Sick Product of a Sick System

Powerful

In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

OK, so here is the thing. Back in the 90's (I think the website is dead thank god), there was a website known as the Human Experimentation website. As far as I remember from hearing from it on YouTube, it mainly consisted of homeless people who would not be missed(of course to prevent people from searching for them). This website, like how it is/was known, would experiment on people's bodies in screwed up ways, but! This movie is a lot like the infamous 'red rooms' on the deep web. Though there is a relationship between the two, red rooms seem to be what human experimentation was, but more frequent/abundant. The reason this movie got to me so much was because of how real it 'can' be if you are not careful and 'do not pay attention' to what you see, do, and hear on the internet.Beware when talking to strangers, it is best they do not see your face and/or home layout whatsoever, just to be safe.*Note*Thankfully, red rooms seem to be more of a myth due to the deep web not being able to stream worth much at all, but the rumors of it do exist and we all know how jacked up the world can be. Be safe out there everyone. Though this was just only a movie, it does portray something that is very, very real.

Not a bad flick but its about 40% BLAIR WITCH, 40% HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL and 20% Session 7 (a Canadian movie). It seams as though the story-line has been half lifted from TEEN CREAP shows. Aside from the music taken from an era like Jeepers Creepers it got its point across paralleling the old age of stalking to the new age of video that anyone with the access and proper tools can use. Geo tracking in its self good and bad these days, but it is possible they do as much hurt as good. The golden rule should be that teens and offenders not have access to be a part of these site. Further more, Any person of any kind whether is age or mental disability should be visually supervised by a caregiver or responsible adult to stop this online craziness to stopCheers.Fub

I'm not biased to found-footage horror films. Even some of the more out-there ones, like 'Creep' I have enjoyed and appreciated, and I was hoping for a similar film in 'The Den'. While it starts off with an interesting premise, it quickly becomes too unrealistic, and in the end, I turned it off 20 minutes before what I'm sure was a terrible conclusion.The plot centers around a young grad student who's gotten a grant to study something along the lines of online communication through a web site called 'The Den', where you can video chat with anyone, anywhere in the world. Things turn nasty for her though, when she witnesses a murder during one of these subsequent chats, and soon her loved ones are picked off one by one as she is hunted by this elusive killer.Despite the low budget, and the fact that the film takes place entirely in a 'Face-Time' like format, I thought the first 1/3 of 'The Den' was pretty creepy, and gave good credence to what I imagine dark internet activity to look like. But when the killer begins to take down her family members and hunt her, it becomes unrealistic, and therefor boring. A more interesting plot IMO would have been centered around a police investigation after the aforementioned murder witnessed by the grad. student. Because these things do happen online, but rarely do these killers become so reckless that they then begin to hunt down others on the same chat. IDK, perhaps I'm cynical and have read too much true-crime books, but I just don't like run- of-the-mill slasher movies, which is what 'The Den' is, only it's packaged in a way to feed on the technological paranoia of millennials. Like I mentioned before, I did not watch The Den through till the end. It started to seem like too much of a waste of time, so perhaps I missed out on something that would have completely redeemed the film, but I'm betting that I didn't.

I compare this movie (Hacked or The Den) to Unfriended and those viewers who either liked, disliked or LOVED the aforementioned movie of the same ilk will totally understand why (even if the premise of both movies was NOT). I fall into the latter group, having watched Unfriended obsessively, enjoying the subliminal hints provided and ONLY comprehended by those who also "got" the movie; realising why certain (seemingly unimportant details) were necessary for the movie to work.I've started my review with the above to assist those interested in watching this movie when deciding whether it's one they would enjoy.I do not wish to rob any chance potential viewers of Hacked (aka The Den) may have of enjoying this brilliant movie (albeit behind slightly open fingers of both hands covering their faces, most DEFINITELY towards the end), therefore I will not take this opportunity to spoil what I feel is a seriously original plot which will leave most with a more apprehensive and discerning outlook on just how technology, the web and the potential vulnerability we all place ourselves in spending so much time engaging with people online.I guess there are 3 main significant differences between this movie and Unfriended; the first being that it is a lot more graphically disturbing scenes. Secondly (and most essentially), the main character is EXTREMELY likable which is why I personally feel this movie works more effectively from the onset. Most of the reviews (both from the general public AND critics) for Unfriended acknowledged how unlikable all of the characters were. I intend to write a review for Unfriended as I feel that this was deliberate on the Director's part and most definitely essential to the whole point of the movie. Lastly (and I promise to refrain from raving about a movie other than the one I am meant to be discussing after this!), I cannot envisage my wish to re-watch Hacked as many times as I did Unfriended in order to identify small pertinent details that compelled me to keep re-watching it due to how disturbing the ending is.I genuinely thought I had nailed the gnarled ending of this movie (YES! am finally referring SOLELY to Hacked, HALLELUJAH!) from about 30 minutes in but BOY was I wrong! The twists and turns throughout made me feel like I was on a rogue roller-coaster and my head is still dizzy even an hour after watching it. NOT because I didn't get it but BECAUSE everything made sense! Ironically, the last scene (consisting of less than a minute) is the most disturbing despite a total abstinence of ANY violence and without revealing a thing (which would defeat the whole object of me writing a review that doesn't contain spoilers, as well as ensuring it will be my first and last chance to provide feedback to others by being black listed), you will only be able to understand (and undoubtedly agree) with this statement if you choose to watch the entire movie.Hacked is brilliantly acted from the entire cast, does nothing that isn't needed to deliver and succeeds in doing just that.........even if the message is seriously unsavoury! Bloody Amazing, though not sure I will be watching it again just yet.......for all of the right reasons!!!!