“Unfriended” is a tale of two movies. One is experimental, one is derivative. One is fresh, one is tired. One is an interesting new twist, and the other is a one-note joke.

First things first, the entire film takes place on a single computer screen. For example, the menu bar at the top of a Mac computer is present for the entire film. The different characters and the horror that assails them are joined together by a Skype video call and various other software programs. The result is a unique landscape over which the same old teen slasher film takes place.

I rather enjoyed this closely related cousin to the “found footage” paradigm. That said, I definitely do not want this to become a trend. This idea should be a one-off and be thankful it wasn’t relegated to a short film made by a film student where it truly should have belonged.

“Unfriended” isn’t for everyone, perhaps it isn’t for most people. It’s an interesting idea that was put through the ringer and the result is average, at best. The far more intriguing bits are the ghosts of the filmmaking process. For example, the decision was made to always have the main character use the mouse shortcut to copy and paste something instead of the faster, more efficient, albeit far less visible keyboard shortcut. From a general audience perspective, it’s much easier to follow along with what the character is doing by showing the mouse shortcut which opens readable menus. From the character perspective, if these are supposed to be tech-savy high school students, I find it hard to believe that the keyboard shortcut wouldn’t be more in line with their implied computer proficiency.

The difference between those two choices made the film far more engaging to me — wondering about the conversations that were had about how to use the digital medium to tell the story. That said, those types of interactions are interesting to a cinephile, like myself. To the general public, “Unfriended” may be a pop-up ad that is frustrating and easy to just close.

4 of 6 stars