6 Screenlife Movies That Are Actually Good (Unlike ‘War Of The Worlds’)
While it’s certainly impressive to create a good movie with different locations and sceneries in general, it’s even more impressive to create a movie that fully takes place via a screen. The whole idea of screenlife movies is simple: everything unfolds on screens (you know, through messaging, FaceTimes, Zoom calls, social media, etc); basically the digital spaces we spend an embarrassing amount of time in anyways (seriously, my screentime is higher than I’d like to admit.)
But what makes this genre so addictive is how immersive they are, in ways traditional filmmaking sometimes isn’t. It can turn the most boring actions, like looking at the three dots waiting for a friend’s reply, into a moment of pure tension. The best screenlife movies make the audience feel like they’re a part of the story, peeking over the protagonists’ shoulders and panicking while they battle some sort of horror or mystery in the digital world. But on the other hand, it’s easy to mess up. Which brings me to War of the Worlds (the screenlife version, not the 2005 Spielberg classic). It had the tools and the format, but fell flat when it came to execution (especially when it felt like a huge product placement for Amazon).
The six movies on this list get it right and prove that the genre works because its story and format are in perfect sync. Whether you’re looking for scares or human connection, there’s a film here that will capture your attention, so click through to Prime Video, Shudder, and more, to watch now!
Whenever someone asks me for a screenlife movie recommendation, I always tell them to watch Searching (or season 6, episode 16 of Modern Family where they did an entire episode in the screenlife format. Genius!) David Kim desperately tries to find his missing teen daughter by piecing together her life (lots of which she hasn’t shared with him) with the help of social media, video chats, and old photos and videos.
Where every detail matters, Searching is a tight and intimate screenlife mystery that pulls you in and invests you emotionally in the stakes. The ending is especially thrilling; just when it seems like all hope is lost and the investigation has reached a dead end, and David’s daughter will likely never be found, it suddenly kicks into high gear, leading to the climax. With a smart storyline and plot twists that you can’t help but be hooked on to from the very first minute, this film is definitely worth the watch if you like tense, slow-burn thrillers like Gone Girl. If you have time for only one movie on this list, let it be this one.
Missing flips the script that Searching wrote. Instead of a father trying to find his missing daughter, Missing follows a daughter trying to find her missing mother in this cross-country mystery. If you loved Searching, then Missing is a worthy follow-up and should be your natural next stop, only there aren’t any plot connections as such since the latter is a standalone sequel in the same anthology series.
I felt Missing was slightly more fast-paced than Searching was, and this may also be intentional as this time we have a technologically savvy teenager handling the reins. This movie is more, let’s say, ambitious, and jumps across apps and plot turns at a speed that sometimes feels like it’s daring me to catch up (TaskRabbit and its Spanish counterpart! A dating app! Live tourist cams from Colombia!) But on that same note, I can also appreciate how it leans into realism without overly depending on plot tricks just for the sake of a scare. Missing isn’t as horror-focused as Host, so if jump scares aren’t your thing, then this is a safer bet. Fans of true crime documentaries where urgency is key will enjoy this screenlife thrill ride.
The Den is an interesting entry because it feels a bit too real at times. While there are some fun horror movies, like Scary Movie, The Den is more of a “I should probably cover my webcam after this” sort of horror. The film follows Elizabeth, a woman who’s researching online social behaviors on the titular site for her thesis, and ends up witnessing a murder online.
If tension and paranoia is what you look for in your films, then The Den is the movie that’ll make you realize that the internet isn’t a safe place. From a viewer’s perspective, I did feel as though the ending felt like it could have come like 15 minutes earlier, and some of the characters frustrated me. But, fans of films that serve psychological tension on a platter will like The Den as a dark, unraveling, and smartly constructed film (for the most part) that can be paired with something like Cam. The Den is voyeuristic, and that uncomfortable tone of watching and being watched is what sets this entry apart.
Zoom loyalists will be afraid of it for a solid week, and for good reason, because while Host is short, it’s absolutely ruthless. Don’t let the almost-one hour run time fool you, it wastes zero time and gets straight to the point (which is gory deaths, of course.) Six friends gather on a Zoom call for a virtual seance during lockdown, and things naturally go horribly wrong.
Host is the perfect film for people on time crunches or with short attention spans. It never sways away from what it sets out to do, and that simplicity is its strength. I will say, Host isn’t very character-driven, as it lays out the stakes and then elevates them. It’s easily the most efficient movie on this list where the payoffs are terrifying and immediate. If slow-building unease is your cup of tea, then The Den might be a better fit for you. However, viewers who enjoyed the stripped down terror of Paranormal Activity (a movie that influenced Host), will find that Host hits the same nerve, only it’s a cursed video call that turns into a full-on nightmare.
Unfriended walked, so that Host could run. The premise is similar; a group of high school friends are haunted online by the spirit of a classmate who died by suicide. While it may be easy to write Unfriended off as a film that requires a strong suspension of disbelief, it’s one of the earliest films to tackle the screenlife concept and make it a huge box-office success, and that itself deserves respect.
Unlike Host, where it feels as though the plot is running on an adrenaline rush, Unfriended takes its time in introducing the characters and fueling the tension between them and their relationships. Early 2010s enthusiasts will love the way the internet culture has been portrayed in the film (hello, Skype!), along with how the horror has been packaged with it. You’ll spend a lot of time watching teens gossip and bicker, and you’re probably not going to end up liking any of these characters, but that’s kind of the point. You’ll get to watch a group of flawed people spiral, though the acting can be a bit uneven. Adolescent horror movie fans will have a blast with Unfriended, and if you want more internet horror, head over to the standalone sequel, Unfriended: Dark Web.
Now comes a screenlife film that offers respite as a palate cleanser after all the thriller-horror movies we explored above. It proves that not all screenlife films are playgrounds for mystery, and that it can actually be quite lovely. Language Lessons tells Adam’s story, a man who takes online Spanish lessons from a teacher named Cariño, and over video calls, they form an unexpected bond.
Language Lessons explores how the internet brings people together in meaningful ways, a concept that has increased in popularity since the pandemic. That said, the movie isn’t ‘dramatic’ like the other entries on this list. It makes you care for Adam and Cariño and their quietly powerful friendship, where it feels like you’re eavesdropping (in a non-creepy way) on two lives which are intersecting. Searching brings the emotional grounding, but Language Lessons strips things down further. Fans of relationship-driven movies like Before Sunrise will vibe with this film too. If you’ve overlooked Language Lessons thus far and omitted it from your ‘screenlife films to watch’ list, I urge you to give it a try, it might just pleasantly surprise you.
