Stream

This movie was clearly a passion project. It's moreso a love letter to horror fans than one of those movies that takes itself overly serious. It's fun, it's campy, the practical effects are amazing and over the top which is exactly what you'd expect from this team and it has a similar feel to those 80s films we've come to know and love. You can tell the cast had a blast making it and that's one thing that made this so fun to watch. I feel like conceptually speaking there's a lot of real horror here; especially in the age of online media where people do pretty much anything for views and money.

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!

"Stream" (2024) by Michael Leavey, follows many early 2000s film's exploring cyber bullying, cyber stalking, dark web, etc. At one point one could even say it follows a particular Halloween sequel with elements of live broadcast situation or "Reality TV", a dated idea as seen in "Halloween Resurrection" (2002). Others from early 2000s internet-based horror genre from "Feardotcom" and "Friend Request". And not so recent films exploring on/offline violence/stalking: "Megan is Missing" and "Ratter".

Nonetheless "gorehounds" (to refer a dated term) will feel satisfied with a lot of practical gore, provided by "Terrifier" special effects person: Damian Leone. So far - many are talking about the infamous scene of "Noughts and Crosses" game.

It's jam-packed with 80s/80s cult and horror iconic actors: Dee Wallace ("Cujo" and "Howling"), Tony Todd ("Candyman"), Terry Alexander ("Day of the Dead"), Danielle Harris ("Halloween 5"), Felissa Rose ("Sleepaway Camp"), etc. Most of them have small, or comedic cameo roles but shine during their onscreen moment.

Jeffrey Combs from the "Reanimator" franchise is amongst the film's main cast. The story surrounds a remote hotel which becomes a battleground, fight for survival, all online bets placed on the table. Combs character here is full of camp behaviour much like his past "Reanimator" character. One the most surprising cameo is by the famed "Rocky Horror Picture Show" Tim Curry!

If you should support indie cinema on the Big Screen - see film at its current special theater release. I will assumed most viewers will be from horror/cult genre communities, this film won't disappoint with its ultra violence. There's talk about "Stream" sequels to be discussed.

This film is not complete - it does lack needed exposition in its 2-hour long story, would have helped with understanding the terror felt via bad acting from other cast members. Maybe future "Stream" productions can help with the huge gaps with this first one.

I was very impressed with the gore in the film, and there are some fun scenes, but everything that doesn't involve the killers is boring as hell. All of these characters are flatly written and acted with only the seasoned actors standing out.

The gore is the real star of the show and it is not disappoiting. There is a scene where two of the killers play tik tak toe on one of their victims. There is also a very impressive decapitation with one of the most realistic fake heads I have ever seen.

In the end, I am not mad I went to see it. I wish the film had been better but the gore does help you get through all of the other stuff.

I went into Stream without knowing anything about it. Having seen it, I feel like it's a mixed bag, with its strengths being awesome and its weaknesses dragging it down.

Stream falls into a horror subgenre with which I don't have much experience. But it seems like this movie was made for one purpose: carnage candy. It will surely delight fans of exploitation films. My jaw dropped several times at these shocking scenes.

Everything else to do with the horror elements are done well. The masks look great and there are some good jump scares and suspenseful moments. And the music is beastly.

As for the negatives, the best kills happen in the first half. My jaw rarely dropped in the second half. And anything not to do with the horror elements is poor. I try to give a little leeway for such a low budget independent film, especially when it comes to the acting talent available to them. But every conversation is overly long and awkward.

It's like they should cut here, but they continue for an additional 10 or 15 seconds. And this happens 70-80 times, multiple times within the same scene. I was bored and distracted, waiting for something fun to happen.

If that was cleaned up, and a few unnecessary scenes were deleted, Stream could have been a breezy 90-100 minutes. Instead, it's 130 minutes without warranting that runtime.

I had a solid time with this movie, and any fans of this subgenre should check it out. Support independent films.

(1 viewing, opening Wednesday 8/21/2024)