Film

Cyberbully

Name: Cyberbully
Genre: Drama, TV Movie
Released: 2011
Cast: Emily Osment, Kay Panabaker, Meaghan Rath, Kelly Rowan, Jon McLaren

Other titles called Cyberbully: the 2015 film.

Drama

A 2011 TV movie about a teenage girl targeted by online bullying. It's sincere and direct, working hard to take digital cruelty seriously when that still felt novel to mainstream media. Made for viewers who want their stories to acknowledge what's actually happening to young people, without irony or distance.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a plain, earnest TV movie about a parent and child facing online cruelty together, and you don't mind its message delivered without subtlety.

Skip it if you want anything subtle or fresh, since its message is spelled out loud and viewers have rated it modestly.

What it asks of you: Ninety minutes of plain, earnest storytelling that follows a mother's anxious attention to her daughter; little ambiguity, and the pull comes from sincerity more than craft.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

13 Reasons Why2017

A series that treats teen trauma and social cruelty as worthy of sustained, unflinching attention. It builds a complex portrait of how casual harm accumulates into something catastrophic.

But The show's graphic content and bleak tone can feel punishing rather than cathartic. Some viewers find its approach to depicting suicide irresponsible.

Eighth Grade2018

Bo Burnham's film captures the specific texture of being thirteen online: the anxiety, the performance, the desperate desire to be seen and the terror of being seen. Funny and aching.

But It's deliberately awkward in a way that can feel uncomfortable to watch. Some find the social-media saturation exhausting rather than enlightening.

Palo Alto2014

James Franco directs this portrait of high schoolers adrift in California's suburbs. It's slow and observant, letting you sit with boredom and bad decisions without judgment.

But The pacing is deliberately glacial. Nothing much happens in the conventional sense, which many find dull.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Cyberbully

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

We Need to Talk About Kevin2011

Both examine how isolation and invisible cruelty shape young people's inner lives, though this film zooms out to ask what darkness can lead to catastrophe.

Lynne Ramsay's devastating film about a mother reckoning with her son after a tragedy. It's shot through with rage and guilt about how we fail young people, and what cruelty begets.

But It's bleak and formally difficult. The film refuses to guide your emotions, which some find punishing rather than meaningful.

The Hate U Give2018

A sharp, modern story about speaking up when it costs you. The ensemble cast brings real specificity to how young people navigate identity, friendship, and conscience.

But It packs a lot of plot into two hours, which can feel didactic. Some find the messaging overrides character depth.

It Follows2015

A horror film that uses supernatural dread to explore social shame and isolation. It's visually inventive and genuinely unsettling, built on real emotional vulnerability.

But It's oblique about its themes and won't spell them out for you. The ending frustrates viewers looking for clear resolution.

Degrassi2001

A Canadian teen drama that actually addressed cyberbullying, sexting, and social media several years before American TV caught up. Surprisingly mature and unafraid of consequences.

But The early seasons have dated production values and melodramatic acting. It runs for fourteen seasons, which is a commitment.

The Breakfast Club1985

John Hughes's classic about how peers judge and wound each other without seeing the person underneath. It's the DNA of every teen-in-crisis story that followed.

But It's a product of its era: the attitudes toward girls and minorities feel dated. It's also been canonised to the point of being unavoidable.

My So-Called Life1994

A short-lived series that got teenage emotional life right before most media tried. It's sincere about confusion and social anxiety without condescension.

But Only nineteen episodes were made. The unresolved cliffhanger can feel frustrating rather than poignant.

Unfriended2014

A horror film told entirely through a computer screen. It's a gimmick that actually works, creating genuine claustrophobia and using technology's own logic against the viewer.

But The found-footage-via-Skype approach feels dated now. The acting can seem wooden, though that might be the point.

Ghostland2018

Where Cyberbully treats social harm as the problem itself, this film suggests that visible cruelty might be less dangerous than the internal violence we inherit and perpetuate.

A French-Canadian horror film that weaponises trauma and grief. It's visually stunning and psychologically intricate, using genre to explore how wounds repeat across time.

But It's graphic and disturbing in ways that feel gratuitous to some. The twist ending divides viewers sharply.

Detachment2011

Both made in 2011, both insist that the systems crushing teenagers are larger than individual cruelty—institutional indifference might be the real villain.

Adrien Brody plays a substitute teacher moving through a broken school system. It's quietly furious about how we abandon young people, told with documentary-like precision and no easy answers.

But It's depressing and offers no catharsis or hope. The episodic structure can feel repetitive, and there's minimal plot momentum.