Stream

The killers have a great look- modern carbon fiber masks with LED lights that give it a unique video game feel. The style this was shot as also aids itself to that look. The cast is mega from all walks of horror life. Standout performances by Jeffery Combs and Danielle Harris as well as some really well acted supporting roles from Tim Reid, Dee Wallace and Terrifier's David Howard Thornton , Wesley Holloway and Michael Leavy (also the director). I enjoyed the surprise cameos of Tim Curry, Bill Moseley and Tony Todd. The biggest compliment however goes to newcomer Charles Edwin Powell as our hero/protagonist. Not often do you see a final dad. Some characters make questionable decisions for sure but its clear it was an intentional tribute to slashers of the golden era of horror (IE 80s). A tighter beginning- getting us into the game faster and more explanation into how it works would've called for a higher score but didn't take away from the experience when all was said and done. It's evident the filmmakers are saving those details for an eventual sequel and I am here for it.

In Stream, Danielle Harris plays the mother of a 16-year-old girl - that makes me feel very old! Harris is just one of the many horror icons that appear in this gory throwback to when horror didn't feel the need to be 'elevated' - just fun. And it almost succeeds. Almost.

The film takes place in a hotel, where the Keenans - father Roy (Charles Edwin Powell), mother Elaine (Harris), daughter Taylor (Sydney Malakeh) and son Kevin (Wesley Holloway) - have decided to take a family break. Unfortunately, the building has been chosen by an underground organisation as the latest location for an online game of murder, the hotel guests stalked and killed by masked maniacs, with the whole thing streamed live for the enjoyment of gambling sickos.

Director Michael Leavy is clearly aiming for the same level of success enjoyed by his pal Damien Leone (director of the Terrifier movies), even to the point of casting Art the Clown himself, David Howard Thornton, as one of the killers. Leone provides the splattery effects, so gorehounds are well catered for, but what lets the film down are the weak script, which is full of plot holes, the performances, an overlong runtime (at just over two hours), and the generic killers, which reminded me of The Purge and The Strangers, amongst others.

If you're in it for the gore and the cameos (which include Dee Wallace, Felissa Rose, Tony Todd, Bill Moseley and Tim Curry), then you won't be disappointed, but considering the talent involved, I had hoped for the film to be much better overall.

Originally I didn't feel the need to write a review for this pretty run of the mill bad horror movie. But then I saw that this movie had suspiciously good reviews and felt compelled to counteract them.

This movie doesn't have much to offer aside from the many cameos from horror movie icons such as Tony Todd, Jeffrey Combs, David Howard Thornton, Felissa Rose, Bill Moseley, Danielle Harris, Tim Curry, and probably others that I'm forgetting. The gore is also pretty good if you like gorey movies.

The acting from the nameless actors is subpar, the script and plot is boring and stupid. A movie this bad needs to have a 90 minute runtime, stretching this to 120 minutes is an unforgivably arrogant move. Everything about this movie is so generic, nothing really stands out. Don't bother wasting your time with this one. Plot holes galore!

The Keenan family checks into a hotel for a family vacation, unaware that they and the other guests are players in a deadly game.

The story is a mostly mashup of 3 horror flicks from the early 2000s: Vacancy, Halloween: Resurrection, and The Strangers, mixed with a little DeathRace 2000, and it has uncomfortable gore on par with Eli Roth films and the Saw sequels. I've got no problem with movies being derivative or gory if they're good, and I'm all for indies, but the overwhelming acclaim on this one is truly baffling.

The story isn't great, and the dialogue for the Kennan family is consistently poorly written (which makes their acting seem terrible). We never get a satisfying explanation for why the game is happening. Tim Reid is way too good for this movie. Jeffrey Combs. Danielle Harris, and Tony Todd give the kinds of performances fans would expect, and most all of the other genre names are wasted in minor roles. If you're looking for Tim Curry and Bill Moseley, it's a long wait since they don't show up 'til the middle of the end credits. And even Dee Wallace couldn't sell bad dialogue.

It's well-shot. The gore is realistic. But it's ridiculously overlong, tedious, inscrutable, and hardly the perfect 10 of a movie that countless (likely fake) reviewers have proclaimed it to be. A 4 is being generous, and it's mostly for the impressive FX and a few decent performances.

As a die hard Terrifier and Fuzz on the Lens fan I think I set me expectations way too high. As I look at the numerous 10/10 scores on IMDB it's evident to me that many other fans like myself who have become near family with these filmmakers through social media are doing the kind thing by building this film up to help it. I get it. I am an indie filmmaker myself and understand that building bonds with your niche audience is imperative for any sustained success. But as an audience member I was not very entertained. Aside from Paul Wiley's score, David Howard Thornton's very reminiscent of Art the Clown performance, and Jeffrey Combs who carries much of this film, it felt like a chore to get through. This felt like a first draft of a script that needed more outside eyes on it. The dialogue was flat and characters one dimensional. The "game" I don't think even began til around 45 minutes into the film (or at least it felt that way) The entire runtime before that dragged and dragged. I can count two times that I began to nod off. You also get no real exposition as to why this game is being played, who the players are, or its audience. It would've benefited from some intercutting shots between the game and certain audience members watching and rooting for their favorite players to remind you that this is actually a "stream". What it does do is benefit from the great makeup fx work we've come to love and expect from Damien Leone. There are a few really nice kill scenes that give you big time Terrifier vibes. It just doesn't have enough.