Awarded a prestigious grant to research online video-chat communities, California graduate student Elizabeth (Melanie Papalia) spends most of her days on the Internet, contacting people from around the globe and recording each interaction. Her experiences range from friendly and rewarding to humorous and naughty (more than one swinging penis), but her academic online venture transforms into a nightmare when she sees a disguised man slit the throat of an abducted woman. Soon, Elizabeth and her friends and family find themselves under surveillance and otherwise endangered as one or more murderers set upon them. Such is the anxious and engaging storyline of The Den, a neat genre film which transforms the frame into a simulated computer screen, capturing the scope and speed of modern technology via instant-messaging services and various in-frame live video feeds and exploiting the resultant security concerns with a flair for suspense and unpretentious midnight-movie vigor. The film held me in its grip from frame one onward and builds to a brutal, but satisfying and sound finale, rendering this a worthy option for those in search of a quality independent horror film.

B+