This article contains references to bullying, suicide, and sexual assault. Readers discretion is advised.
After several teenagers on Skype are tormented by a supernatural entity, the ending to the 2015 horror movie, Unfriended, is just as dark as the rest of the story. Blaire Lilly (Shelley Hennig), her boyfriend Mitch Roussel (Moses Storm), and their friends, Val Rommel (Courtney Halverston), Ken Smith (Jacob Wysocki), Adam Sewell (Will Peltz), and Jess Felton (Renee Olstead) are confused as to why someone named billie227 is part of their group chat - which sets up the paranormal twist. While there are many films that use the screenlife format, Unfriended still stood out thanks to the cast's performances and writing.
Similar to the terrifying movie Host, Unfriended has an eerie tone, and the bleak and brutal conclusion wraps up every character's story and offers proper explanations for every plot point. The characters are unlikable on purpose, and Unfriended shares serious themes along with its many reveals and creepy feeling present throughout.
Laura Barns Is A Former Student & The Supernatural Entity Haunting Everyone
Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman) is a former classmate who the main characters mistreated, and she is now a ghost who is haunting them as they talk online. When Laura fell asleep after drinking at a party and had 'accident', her peers filmed her and kept replaying it. Sadly, this harassment led to her taking her own life. Blaire and Laura were once best friends, but Blaire abandoned her in order to become popular. Unfriended does a good job of sharing that Laura's disturbing backstory has affected every character, as they all pretended that they didn't hurt her.
A horror movie about technology doesn't always have a deeper meaning or focus on serious topics, but Unfriended tells a somber story about bullying. If the characters didn't know the spirit who was part of their chat room, the movie wouldn't have the same effect, and it's powerful that the supernatural figure is closely connected to them rather than being random. It's important that Blaire figures out that the user is Laura, as she is the person who betrayed her the most, and before the movie ends, Laura reveals herself and there is no question that she is the one behind this.
Blaire Dies At The End Of Unfriended As Laura Kills Her In Revenge
Blaire dies at the end of the movie after telling Laura that she is sorry and that she wishes that they were still close friends. Laura shares a big reveal: Blaire filmed the video of Laura at the party, which is her deepest secret. While horror movies like Unfriended often have high kill counts, it's a bold move to kill every single character, including the protagonist. However, it doesn't appear that Blaire's story could end another way, as giving her a happy ending would feel out of place in a story focused on the perils of popularity and the harsh way that teenagers can treat one another.
Blaire's death is hinted at rather than shown, and this is in contrast to the other deaths in the movie, which are all gruesome. There is the sound of her bedroom door opening and Laura closing the computer before killing her. It's still an effective way to close out Unfriended, as it allows the film to focus on the pain and suffering that Blaire caused her old friend rather than the specific way that Blair is killed.
What Secrets Have The Characters Kept From One Another?
Horror movies about groups of friends typically include characters who help each other fight the villain. That isn't true of Unfriended as, by the end, it's clear that the characters have treated each other poorly. By the time Laura is about to kill Blair, the friends play "Never Have I Ever" and it is revealed that Jess took $800 of Adam's money, Blaire was unfaithful to Mitch and got into a car accident with a vehicle belonging to Jess's mother, and Jess lied that Blaire had an eating disorder. The worst secret of all is Mitch sexually assaulting another student and telling her to have an abortion.
The movie amps up the tension by hinting at these dark secrets and then ensuring that they are all revealed by the final scene. The secrets prove the characters are disloyal and unsympathetic, which further explains Laura's haunting. The unique gimmicks and storytelling in movies such as Unfriended works because if the story was told in a more traditional manner, it might not stand out as much due to the many films about mean teenagers.
The Events Of Unfriended Do Not Connect To The Sequel, Unfriended: Dark Web
While both Unfriended and the 2018 sequel Unfriended: Dark Web tell tales entirely through a computer screen, the storylines are not connected, which makes each film feel powerful. The sequel is about Matias O'Brien (Colin Woodell) finding a laptop that an underground cult uses to hurt him and his friends. This second film also has kind-hearted characters who show each other compassion and enjoy being a part of each other's lives, unlike Blaire and her friend group. This makes the danger that they find themselves in and the brutal death scenes particularly sad, especially as Matias feels guilty and responsible.
Unfriended: Dark Web is better than Unfriended as it has a more frightening tone, and it's a particularly impressive sequel given the fact that the ending of Unfriended doesn't set up a second movie at all. With Blaire and her friends gone, there would be no characters left to experience the same supernatural threat, and it would have felt redundant to tell a similar story but with new characters.
The Real Meaning Of The Unfriended Ending
Unfriended has themes of friendship, peer pressure, wanting to be popular, and the message that if people go along with the crowd, as Blaire and her friends do when bullying Laura, there are consequences. None of the characters stop to consider what could happen and they don't think for themselves. Although horror movies that use technology to scare can be purely entertaining, Unfriended dives deeper into questions about why some people who are insecure seek to hurt others instead of thinking about the pain that they are causing.
The ending of Unfriended also brings up the question of self-identity, as the characters don't think about the type of people they want to be and whether they can be proud of their actions until it's too late. Blaire, in particular, has a disturbing end to her character arc as she wants to reverse the past and be more caring toward Laura. As that is impossible, the movie argues that people should always be aware of their effect on others, as there can be somber, serious and dark results.