Unfriended (originally released as Cybernatural) is a 2014 American screenlife supernatural horror film directed by Levan Gabriadze and produced by Timur Bekmambetov. Set on a computer screen, it is produced in the Screenlife format. The film stars Shelley Hennig, Moses Storm, Renee Olstead, Will Peltz, Jacob Wysocki, and Courtney Halverson as six high school students in a Skype conversation which is haunted by a student, played by Heather Sossaman, who was bullied by them and committed suicide. The film is told almost entirely through a screencast of a MacBook.
The film premiered at the Fantasia Festival on July 20, 2014, and was theatrically released in the United States on April 17, 2015, by Universal Pictures, and in the Philippines on April 29, 2015, by Columbia Pictures. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and was a massive box-office success, grossing $62.9 million against a $1 million budget. A stand-alone sequel, Unfriended: Dark Web, was released in 2018.
Plot[]
In Fresno, California, high school student Laura Barns commits suicide by gunshot after an anonymous user uploads a video of her passing out and defecating at an unsupervised party, making it go viral. One year later, her former childhood best friend Blaire Lily is chatting with her boyfriend Mitch Roussel on Skype, during which they agree to lose their virginities to each other on prom night. Soon after they are joined by their friends and classmates Jess Felton, Ken Smith, and Adam Sewell, and an unknown user known as "billie227."
The group of friends tries various ways to get rid of the intruder but are unsuccessful each time. Blaire looks up the account and realizes that it belonged to Laura Barns, revealing "billie227" as Laura even though the friends are still incredulous about this possibility. The group suspects that a classmate, Val Rommel, is pranking them. After they invite Val to their chat, Jess' Facebook page is updated with embarrassing photos of Val at a party. Jess denies uploading the photos and deletes them from her account, but the pictures instantly reappear on Adam's account. Val receives a message of a picture not visible to the others, which she considers a threat. Angry, she calls 911 to report that she is being harassed, and abruptly leaves the chat. The group receives a photo of Val and Laura's Facebook messages from before Laura's death, with Val telling Laura to kill herself. Val reappears on the chat, sitting motionless and silent next to a bottle of bleach before collapsing. Police officers arrive shortly after; the friends eavesdrop and learn that Val died from a presumed suicide. Laura then sends each of the friends a personalized message proving intimate knowledge of their secrets; in Blaire's case, which is the one visible to the audience, this turns out to be several pictures revealing that she had an affair with Adam. Ken distributes a program to remove Laura from the chat, and then Adam attempts to call the police. However, the 911 operator turns out to be the intruder and re-enters the chat, revealing a camera view from the other side of Ken's room. He approaches the camera source and his Skype is briefly cut before it shows him killing himself with a blender.
Laura forces the remaining four friends to play a game of Never Have I Ever, stating that the loser will die. During the course of the game, it is revealed that Jess started a rumor that Blaire had an eating disorder; Blaire stole and crashed Jess' mother's car; Mitch made out with Laura (although he says it was one-sided on her end and he pushed her off), and also reported Adam to the police for dealing cannabis; Jess stole $800 from Adam; and Adam offered to trade Jess' life for the others in the group. Tensions flare and a drunken Adam finally loses his temper and uses the game to force Blaire to reveal that she is no longer a virgin, having slept with him behind Mitch's back. Mitch is distraught and retaliates by forcing Adam to admit that he roofied a classmate, raped her while she was unconscious, and then forced her to abort the resulting pregnancy.
Blaire and Adam receive messages sent remotely to their printers which they refuse to show to Mitch and Jess. Mitch threatens to leave if Blaire does not show the note and Laura warns that Mitch will die if he signs off. In a moment of panic, Blaire shows her paper which states: "If you reveal this note, Adam will die." Adam shoots himself, revealing he had the same note, except it was for Blaire.
Laura continues the game, asking Jess if she defaced her grave. When Blaire convinces Jess not to continue playing, Laura cuts the lights in Jess' house and disconnects her video feed. Blaire looks for help on Chatroulette and has a stranger in Nevada send police to Jess' house. Soon after, Jess' Skype reconnects showing her with an activated curling iron in her mouth, killing her.
Laura cuts the lights in Blaire's and Mitch's houses, wanting them to confess who uploaded the video. Blaire tells her that Mitch was the one who posted it; Mitch then stabs himself in the eye with a hunting knife. Laura issues another countdown, and as Blaire brings up photos of their time as friends, apologizing about how they drifted apart, Laura asks if that was how she truly remembered things, before the countdown hit zero. Laura then uploads an extended version of the party video to Blaire's Facebook which reveals Blaire operating the camera for the original video and laughing, which quickly gains attention, with multiple people sending hateful comments towards Blaire. Laura says that she wishes she could forgive Blaire before leaving the chat. As Blaire hears her bedroom door creak, Laura, now in the form of her spirit, slams Blaire's laptop shut before attacking her.