Unfriended: Dark Web (4 Stars)

This film was shown in most countries in the summer, but in Germany I've had to wait until the end of the year. The suspense was heightened by having to wait an extra four days, because I turned up at the cinema on Tuesday to find that the screening had been cancelled at short notice. Today I've finally seen it. Hooray!

"Unfriended" was released in 2015 and was one of the best films of the year. It sparkled with its originality as the first film in a new genre, a real-time computer screen film. Naturally I was excited when I heard that a sequel was being made. This excitement abated somewhat when I heard that the film would be made by a different director, and even more when I found out it was a director who had never directed any films previously.

Let's start off by saying one thing: the word "Unfriended" in the title has nothing to do with the film. The film contains no unfriending or even attempts to unfriend anyone. The only reason for the word being in the title is to tell people that it's a sequel to "Unfriended". Except it isn't a sequel, as I found out today. It's a new film in the real-time computer screen genre, copying some of the elements of "Unfriended". I'll shorten the film's name to "Dark Web".

The expression "dark web" has gained notoriety in recent years. There have been various attempts to define what it is, both by technical experts and the media, leading to confusion about what it is. The film picks one of the definitions out of the hat. The film says that it's part of the Internet that isn't accessed by search engines, so it's used by people who want to contact one another for illegal purposes, such as terrorism or paedophilia.

If the dark web is hidden, how do people interested in these items find their way in? Most are given access information by word of mouth. When you're sitting with your terrorist drinking buddies you can tell each other how you can communicate online without being detected by the authorities. Obviously you wouldn't want to talk with a notoriously hackable program like Whatsapp.

Or it can be an accident. That's the premise of the film "Dark Web". A young man called Matias, a programmer, is using a laptop that he found left in an Internet cafe. He uses it to start a Skype chat with his friends, including his deaf girlfriend Amaya. During the conversation he finds videos of women being tortured. Then a private conversation starts with someone who wants to pay him for new torture videos. Evidently, the laptop belongs to someone called Charon IV, while the person addressing him is called Charon 08.

This torture corner of the dark web is organised in a form that resembles a cult. The leaders are called Charon with Roman numerals, whereas the regular members are called Charon with normal numbers. The leaders torture people, whereas the regular members "only" pay for what they want to see. It's all very civilised.

What makes it worse is that the Charon leaders are all skilled hackers. They know where Matias and his friends live, and they can even take control of their computers. As in "Unfriended" the participants in the Skype chat are killed one by one.

This is where "Dark Web" differs from "Unfriended". In "Unfriended" the young people using the computers are killed by inexplicable supernatural forces. In "Dark Web" the murders are logical (within the context of the film), they're carried out by real people using scientific means to locate their victims. Does that make the film better or worse? That depends on your personal tastes, but I'll tell you why I personally prefer "Unfriended".

While I was watching "Dark Web" today I was having to ask myself after each step in the story if it was really possible. Some things convinced me, others didn't. When I watched "Unfriended" there were no distractions. There was a total suspension of disbelief and I accepted everything that happened.

There was also more familiarity when I watched "Unfriended". The programs being used on the computer screen, such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, were all things that I know from my daily computer use. "Dark Web" has Skype, but many of the communication programs are fictional, i.e. they're programs that have been invented to show the way dark web users communicate with one another. Are they realistic? I don't know, I've never used programs like them, but my guess is that they don't resemble any existing chat programs.

"Dark Web" has many strengths, and I consider it almost as good as "Unfriended". The characters all have distinct personalities, instead of being a group of ditzy teens like in "Unfriended". There's a programmer, a blogger and a DJ in the group. When they speak we know who they are, rather than seeing them as clones of one another.

Summing up, this is a film that I look forward to seeing again.