Take ‘Request’ at your peril

The Facebook-themed horror movie “Friend Request” spooks its way into theaters this weekend, hoping to turn up filmgoers who are ready for lower temperatures, Halloween and things that go bump in the night. Shockingly, “Friend Request” delivers. This scarefest is so gloriously dumb that it is surprisingly a whole lot of fun.

This German/South African co-production, directed and co-written by Simon Verhoeven, takes the social networking site and mashes it up with message-board phenomenon Creepypasta to craft a horror flick that’s based in technology but rooted in a far more ancient evil.

The plot moves along swiftly, using tried-and-true horror and teen-genre character types and tropes to facilitate rapid comprehension of the story, before it descends into witchcraft, childhood trauma and black mirror rituals. But once it leaves its technological home base of Facebook, the film loses much of its steam, as we’re treated to that old chestnut of classic horror filmmaking — a final girl running away from a man with a knife.

It’s the highest praise to describe “Friend Request” as “a hoot” — the kind of midnight movie best seen with a large crowd laughing and screaming along, offering words of advice or encouragement to the naive characters on-screen. If that’s your thing, it’s a good idea to accept this “Friend Request.” “Friend Request.” Rated: R, for horror violence, disturbing images, and language. Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes. Playing: In general release.