We open on a login screen, where a dude named Matias ( Colin Woodell) seems to be trying to log onto a computer that’s not his. Unfriended: Dark Web (formerly known as Unfriended 2: Game Night, which is the better title, honestly) is a sequel to Unfriended only in name and presentation. Unfriended, while not a perfect film by any means (that CGI, woof), felt genuinely new. This approach was also adopted by Nacho Vigalondo’s Open Windows and Zachary Donohue’s The Den, but neither were quite able to sustain the motif in ways that felt organic, likely because they strayed too far from the teens who best represent this culture. Public shaming and cyberbullying formed the spine of the narrative, while its tech-obsessed teens and their peripatetic navigation of apps reflected modern youth in ways that didn’t feel condescending.

But director Levan Gabriadze and screenwriter Nelson Greaves created something that wasn’t just scary, but relevant as hell. It was easy to roll your eyes at the premise of Blumhouse’s internet horror flick Unfriended, a gimmick flick that unfolded in real time entirely on a computer screen and found apps like YouTube, Facebook, and Spotify playing an integral role in the proceedings as a bunch of bored-looking millennials gabbed on Skype. The following review was originally published as part of our coverage of the 2018 SXSW Film Festival.

Unfriended dark web spotify playlist