‘Friend Request’ (2017): Movie Review

Evil is trending in Simon Verhoeven’s new film Friend Request. Taking the fears of social media and turning it into a paranormal and stalker festival, Friend Request starts with main character Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey) accepting the friend request of weird loner Marina (Liesl Ahlers), who has no other friends on Facebook. But as Laura continues to live her life, Marina wants in. The girl flat out stalks Laura and messages her constantly. Finally, Laura puts an end to the madness and deletes her from her friend’s list. That is when Friend Request gets interesting.

https://youtu.be/C2JYxv5tWNc

The whole idea of a revenge story through social media works. Yes, it is kind of like the film Unfriended, but this one is not all filmed in a Skype session like the other film. Marina, the demonic entity/protagonist, is creepy and to find out what she’s hiding just adds to the creep factor. The film goes into the Black Mirror Society of witches who would use reflective surfaces to speak to other entities. It’s a very interesting take on both revenge and social media.

The slightly predictable jump scares in Friend Request were right on track. I had hoped that I was going to be jumping out of my seat when I watched this film and it did not disappoint. As Laura’s friends died one by one, their deaths and hauntings were hyped up with music, darkness and the entities themselves. The hauntings were created with CGI effects, but I don’t think that took away from the film. The animation of Marina’s Facebook posts was just beautifully breathtaking. Some will say that the animation didn’t add to the film, but I think it shows the depth of Marina as a character and her darkness.

The cast in the film wasn’t particularly memorable. Casting went with popular actors, especially with the main character being played by Alycia Debnam-Carey (The 100, Fear the Walking Dead). If I had to say which character performance stuck out the mos,t it was Liesl Ahlers as Marina. She did a perfect job portraying the weird, friendless girl. 

Overall, Friend Request was an okay movie. Nothing too spectacular like the popular films out now, but just something a different. The film will probably see more success in DVD sales then in the theater. Will you see Friend Request? Let us know in the comments below!