Disconnect is the scariest film anyone is ever likely to see. It's scarier than any horror film you will ever see because the kind of stuff that happens in Disconnect happens every minute of every day. The film is made much scarier by the fact that all of the things that go down in the film happen within miles of each other...also a true statement. The internet is a very scary idea. It can destroy people's lives and mess with their minds and first time director Henry Alex Rubin as well as first time writer Andrew Stern bring a truly creepy atmosphere to this fact.
The film starts out with the weirdest, eeriest, most cringe inducing scene you're likely to see in any film in the next couple of years. The three stories are all about someone who is affected by their incredibly dumb decision of their use of the internet. One involves a cyber bullies (Colin Ford and Aviad Bernstein) who intimidate a lonely boy (Jonah Bobo) by creating a fake Facebook girlfriend for him. The next one involves a bored wife (Paula Patton) whose husband (Alexander Skarsgard) is always on business. She decides to talk to a man online about her personal life and in turn gets her identity stolen. The last one involves a young man (Max Thieriot) who works for a Chat Roulette-type website and is interviewed by an intrigued journalist (Andrea Riseborough.) Two of these stories directly connect with one another for a brief second but I choose not to reveal which ones.
The cyber bullying story is by far the best. It will strike a chord with anyone who has read the articles on this subject and especially with those who have seen the incredibly disturbing Amanda Todd video. This particular segment is very accurate to what happens and is very well done. The Chat Roulette story is the second best. It is also very accurate and shows the dangers of those types of websites. Also...Thierot and Riseborough work incredibly well together---giving off excellent chemistry. The identity theft story is the weakest but is also very well portrayed. It's just that this one does too much of the same thing.
The acting is excellent---especially by Jason Bateman as the cyber bully victim's father and the stories all keep you involved through every second. Rubin previously co-directed the excellent 2006 Academy Award-winning documentary Murderball about paraplegics and has once again picked a difficult subject for a film and has made it his own. As well---Stern fills the screen with sharp dialogue and makes sure the audience is completely involved with the film and yet horrified at just how much these things happen.
Disconnect is absolutely riveting from start to finish. It never peters out even when it easily could have at the end. As well---the film is grim and eerie and weird in its subject manner and that's what makes the film what it is. Disconnect should easily find a way into my top three films of 2013 and that's at the very least.
(5 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for sexual content, some graphic nudity, language, violence and drug use---some involving teens)
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