i-Lived (2015)

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Josh (Jeremiah Watkins) is an unemployed techno-geek who spends his time in his rent due apartment making reviews for U-Tube. He signs up for an app called i-Lived. The app helps him achieve what he desires, but there is something he must do first. The app takes control of his life.We have seen similar control film with a caller. This one uses an app instead. The backwards "E" in the title is a major clue the reveals itself early in a mirror early on. The acting was okay and the plot could have moved better.Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity

Oh man, the kids of today – social media maniacs to the core, slaves to the app as hardcore as it gets. Many of them have forgotten what every kid should know before leaving the nest: Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. The oldest trick in the book, but it sure is one of the best. Red cape and pointy horns? Not really. In this day and age, the Devil has a sound grasp of contemporary developments, he knows all the dark secrets behind social media's success. About time someone made an indie about it! To warn you in advance, i-Lived won't give you an anxiety attack, that's for sure – it's more of a low-key drama with horror overtones than a straight out shocker. Howerver, if you find yourself disappointed about the direction of Unfriended (2014), that sort of thing, this one might boost your mood.This is all low budget, yes. There are shortcomings, yes. Come on. Who cares? Commitment and a few bright ideas are much more valuable than any budget in the world. Really, there's an unmistakable vibrant charm about i-Lived – again, and not surprisingly, it's all about the lo-fi atmosphere that does most of the heavy lifting.Raise your beer to this brazen indie. Absolutely worthy of support!

The opening shot is a pair of vacant eyes and the sound of flatlining. Except Franck Khalfoun's follow-up to Maniac isn't some desperately moody and morose slow-burn horror, but a swift, darkly comic psychological thriller with ultra-modern themes. Khalfoun is writer, editor, producer and director, and his control of the material shows – up to a point, anyway. i-Lived itself is a fictional app designed to help you achieve your life goals. Type in your ambition, and then follow the instructions that the app churns out. It gets into the hands of Josh (Jeremiah Watkins), a tech vlogger who's trying to get his app review show off the ground. His videos are convincingly abrasive, and packed with amusing narrative references which appear goofy but are loaded with relevance ("Are you proud of me, Dad?" He's really not). Josh is shy and awkward IRL but he's confident on camera. When Josh aspires to woo a girl named Greta (Sarah Power), the app advises he learn to cook, dance, read poetry etc. The strongest section of the story is when we watch Josh attempting to manufacture this perfect personality for himself, in order to appeal to his prey. It plays into the solipsistic fantasy that modern technology can evoke. But then the app starts instructing him to perform more sinister, criminal acts. Is Josh a pawn in someone else's sick game? Or is his bona fide shadow side being given an outlet through this virtual observer?The first half of the film contains many thought-provoking ideas. There's something here about the way it is practically possible nowadays to Google-whack our way to social approval. Also, there are themes about online identity: One way to retain and increase popularity, for example, is through increasingly extreme content. It's when Khalfoun segues into horror that his grip on the high concept starts to loosen. Visually the ideas are still there, and there are some half decent sub-Lynchian dream-states. But Khalfoun's attempts at melding fantasy and reality – thus supposedly drawing us into Josh's mental decline – come across as annoyingly muddled more than devilishly ambiguous. Josh himself is well played by Watkins, who in his gawkiness and intensity reminds me of a younger Adrien Brody. It's a classic case of a lead character whom we may not like as such but with whom we can empathise, and a large part of this is thanks to Watkins' performance, which has nuance and range. I was slightly disappointed by the visualisation of the app itself. For something so supposedly cutting edge it looks distinctly cheap and 2000s. Which brings me to a unique added "bonus": You can actually download the i-Lived app to your smartphone, which pings you pop-ups throughout the film. It's an idea which is both neat and alarming; a gimmick specific to this film, one hopes, rather than the future of movie-watching. Perhaps you may feel that i-Lived is worth it simply for this innovative feature. But aside from that, it's a solidly entertaining movie which manages to be both very relevant (in its subject matter) whilst also niche (in its structure and style). Its black humour may not be for everyone, and the drift into surrealism definitely won't be for everyone. But as far as the tech-horror movement goes, it's a fine entry into the canon.

This was a fantastic concept that was very well executed especially considering you didn't have a huge Hollywood budget. The newcomer cast did a great job building the suspense taking us on an intense journey into a man's Mental unraveling at the hands of this phone app. Watching this film makes us realize how attached we are to our phones, and how we are living as voyeurs watching each other's lives online. Be careful what you wish for and read the user agreement. Great job Franck Khalfoun excellent as always. Rewatch the movie, and watch the videos closely, very creepy stuff.Enjoy!