Every few years, a film comes out that acts as a cautionary tale about the anonymity of internet chat rooms and the inherent dangers that come with them. These films usually suck,  they explore the issue but never add anything interesting or insightful. It is that these films are works of fictions that give them an incredulous feel. It seems like the films makers are making up the worst possible scenarios; forcing a moral panic about the internet and all of the ‘nutters’ lurking behind screen names.

U Want Me 2 Kill Him? is one of these films, however, the exception being that everything in the film actually happened. Whilst trying to write a spoiler free review, it is noteworthy that what happened in the film is public knowledge. Well, the stuff we’re allowed to know, that is,  Vanity Fair published an extensive article on the subject, so may be worth reading before seeing the film. Focusing on Mark and John (played by Jamie Blackley and Toby Regbo), the story tells how John utilises a variety of internet chat room aliases to deceive Mark into friendship. The plot is too complex to explain briefly, but just like the real deal, it’s a complex web of brilliant lies and deceit, concocted by a brilliant but troubled young boy. .

In fact, the story of U Want Me 2 Kill Him? is fairly complex, it is easy to see why Mark was sucked into all of the lies. The multitude of narratives that John lives out in the internet chat room with Mark, all cross over one another very well, the internet chat room is utilised as a story device very well, you get to see the people Mark is interacting with, well, the people he thinks he is talking to. You hear their voices as Mark would have imagined them, it all leads to drawing you in, believing in the story and characters. You feel deceived as Mark was as he stared for hours at those internet chat rooms, typing thousands of words of text to people who never really existed,  up until the reveal, it is obvious something is up, but it was just never obvious it was John.

U Want Me 2 Kill Him? has all of the credibility that other films dealing with this subject matter lack. It has a true story behind it. One about an intriguing web of internet deceit and a cautionary chat room tale, except in this tale, the use of real-life subject matter punctuates the film message. It happened once and it could happen again. In fact, just a British drama focusing on teens not in skinny jeans and cardigans makes it worth a watch.