The latest film to take place entirely on a computer screen, Profile fixes the issues that plagued Unfriended and, to a far lesser degree, Searching.

Much of the improvements come courtesy of co-writer/director Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch; Day Watch), who produced the aforementioned experiments and whose Bazelevs studio developed the Screenlife technology that makes such filmmaking possible. With Bekmambetov finally involved in a fully hands-on capacity — it’s a mystery why it’s taken this long — the unofficial series’ creators at last craft a story that’s a near perfect fit for the format and arguably couldn’t be told better any other way.

Though not revealed to be fact-based until the credits are about to roll, the historical origins of British journalist Amy (Valene Kane, Rogue One) attempting to trick terrorist recruiter Bilel (Shazad Latif, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) into revealing how he brings over newly converted Islamic women from the West nevertheless amplify the plot’s plausibility.

As Amy gains Bilel’s trust, there’s plentiful suspense that she’ll be exposed, and the subsequent believable crumbling of her personal life from her commitment to the assignment, compounded by her becoming dangerously empathetic with her suddenly more human mark after some commonalities are revealed, further amps up the tension.

Profile also nicely clarifies exactly who’s piecing the film together and why — issues that hamper its Screenlife predecessors and found-footage movies in general. As a result, patient viewers have been gifted a lean, intelligent thriller, and the new standard in this still fairly fledgling sub-genre.

Grade: B-plus. Rated R. Now playing at Biltmore Grande and the Carolina Cinemark

(Photo: BEZELEVS/Focus Features)