Friend Request (5 Stars)

Today I took a short break from my week of bingeing on "Dexter". Over the last two days I watched the first six episodes of season five with Benjamin, and I wanted to watch the next three episodes this evening, but he said he'd rather watch a horror film. "Friend Request" was the first film I thought of. It's a genuinely scary film. Benjamin likes "Dexter" a lot, but most of all he likes horror films. He shares my Netflix account, so I can check out his viewing history, and he's been watching horror films more than anything else.

By the way, Netflix used to allow users to access their viewing history in their account profile. For some reason this feature has been removed, but the information is still accessible via a back door. Log in to the user you want to examine, then visit the page www.netflix.com/WiViewingActivity. If you want to examine the viewing history of a different user (and I often check my grandson's viewing history) you have to close the page, log into the other user, then open it again.

I recommend this film highly because of its scariness, but that doesn't mean it necessarily makes good sense. Its strength is in its atmosphere, not the feasibility of its plot. The film is about a lonely young witch who kills herself so that she can transfer her consciousness into the Internet; more accurately, she transfers her consciousness into Facebook. If you can accept this premise you'll greatly enjoy the film. If not, you'll be on the side of the majority of critics who tear the film apart.

The film does have a serious message. It shows the danger of using Facebook as a popularity contest. The film begins with Laura Woodson having 825 Facebook friends. Marina Mills has 0 friends. Laura adds Marina as a friend, but unfriends her a few days later. Marina is so devastated that she sets out to destroy Laura by taking away all her Facebook friends. We see the friend count counting down as she's unfriended by one person after another. Of course, she has a small group of real friends who would never unfriend her, so Marina kills them to bring Laura's friend count down to 0.

I find it unfortunate that Facebook uses the word "friends". I would prefer to call them "contacts". I currently have 125 people on my Facebook friends list. There are about 40 who I would call my friends, less than a third of them. Out of that 40 there are only a handful that I would call close friends. If you're reading this, you know who you are.

So if I only have 40 friends, why do I keep the other 85? It's because they're people who interest me enough for me to want to know what they think. I probably don't talk to them or reply to their posts, but I read what they post, and I might occasionally click Like.

125 Facebook friends is a manageable number. If I had more my timeline would be flooded and I wouldn't have time to read everything they post. That would be sad. I can't say where the sensible limit would be. You have to decide that for yourself. The more people you have on your friends list, the more time you have to spend reading posts. Or should I say that the other way round? The more time you want to spend using Facebook, the more friends you can allow yourself. Just increasing your friend list in order to make yourself look popular isn't just vain, it's stupid.

How many of you know what the maximum size of the Facebook friends list is? I found out from experience. I wanted to add someone in Birmingham (a real friend) to my Facebook friends list, and I got a message that told me his friends list was full. Ugh! He had 5000 friends. I told him about it the next time I saw him, and he said he'd unfriend someone to make room for me. The next day he only had 4999 friends, so I sent him another friend request, which he accepted. This man (Adam Ward) is a concert promoter, so I can understand him having to keep in touch with a large number of people. Nevertheless, isn't he flooded by Facebook posts which are too many to read?

I spend a limited time on Facebook each day. I spend more time writing blog posts than I do replying to comments on Facebook. That will never change. If you're one of my close friends, you should be reading my blog every day. Despite being only a film blog, I reveal more of my personal thoughts in my blog than in Facebook.

If you want to send me a Facebook friend request, my address is www.facebook.com/michael.hood.397. Please accompany the friend request with a message telling me that you read my blog. I decline random requests from people I don't know. If you tell me you read my blog I'll know we have something in common, and we can talk about films.

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