeing.