Don’t Accept This “Friend Request,” A Review

Friend Request, which must be upset that Unfriended was already taken, is the story of Facebook friendships, social outcasts, curses (?), and witches?!? Yeah.

 

Friend Request is a horror flick that came out in Germany back in January of 2016. Now, almost two years later, the film no one was clamoring for has crossed the oceans and opened in America. Annnnd let’s get into it.

 

The movie begins in media res, where we learn that a classmate of our main few characters has committed suicide. The professor asks if anyone was a friend and could share any info on what happened… TWO WEEKS LATER.

 

Then it actually starts. The movie follows a popular girl. She has 800+ Facebook friends! I don’t know if that’s a lot. It’s more than I have, but I have no idea how college kids use Facebook these days. She is living with her friends, having the dopest life, and she meets another girl, Marina Hills.

 

Marina Hills is ‘weird.’ She wears black, has 0 Facebook friends, and makes goth art. Marina reaches out to main character (hereby referred to MC – I cannot remember her name and quite frankly don’t care to look for it) and MC becomes Marina’s first Facebook friend. Marina begins getting hyper clingy and trying to become a real friend, which sees MC and her girl posse rebuking Marina in public in the school. Marina doesn’t take it well, commits suicide on her webcam (in case you forgot this movie was about modern day technology) and the video is uploaded to Facebook.

 

MC’s Facebook begins to repost the video and her friend count starts plummeting! Oh noooo! Then people die, they investigate Marina, and find out she’s an orphan (of course). Her family died at a witch commune (of course), and she spent lots of time online. Marina haunts them, yadda yadda yadda, people die.

 

The movie has some solid scares. There is creepy imagery, the idea of ‘Black Mirrors’ (another title they most have surely wished for), and some solid jump scares. But this movie ties itself to Facebook so heavily, especially in the beginning, that a major portion of the movie feels like it is looking at computer screens. And god damn it I cannot stare at Facebook screens in a movie theater anymore!

 

The movie is fine. As a horror movie it works, even if it doesn’t suit my taste perfectly. But it’s certainly not spectacular in any way, nor is it absolute dumpster fire trash (Bye Bye Man, it is not!). But if you’re looking for a horror movie for the weekend, just go see IT.