Not having been a fan of the first Unfriended movie, I wasn't super enthused about watching this one. I didn't need another horror movie about a bunch of vapid weirdoes trying to be hip on their laptops. Spouting internet nonsense like "check out this meme," or "IRL bitches!" What I am trying to say is I am old and get off my lawn, you damn kids! Still, I have more time on my hands than should be allowable, so I watched this one anyways. Surprisingly, I have to admit Unfriended Dark Web, wasn't that bad.
Don't get me wrong, Unfriended Dark Web is not the smartest of films, not that I expected it to be. Yet, after the first thirty minutes, I found myself enjoying the ride. Story-wise, a man and his deaf girlfriend are having issues communicating. So he steals a laptop to make his app, Papaya, which turns words into sign language, faster, so he and his lady can communicate better. I was a little bit put off by this, not because I don't think a person who is deaf deserves an app to help them communicate, but because of the reason he is making the app in the first place. His girlfriend is mad at him because he refuses to learn sign language to properly communicate with the woman he says he wants to be with forever. So, I can see why she was mad at him, as many messaging apps already exist to help with communication, she is deaf, not handless. Anyways, his new laptop belongs to an evil cabal of dark web hackers who murder and have set their sites on him and his friends. So, don't steal is the message here.
As I mentioned, it is goofy and takes about thirty minutes to get going. Once it does, there is enough doofy stuff to keep me entertained and semi-interested. It helps that once the evil cabal started tormenting them, the pace moved along tickety boo, which really helped. I admit, I still found myself struggling with a movie that takes place on someone's laptop screen. The constant pop-ups and messenger pings are more stressful than any horror stuff happening on screen. These are things I try to get away from in real life. Maybe that was the point. Also, them having a game night is a reminder of my own group of friends wanting me to DM for them over the internet during COVID. But, I am not a fan of online D&D, so bleh. I mean off-topic, and unimportant to this review but bleh.
With a quick pace and short runtime, I think most people will enjoy this even with the goofiness of the plot. I enjoyed it much more than the original Unfriended, although I wish the main character wasn't such a selfish ass. Still, if you need to kill an hour or so with a horror film, you could do worse than this.