Image from IMDB, official movie poster
Currently in theatres across Canada (05/08/18)
The movie follows a group of friends (Serena and Nari are lesbian couple, Matias and his deaf love interest Amaya, Kelly, Demon, and AJ) who are chatting online during their regular game night meetings. Matias indicates that he has a new computer, which he claims he bought through Craigslist, and is causing him some troubles. He soon finds out it is due to there being hidden files, which at first seem harmless videos. After having a couple's spat with Amaya, the game night starts and at one point Matias share his screen with his friends, showing them a nefarious chatroom and videos of people in dire predicaments. It is clear to everyone that there are people in danger. However, Matias is contacted by the owner of the computer who threatens the lives of his friends and girlfriend, in that context, the friends are put in various situations where their lives are taken one by one. In the end, no one survives, with the exception of Amaya, who seems to be attacked, but her death is never actually seem, perhaps to reappear in the sequel?
Although there was some hip about the movie before it came out, I was disappointed about it. To me, it felt as though it would be one of the few good horror thrillers that would be on the level of films such as "Get Out" or the first "Nightmare on Elm Street". Unfortunately, it turned out more on the lines of "Final Destination" where you're just waiting to see how everyone dies. The build up to the deaths in the promos were hipped up to the max, but in the movie, the deaths were seemingly just suggested moments, an almost forced element to the movie.
Although it is discovered that the victims are selected victims from the beginning, this element of the storyline felt forced. It was near the end, when only three of the main characters are left. You even wonder how the characters discover this since there's no searching for who was stalking them. In fact, there's little known about their stalkers, are we know is that they're following their victims through the various technologies the teens have, including their cellphones, laptops and surveillance cameras around town.
I do like the fact that you see that the killers need to work as a team to get the job done and that it's not just a lone killer going after everyone. They also do use technology to their advantage, as both a way of surveillance and a way to blame their victims for other crimes the bad guys had done. And although it is for no good, I do like the fact that they tapped into cryptocurrency, most notably Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The movie also comes off a little bit as a variation of "Hostel" in the sense that the victims are a group of teens being stalked by a nefarious organization that has its claws in everything, including the police. Also by the fact that this group, using the dark web, exist solely to attack innocent and unsuspecting victims for profit. In the end, it just feels that this movie feels as if it's trying to hard to put together many different elements from other teen horror movies. Which is a shame since this movie has the genuine potential to be a great horror film. The plot of the teens being stalked using the very technology so many of us use regularly was underplayed. Though it was good that the bad guys used it to disguise themselves from their victims and to blame them for other crimes as well. The deaths only seemed moments in the movie, when they really should have been the main focus. In the sense that you only get quick glimpses of the deaths. Don't get me wrong, they shouldn't have been hours of the movie, but, a good 2-3 minutes on each death would have been good, and I include the time for the build up. The one good thing about the movie was the ending, you see that it takes a few people to pull off such a thing, this isn't a one person crime, each has a part to play for this murder game to function and be successful. And you see the potential sequels in the ending, as I said before, Amaya's death isn't very clear, but they could easily go with the idea that this is just one of many deaths they decide to show and use the "Final Destination" plot device of linking all the deaths with each other.
(All views in this article are my own and the rating is as valuable as unicorn farts).