Stephen Susco has teased his interest in third Unfriended film, while also expanding upon Timur Bekmambetvo’s Screen Life genre that Dark Web is a part of.
I recently had the chance to talk to Susco about “Unfriended: Dark Web,” and right at the very end of our conversation I quizzed him about another sequel.
“Possibly,” was his answer, which he expanded up with, “It is important that people have a great time watching it and that it leaves them with some questions. Particularly with horror films, ambiguity is always really interesting.”
But while Susco is non-committal regarding a third Unfriended film, he did go into detail about the Screen Life genre, which is made up of films that unfold entirely on computer screens, and has been masterminded by “Unfriended’s” director Timur Bekmambetov.
“As for just the format, Timur Bekmambetov, who was behind the original movie and partnered up with Blumhouse to do this, he made four of these movies at the same time.”
“He directed one of them, Aneesh Chaganty directed another of them called ‘Searching,’ with John Cho, which is amazing. A filmmaker called Bryce McGuire made one called ‘Unfollowed’ that takes place on periscope,” while there is also 2016’s “Hack The Bloggers” and the upcoming “Profile,” directed by Bekmambetov.
“It was really an amazing experience to see all four of them in editing suites next to each other and see how each film had the same restrictions, but each film plays completely different in those restrictions.”
“Mine is the only one that takes place in real time, some have score. It was a really interesting experiment. And I have talked to Timur and his producers about being involved in a couple more of the Screen Life movies just creatively.”
“But I had a blast, and it was a real education. It was super refreshing after 23 years of doing a more conventional narrative form, so I am certainly looking forward to doing some more of them.”
That was evident from Susco’s previous answer about how he originally got involved in the franchise, which saw him tell Bekmambetov that, with “Dark Web,” he wanted to flip the concept of the original on its head.
“I was like, ‘Would you be cool if the franchise was the format? And I kind of went in a different direction?’”
“It was important to find a different way to use this narrative form and invert it and run in the opposite direction and make sure that this movie also explored something related to that technology.”
While we wait to see what Susco dreams up with either a third “Unfriended” film or another entry to the Screen Life genre, make sure to see “Dark Web,” which is still in cinemas.
So far it has grossed $5 million from just a $1 million budget, and even though that is still over $55 million short of “Unfriended’s” eventual gross, it is still a pretty impressive return that suggests there is still a bright future for the series of films.
