Director: Simon Verhoeven
Writer: Simon Verhoeven, Matthew Ballen, Philip Koch (Screenplay)
Starring: Alycia Debnam-Carey, William Moseley, Connor Paolo, Brit Morgan, Brooke Markham, Sean Marquette
Plot: When a college student unfriends a mysterious girl online, she finds herself fighting a demonic presence that wants to make her lonely by killing her closest friends.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Simple Enough Horror
Story: Friend Request starts as we head to the university where we hear the news that one of the students Marina (Ahlers) has committed suicide. Flashback two weeks where we meet Laura (Debnam-Carey) a fellow student who gets a friends request from Marina who has no friends but stunning art work and accepts the request.
When Marina gets too close to Laura everything starts getting creepy and however kind natured Laura is she can’t deal with Marina in her life leading to her to unfriend Marina.
After Marina does commit suicide Laura’s life becomes a nightmare as the suicide video gets posted on her Facebook for all her friends to see and Laura can’t delete anything to do with her Facebook as her friends start getting haunted by the spirit of Marina.
Friend Request is a horror that tackles the social network addiction from people who either have too many friends or none. It shows how one friendship can lead to addiction that can turn deadly. When it comes to how everything unfolds we get the supernatural investigation side to the story which at times works but others don’t. in the end we get to see a simple enough horror that really works in places.
Actor Review
Alycia Debnam-Carey: Laura is the likeable popular friendly university student who opens up to a lonely student. When this student because to obsessed with Laura she has to cut the ties which leads to the student committing suicide and her spirit haunting her and her friends. Alycia is solid in this lead role being the character you fully expect to see in the lead role of a horror like this.
William Moseley: Tyler is the boyfriend of Laura who is studying medicine. He starts to get haunted by the vision even doing as much as possible to try and stop the connection between the two. William is solid in this role but I don’t feel the character is strong enough for this main supporting lead.
Connor Paolo: Kobe is the tech expert friend of Laura’s who tries his hardest to understand how these videos have been constructed and help try and put a stop to them once and for all. Connor is good and looks the part but you do feel we needed more from this character when it comes to technology based to the supernatural.
Support Cast: Friend Request has a supporting cast which like most horrors is just disposable characters who get very little development.
Director Review: Simon Verhoeven – Simon gives us a horror that has a few good jump scares and a story that could revolve around a real world catalyst with the supernatural side to everything.
Horror: Friend Request has good jump scares at times but they do end up going through rinse repeat after a while on the style of jump scares.
Settings: Friend Request keeps most of the settings in and around the university without anything becoming memorable for the story.
Special Effects: Friend Request has a few good effects for the kills even if we don’t get too much need for them.
Suggestion: Friend Request is one for the horror fans out there to enjoy, it really is a fun filled horror that is easy to watch. (Horror Fans Watch)
Best Part: The idea that the story tackles the need for social media.
Worst Part: The bees.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: Yeah
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes
Tagline: Be careful who you click with.
Overall: Simple horror with strong moments throughout.
Rating
