Since its founding in the year 2000, Blumhouse Productions has undoubtedly grown and evolved into one of Hollywood’s biggest horror exports, with titles ranging from Truth or Dare to Split, Jordan Peele’s Get Out to Happy Death Day.
Its latest release hails from producer Timur Bekmambetov, and it’s about to make you rethink your digital life on the world wide web. We are, of course, referring to Unfriended: Dark Web, the sinister tech thriller that takes the core premise of its 2014 predecessor and spins it out in an entirely new and exciting direction, all of which unfolds in real-time across a series of blinking computer screens – not unlike Bekmambetov’s Profile from earlier in the year.
And so, ahead of the film’s arrival next week, Blumhouse has debuted a suitably creepy teaser trailer in which a group of 20-somethings uncover what appears to be an underground human trafficking ring, only to realize that they’re the next victims. Chaos ensues.
Written and directed by The Grudge screenwriter Steven Sucso, Unfriended: Dark Web stars Colin Woodell (Unsane), Andrew Lees, Connor Del Rio and Betty Gabriel of Get Out fame, and is best described as so:
Unfolding in real-time Unfriended: Dark Web is the most terrifying horror yet from the producer of Get Out, Happy Death Day and The Purge, and the makers of Unfriended.
When a 20-something finds a cache of hidden files on his new laptop, he and his friends are unwittingly thrust into the depths of the dark web. They soon discover someone has been watching their every move and will go to unimaginable lengths to protect the dark web.
Couple this with the movie’s buzzworthy SXSW premiere and Unfriended: Dark Web is fast becoming one of 2018’s must-see horror movies – early reactions did stress that this is one of Blumhouse’s most disturbing releases yet. Even after 18 years of cinematic terror then, it seems the studio continues to push the envelope.