This social media-themed horror movie spooks its way into cinemas, while hoping to turn up filmgoers who are ready to get hit by the cold, Halloween and things that scare them away at night. Surprisingly, the movie delivers. This otherwise lame-looking scare-fest is so wonderfully dumb that it is unexpectedly fun.

Directed and co-written by Simon Verhoeven, the movie takes the social networking site Facebook and mixes it up with a message-board phenomenon named Creepypasta to craft a horror film based in technology and modern times but rooted in a far more old style of evil.

Laura played by Australian actress Alycia Debnam-Carey is a popular college student who is beautiful, adored and surrounded by her friends and admirers at her beautiful university located at a seaside. When she takes a misfit, Marina played by Liesl Ahlers, from psych class under her wing, her life starts to turn into a screwball, especially when her new friend's obsessive attention turns needy and dark.

Soon, Laura's best friends are dropping like flies as they are beset with frightening hallucinations from the pictures and animations that pepper Marina's Facebook page. To make matters worse, Laura tends to lose control of her own account, which starts posting harrowing videos of the campus deaths and her friend count keeps dropping. And to think it all started with a simple friend request.

The movie strikes a perfect chord for an undamaging horror flick, for it is littered with effectual scares that keep viewers jumping out of their seats, however, it is so earnest silly and shoddy that the laughter offers a sense of catharsis throughout the film.

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