Friend Request Review: Horror Movie Meets Social Media

Director: Simon Verhoeven
Cast: Alycia Debnam-Carey,  William Moseley,  Connor Paolo, Brit Morgan,  Brooke Markham,  Sean Marquette,  Liesl Ahlers
Rating: 15
Running Time: 92 mins
Release Date: 20/04/2016

In the recent remake of CARRIE, directed by Kimberley Pierce, social media is used to humiliate Carrie White (Chloe Grace-Moretz) at the prom, on top of the drenching in pig’s blood which personified both this and the original (and far superior) 1976 classic directed by Brian De Palma.

As with most trends, it was inevitable that the Facebook generation would get a look in horror terms – and so it has come to pass with the German production FRIEND REQUEST, directed by Simon Verhoeven.

Set in California, FRIEND REQUEST tells the story of Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey). She is Miss Popular and has hundreds of friends of Facebook, leading a life of parties and catch-ups with her pals between studies and classes. However, she encounters a new girl in class, Marina Mills (Liesl Ahlers) known on Facebook as Ma Rina, who befriends her due to feeling sorry for her lack of friends. Marina comes across a little bit like Allison Reynolds in THE BREAKFAST CLUB, with a touch of Lisbeth Salander thrown in. After an altercation between Laura and Marina in the school canteen, Marina commits suicide under mysterious circumstances, setting in motion a chain of events that will affect the whole school….

FRIEND REQUEST does have much promise and the set-up initially does suggest a combination of SINGLE WHITE FEMALE and HEATHERS thrown in, but with less of the suspense of the former and cheerful dark humour of the latter. That’s not to say that there aren’t moments from either style in FRIEND REQUEST, merely that the idea at the heart of the film and our increased reliance and obsession on technology is not exploited more fully.

Like THE MACHINIST, a European film set in the USA (in that film, Barcelona doubled for the American setting and was highly effective on that occasion), FRIEND REQUEST is a strange combination of styles, part psychotic drama, part Japanese RING-ish suspense. It does show a lot of promise at the outset, yet drifts towards a rather predictable climax where it does wrap everything up a little too neatly, another lost opportunity from a film-maker who could have taken it to another level with more thought.

The horror genre is always one of those genres that is fan-driven as much as creatively-driven and true horror fans are so savvy when it comes to assessing every new offering. As a long-term horror fan myself, who has been weaned on films like HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13TH  (which I reviewed Halloween 2015 on Blu-Ray for this site), I do look forward to every new horror offering and do enjoy good scares and psychological drama.

FRIEND REQUEST, unfortunately, may only reach so far and will create a moderate reaction and excitement amongst horror fans and purists. It does have its moments, just possibly not enough to justify its total running time.

Verdict

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