William Rollins Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a depressed teenage boy who spends most of his life online, seeking connection in chatrooms rather than in his daily routine. One day he creates a room named “Chelsea Teens!” and, in it, he encounters a tight-knit group of peers—Jim [Matthew Beard], Eva [Imogen Poots], Emily [Hannah Murray], and Mo [Daniel Kaluuya]. The film follows the intimate, text-based conversations of these four friends as they imagine themselves together in an old hotel-like space, blurring the line between online chatter and real life. The story frames their lives through a shared, almost claustrophobic lens where digital connection becomes the center of their existence.
William, a loner who lives with his parents, carries a deep resentment toward them, blaming their presence for his troubled past. Jim, likewise isolated, is grappling with depression after his father walked out on him and his mother. Eva is a model who endures routine bullying from coworkers who fixate on her looks. Emily feels emotionally distant from her parents, sensing a lack of attention. Mo reveals a troubling complication: he believes himself to be attracted to his friend Si’s prepubescent sister, Keisha, a truth that gnaws at him and adds a dark undercurrent to the group’s dynamic. Si Jacob Anderson is a fellow friend whose perspective becomes part of the volatile mix, and Keisha Rebecca McLintock enters the story as a fragile, provocative element in Mo’s troubling thoughts.
William discovers a dangerous way to bend the group’s dynamics to his will. He Photoshops embarrassing pictures of Eva’s coworker and posts them online, pushing Eva into a corner she did not choose. He pressures Jim to swallow his antidepressants, nudging him toward a careless vulnerability that would reveal his face behind the medication. He also nudges Emily to do something cruel, partnering with Eva to craft scenarios of harassment that would force her parents to intervene and protect her, escalating the sense that danger lurks behind every screen. He even tries to coax Mo into telling Si the truth about Keisha, but Si recoils, calling him a pervert and reacting with aggression.
As William’s influence grows, he spirals into a darker, more menacing presence, watching others’ real-world tragedies unfold online. He hatches a plan to push Jim into suicide, and the tension shifts from digital theater to a palpable, dangerous real-world consequence. The mood shifts when William’s father confiscates his computer and phone, a moment of fragile control that ends with a shocking discovery: a video of a suicide. Undeterred, William rebuilds his digital toolkit and pursues Jim, reaching out to him at a famous London locale—the Zoo—while Mo and the others realize the gravity of his intent and race to intervene in person.
What follows is a tense pursuit through London as the group tries to outmaneuver William’s escalating scheme. Jim arrives at the zoo first but chooses not to go through with his plan. He attempts to leave, yet William pursues him relentlessly. In the confrontation that follows, Eva lands a punch, and the rest of the teenagers converge, reinforced by the arrival of the police. William’s attempt to escape ends in tragedy as he clambers onto crates and falls before a speeding train, dying in an abrupt, haunting moment. With the danger over, the teens disengage from one another, and William’s online presence is shut down. The film closes on a stark, quiet image as he walks through a chat tunnel, the light fading behind him.
The movie paints a stark, cautionary portrait of how online interactions can amplify vulnerability, loneliness, and manipulation when young people seek belonging in the shadows of the internet. It probes questions about anonymity, accountability, and the blurred lines between virtual and real-world harm, all while maintaining a restrained, somber tone that invites reflection on the consequences of digital culture.
