Unknown Number: The High School Catfish Review: A Baffling Documentary That Will Leave You Shocked

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish Review

Director: Skye Borgman

Date Created: 2025-08-29 12:30

Editor's Rating:
4

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish Review: In this true-crime documentary film, a teen and her boyfriend are relentlessly cyberbullied by a blocked number. The month-long ordeal ends up turning their small town upside down, revealing a dangerous secret underneath.

The film has a runtime of 94 minutes.

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish Review

It’s not every day that I feel completely confused about everything at the end of a documentary, but Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is a baffling film that is not without its insane twists and turns, culminating in a climax that is nothing short of shocking. The film follows high school student Lauryn, who, along with her boyfriend at the time, starts to receive cyberstalking messages out of the blue one day. What starts as everyone thinking of being a jealous classmate soon takes a bizarre turn when the local sheriff hands the case over to the FBI, and he unearths things that no one could’ve ever imagined.

I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary because it is just so chilling. Not because it has some bloody and gruesome crime or tons of dead bodies, but because of how senseless it all seems. There is no clear motive at the end, which leaves you frustrated. The fact that the film showcases regular people we might come across every day is another depressing reminder of how any of our lives can go haywire at any point and destroy everything that we have worked for and loved.

The film is 94 minutes of twists and turns and will leave you questioning who the real perpetrator is. Although I thoroughly detested the over-the-top recreations and the B-roll footage that made everything a bit too melodramatic, the core story is a cautionary tale to keep our eyes and ears open. Bad things don’t just happen to people on our screens – they are very much a reality in our everyday lives, and anyone can snap at any moment.

What is most frustrating about the film is the fact that it doesn’t really have a satisfying answer to the questions that it raises. You question why the perpetrator would do such a thing or why Lauryn still holds a place in her heart for them, and you will come up blank because there is no good answer that will satisfy your curiosity. Of course, a mental health crisis plays a part here, but can we truly forgive such a huge breach of trust and mental anguish because the perpetrator was suffering mentally?

There’s also the question of the entire thing being sexually motivated, and although that’s obviously a part of it, we don’t touch upon it too much. I feel like that was a missed opportunity, and better questions needed to be asked surrounding the real motivations instead of going on a tangent about past trauma and whatnot. But maybe I am being too harsh. Either way, it’s a very engaging film.

Final Thoughts

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is a very entertaining documentary film that will leave you completely shocked. It’s such a baffling story that the shortcomings of the film take a backseat. All in all, if you like true crime docs, this one’s an interesting film that will leave you hooked for answers.

Also Read: Two Graves Review: A Short, Fast-Paced, But Unsatisfying Thriller