User blog:Dorkpool/Unfriended

Apparently there's a new movie coming out called Unfriended. The plot is...interesting: a video was uploaded anonymously on YouTube that showed a girl in a rather negative and inebriated light, which caused her to commit suicide. Then she comes back from the dead and decides to torture her former friends via Skype and the Internet to find out who posted it. At least, that's what I can gather from the trailer.

This actually isn't a bad idea for a horror story (though I feel it would be better suited as a Creepypasta; more on that in a bit). That being said, there's a plot hole or two that I can see just from the trailer. For example, if this girl can screw around with technology and cause a guy to put his hand in a blender, why can't she figure out who posted the video on her own? If she can do these things over the Internet, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a stretch for her to go through her former friends' browser histories. Granted, this all happens a year after the video was posted, so one can argue that she can't do that. I'll buy that argument, and bring up a different question: why not just hack YouTube or something? If she can wreak havoc upon the Internet in the ways shown in the trailer, than I'm pretty sure her hacking YouTube or whatever isn't much of a stretch. Yes, these are nitpicks, but they're bugging me.

Now, I said earlier that I feel the basic premise of this movie could make a pretty good Creepypasta story. I mean, Creepypastas are scary stories on the Internet, and Unfriended uses the Internet and such pretty heavily. Actually, now that I think about it, this premise was probably already used in some ways in a Creepypasta. I mean, dead people haunting machinery and the Internet? BEN Drowned. Sort of. Ben haunts the game cartidge, and speaks through Cleverbot.

This actually brings a question to mind about the story: why does Ben do this? Maybe it was answered, I don't quite remember, but if it wasn't, then Ben's a dick. He haunts and screws with some random guy that bought a game cartridge and wanted to relive his childhood. And Ben thinks, "I should totally fuck with this guy." What a dick. I mean, if the guy bullied Ben or was mean to him, I'd get it, but that's not what happened. Anyway, enough with my rant about Ben.

As I said, the main concept for Unfriended could make a good horror story. But based on the trailer I saw, I don't think it will. It seems like it's going to be like Paranormal Activity, and have a bunch of jump scares, and gratuitous gore and death. Personally, I feel a good horror movie/story shouldn't rely on jump scares, and instead focus on creating a creepy atmosphere and having lingering fear. You know, the fear that nags at you after reading a horror story or seeing a horror movie, the kind of fear that prevents you from sleeping and makes you afraid to shower. A jump scare here or there is fine, but it shouldn't be the crux of the movie's scares. Anyway...

The point is, Unfriended has a good concept, but is probably going to suck. Which is a shame.

Also, if there are any Creepypasta stories that have this same exact concept, please let me know. I'm really curious.