This is just a theory. Repeat, just a theory. But it's a solid one. So is Blumhouse planning to surprise SXSW Saturday night with the premiere of UNFRIENDED 2: GAME NIGHT? Let's investigate…
This morning I was researching Leigh Whannel's UPGRADE for the MPAA post from earlier and I checked out when it premieres at this year's SXSW Film Festival (it premieres Saturday, March 10, at 11 pm by the way). But what caught my attention was another film set to premiere that night as well. The movie is labeled as "UNTITLED BLUMHOUSE-BAZELEVS FILM", which doesn't give us much to go on.
That said, the Bazelevs in the title seems to be Timur Bekmambetov's production company, which has worked on – you guessed it – UNFRIENDED. Not only that, but the SXSW site gives the untitled film a very UNFRIENDED style promo image (which you can see above) along with a very UNFRIENDED-style premise which reads "A 20-something finds a cache of hidden files on his new laptop and is thrust into the deep waters of the dark web. From the makers of Unfriended, this thriller unravels in real-time, entirely on a computer screen. A warning for the digital age."
And that's not even all of it! The SXSW site gives a list of credits and Stephen Susco is listed as writer and director, which is also what he's credited for on IMDb for UNFRIENDED 2.
I'm pretty sure at this point it is more than obvious that Blumhouse will, in fact, be secretly premiering UNFRIENDED 2: GAME NIGHT at SXSW this Saturday night. So if you're in Austin for the festival and dug the original UNFRIENDED (like I did) then make sure you don't miss the screening labeled "UNTITLED BLUMHOUSE-BAZELEVS FILM".
And just to put it right out there again in black and white, this is not confirmation of Blumhouse's premiere plans. This is just my OCD mind connecting some (not so crazy) dots. But still, here is the FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN of this debate: Remember that "UNFRIENDED-style promo image" I mentioned above? Yeah, go to the SXSW site, right click, and save the image. Surprise.
Thank you, ladies and gentleman, I'm here all week.
UNFRIENDED: GAME NIGHT synopsis:
Using the same computer-screen format, Unfriended: Game Night tells the story about a teen who comes into possession of the new laptop and finds that it may have been stolen. He discovers the previous owner may be watching every move he makes and will do anything to get it back.
Buy the original film on Blu-ray HERE.