6 / 10. Difficult to follow everything happening on screen, but an enjoyable, cleverly put together thriller

Unfriended: Dark Web is a horror film written and directed by Stephen Susco.

Matias finds a laptop at a cyber cafe lost-and-found, and foolishly takes it home. He is developing a sign language app for his deaf girlfriend, Amaya (Stephanie Nogueras), and uses the laptop to log onto a Skype video call with friends. Events take a dark turn as Matias receives messages from someone demanding the laptop back. They realise the laptop is connected to the dark web and they are in danger…

The film is shot as a computer screen PoV, and it can be difficult to follow everything happening on screen, with the separate video boxes with different characters and IMs popping up, and can make your eyes go loopy.

All the squabbling between characters at the same time in the group chat gave me a headache, and most of the characters were annoying, especially the hapless Matias (Colin Woodell) and irksome AJ (Connor Del Rio), but that’s common for this genre. Andrew Lees as Damon and Betty Gabriel as Nari gave the most believable performances. The inclusion of a deaf character, Amaya, added an interesting dynamic.

There were a few twists along the way, some were predictable, but the story kept up a thrilling pace.

It’s not quite a found footage film, giving it a fresh take, and the different viewpoints made it fun to watch, overall Unfriended: Dark Web is an enjoyable thriller.