As soon as the official trailer for the film “Remove from Friends” (2015) appeared on the Web, reviews by thousands and hundreds began to appear on various Internet resources. Already on the first day after the release of the preview release, about 200 thousand messages were written, which made it possible to form an opinion on the unconditional masterpiece from Timur Bekmambetov and Levan Gabriadze.
The first swallow of a virtual horror
But first, some general information. The Internet, in fact, represents a huge energy space in which memories of the past are stored, the present lives and plans are made for the future. And it is not surprising that gradually the World Wide Web is overgrown with its signs, beliefs and even ghosts that roam between gigabytes of information and accounts of living people.
Some of them calmly observe what is happening, while others, blinded by anger and resentment, take revenge on the living now by very real methods. And the film "Remove from Friends" is just the first sign in a series of horrors that will only be created.
Short movie description
This is what you need to think about when starting to look at the picture “Remove from Friends”. The description of the film can be laid out in just a few lines.
The tape begins with a video in which the suicide of an ordinary schoolgirl Laura Barnes is captured. Blair looks at him, remembering that everything happened exactly a year ago. But the memories are interrupted by the persistent call of a friend of the main character. All experiences at the moment are forgotten, and now the audience is watching the love skirmish of schoolchildren. Mitch and Blair’s dialogue ends when their friends log in to Skype.
Next up is the usual teen chatter. Everything would be fine if it were not for the presence of an unidentified subject at the conference call under the nickname Billie227. Attempts to remove the intruder or to establish his identity do not yield results.
The only clue is the connection with Laura Barnes, who died last year, from whose account strange messages begin to arrive. Blair is forced to take extreme measures and click the "Remove from friends" button. The description of the film shows that this move only angered the ghost, and his further actions began to be more radical.
The final scene of the film "Remove from Friends"
Further, events are developing rapidly, which is confirmed by numerous reviews. “Remove from Friends” is not a movie that is designed to terrify. The plot is quite predictable, the purpose of the ghost is clear and without further explanation.
However, there are two versions of the ending of this film. So, Russian viewers see only a blank screen with the nickname Billie227, whereas, according to another version, the ghost of Laura Barnes is Blair to deal with her once best friend.
In principle, it doesn’t matter how the film “Remove from Friends” ended - the reviews speak for themselves. The vast majority of teenagers were delighted to see the picture. After all, all events take place in a familiar and familiar place.
Movie features
This is the basis for the idea of the creators of the film, the producer of which was the notorious Timur Bekmambetov, and the debutant Levan Gabriadze became the director.
All the action of the film takes place on popular social networks and Skype. Even small walks of characters through their rooms are transmitted through video communication. Actually, this is perhaps the most important feature of the movie. “Remove from friends” (audience reviews emphasize this) is a picture from which it is impossible to look away until the very end. After all, you can skip the word written in the chat, or the phrase sent in the message.
Even the actors of the film “Remove from Friends” are sometimes not as important as the correspondence taking place on the desktop of the main character. Only she, and not the dialogues of the heroes, makes it possible to guess what really happens.
Emotion Transmission Method
The film is almost completely lacking musical accompaniment. All correspondence is either in complete silence, or under barely audible remarks of the heroes. It would seem that in such circumstances it is impossible to convey the feelings and emotions of the characters. However, it is enough to follow the cursor throwing or letters on the screen that appear or disappear, formulating a more appropriate phrase, and then without additional words it becomes clear what Blair is experiencing and thinking about at that moment.
Such a unique method of conveying emotions led to the fact that the actors of the film “Remove from Friends” could not even partially reveal the characters of their characters. Yes, this was not required. Indeed, in front of the audience the most ordinary people, pleasantly smiling at the screen, but hiding unpleasant secrets outside it.
Too few horrors
As for the soundtrack, from time to time the heroine turns on one or another composition. However, always in the subject and at the right time. The actions of the ghost, its mockery of the participants and the enjoyment of their helplessness are fully shown.
What do the reviews say about this movie? “Remove from Friends” is a creepy movie, but it can only be called a horror movie. This is indicated only by the presence of an invisible interlocutor, the unexplained suicides of the heroes and rare moments that make one shudder, more likely from surprise than from real fright.
If not for this, then the picture could be attributed to the category of psychodrama, where it would be the place. Indeed, in an hour with a little before our eyes, a real tragedy is played out in which the death of adolescents is a cruel, but certainly deserved punishment for their deeds.
Found Footage format
The film is set in such a way that there are no special effects at all, but on the screen open windows of social networks flash, and the mouse masterfully performs dozens of operations simultaneously.
The picture took a minimum of time, much more was spent on editing frames. Actually, this is clearly visible on a more than modest budget, two-thirds of which went to advertising a future masterpiece.
With all this, the creators managed the almost impossible - to receive rave reviews. “Remove from Friends” is a film about the meaning of which you can argue endlessly.
What can be gleaned from this picture?
For some, the essence of the film “Remove from Friends” is the availability of personal information, which can easily become public. After all, a small “glitch” or the intervention of a bloodthirsty ghost is enough, like all photos and videos that are not intended for prying eyes, get into the public domain. And one can only guess what might follow.
This is a very significant point, especially considering the fact that people of different generations are in a hurry to share the events of their lives with completely unfamiliar users. More often than not, they expect approval, admiration and, perhaps, assistance from the outside. But no one wonders what might happen when all the secrets are revealed. What do the reviews say about all this? “Remove from Friends” is a film depicting the harsh reality in which modern teens exist.
Real bullying
It is believed that this picture has a real foundation. After all, cases have already been recorded when people committed suicide due to Internet harassment. In the film, this is not allotted much time. However, it is not difficult to think out what a person should do when he hears the phrase "Kill yourself!"
In addition, the film shows very well the mores and attitudes of ordinary teenagers. They, without hesitation, insult each other, not hiding their hostility. Of course, the more significant secrets are kept much deeper, but it turns out that they can be discovered in the most unpleasant way.
And Laura Barnes herself is far from an innocent victim, and had anyone else in her place, she would have taken part in public persecution with great pleasure. More striking is the behavior of her best friend, who does not upload the best shots to the Network. Is it because all the participants in this drama, including the victim, do not cause not only respect, but even sympathy.
Viewing experience
And the worst thing is that the real state of affairs has not gone too far from the events shown in the film. We see disrespectful attitude towards others, a desire to have fun in the most sophisticated ways, to fix all this on a camera and upload it to the Internet only with the goal of earning as many “likes” and responses as possible.
That's the whole point of life of modern youth, far from moral principles and concepts such as friendship, conscience and honor. After viewing the picture, despite all its unusualness, an unpleasant feeling of disgust and a desire to turn off your own computer as soon as possible appears.