Interviews
[SXSW Interview] The Director and Producer of ‘Unfriended: Dark Web’ Talk Computer Screens and Unlikable Characters!
Three years ago Levan Gabriadze‘s Unfriended surprised millions of viewers by actually being a decent horror film told entirely from the point of view of one girl’s MacBook screen. It was a gamble that paid off in spades. The film grossed $32 million domestically on a reported budget of $1 million, making it one of the most profitable films of 2014. It should come as no surprise that production companies Blumhouse and Bazelevs sought to make a sequel as quickly as possible. Filmed over the course of one week(!) at the end of 2016, Unfriended: Dark Web (my review) will hopefully see a release later this year. The film had its surprise world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival on March 9, 2018 and we were lucky enough to get to chat with director Stephen Susco (screenwriter for The Grudge), producer Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted and Night Watch) and actor Colin Woodell (Unsane) about the film.
***SPOILERS for the first Unfriended are mentioned below.***
Sequel Vs. Anthology
The first thing you should note about Unfriended: Dark Web is that it is a sequel in-name-only to the first film. The ghost of Laura Barnes does not make a cameo appearance, nor do any of the other characters from that film. Dark Web also differs from the first film in that it is based entirely in reality and does not feature any supernatural elements. So you don’t have to have seen Unfriended to enjoy Unfriended: Dark Web. Why go that route as opposed to making a direct sequel? “Because the first one was too good,” Susco said. “I mean my reaction was that I cannot top this.”
“And the characters from the first one are all dead,” Bekmambetov added cheekily. Touché sir, touché.
The Limitations of a Computer Screen
What sets the Unfriended series and similar films like The Den and Bekmambetov’s Profile, which also screened at SXSW this year, apart is the filming style: they are all told entirely from one character’s computer screen. The method won’t work for everyone, but it can’t be denied that it is a fascinating way of telling a story (it is especially surreal if you are watching it on your laptop). Unfriended used the device to its advantage by using it as a window into Blair’s (Shelley Hennig, Ouija) life. By showing her secret conversations with her friends as well as her Google searches (among other things), the film is able to characterize her without any clunky exposition. Dark Web does something similar with Woodell’s character Matias. “It’s the testament to that narrative form,” Susco said, “when you have all these crazy restrictions like [the fact that] it has to be on a computer screen. Trying to figure out how to work within that leads to some really interesting discoveries…This is an entirely different way of telling a narrative.”
But what about the naysayers who don’t like the narrative style? To them it’s just a cheap gimmick to help sell the film to today’s youth. Bekmambetov has his own opinion on that. “It’s not about the way we film,” he said. “It’s about the world we’re living in. It’s very stupid to see a modern movie where people [barely] interact with their devices. People are constantly on their devices. If you want to know about me and you want to understand me you should follow me and see my screen. I spend half of my time on a screen and it means half of the content in the world should be screen life content. That’s what I think.”
Unlikable Characters
Viewers may be able to adapt to a filming style, but can you make them endure a film filled with unlikable characters? That was a common complaint with the first Unfriended. After all, how are we supposed to root for any of the characters to live if we don’t like any of them? I would argue that that was the point of the first film though. The fun of that movie is hating the characters and watching them all get butchered. Of course, you don’t learn how terrible they are until the secrets start pouring out, but the five characters at the center of the film
Susco agrees, saying “I’m totally with you. I thought it was ingenious when you get into their story you realize that they’re not friends. They’re awful people and they’re awful to each other. And you couldn’t tell that right away…So by the time you get to the end you’re kind of completely with the ghost, you know?”
While he understands the appeal of killing off unlikable characters, Susco wanted to do something different with Unfriended: Dark Web. “I wanted to have people in their mid-20s and not their teens,” he said. “I wanted to have people that would not give up on each other and will remain friends so that every time someone dies it’s gut-wrenching. I wanted to try the inverse of everything [the first one did], you know?”
Knowing that, I sincerely hope that people who weren’t fond of the first one give Unfriended: Dark Web a shot. I think they’re both good films, but for different reasons. Keep checking Bloody Disgusting for updates on the film, which will hopefully get a release date soon.
Unfriended: Dark Web will be released in theaters nationwide later this year. No release date has been set.
As the inaugural season of Apple TV+’s stellar new series “Widow’s Bay” barrels toward its finale in two weeks, the latest episode gives Kate O’Flynn the spotlight as her character revisits her trauma with the Boogeyman.
“Your Baggage“, directed by Andrew DeYoung (Friendship), sees O’Flynn’s scene-stealing Patricia once again renew her fight with the Michael Myers-like stalker that slaughtered her peers during her adolescence. Thrillingly, it makes for one extended chase sequence that sees Patricia trying to warn others, while evading the undead killer.
In short, this episode’s incredible riff on Halloween and the slasher subgenre transformed Patricia into a fierce Final Girl.
“Well, that felt like a bucket list that I didn’t know was on my bucket list until I did it, but when I did it, I just lapped up every minute,” O’Flynn tells Bloody Disgusting of her triumphant turn this episode. “It felt fantastic for her to get that moment where she is becoming a badass. That was amazing.”
The actress turned to a few notable references for her performance. “Horror-wise, I go back to my youth, which was referenced in some of the episodes: Wicker Man, Carrie, and Rosemary’s Baby, that sort of thing is my kind of vibe.”
O’Flynn also notes how the series’ unique tone allows for so much creative freedom to make bold swings. “There’s something very freeing about it. Every moment is up for grabs, so it’s like we don’t have to totally land in one direction or another. It keeps it alive.“
Patricia is the eccentric assistant to Matthew Rhys‘ Mayor Tom Loftis, who’s at the forefront of trying to solve the island’s pesky curse predicament. Rhys felt the same about “Widow’s Bay” and its rare ability to make you laugh and scream in equal measure, stemming from series creator Katie Dippold.
“The mandate was, ‘It’s a real world with real people. You play for real.’ There’s no playing for comedy or horror,” Rhys echoes O’Flynn’s sentiments on how freeing the series’ tone has been.
New episodes will release every Wednesday through June 17 only on Apple TV+.
Kate O’Flynn in “Widow’s Bay,” now streaming on Apple TV.
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