Directed By Michael Leavy
Starring – Jeffrey Combs, Charles Edwin Powell, Danielle Harris
The Plot – When Roy (Powell) and Elaine Keenan (Harris) realize their family is drifting apart, they decide that something needs to be done. Roy forces his work to take a back seat and they seize the opportunity to recreate a vacation from their past. A peaceful stay in a quaint hotel is just what they need, however that is not what is in store for them. With four deranged murderers patrolling the seemingly mundane halls, the odds are definitely not in the Keenan family’s favor. Roy must fight for his life and those of his family as their simple weekend getaway truly turns into a vacation to die for.
Rated R for adult language, gruesome brutality, and some drug use
POSITIVES
The continued success of independent run horror films provides an outlet for projects like ‘Stream’ to see the light of day, and thankfully so because this is a celebration on all things horror that truly refuses to ever take itself too seriously, while providing intense thrills involving the kind of gruesome practical effects that we’ve come to expect from Damien Leone. While Leone’s capacity here is purely technical, his impact is everlasting, as not only does his viscerally gruesome detail that inspired the ‘Terrifier’ franchise feel every bit believable as it does stomach-churning, with stretched anatomies that the visuals refuse to ever shy away from, but also gives the film plenty of creative kills that allow it to live up to every inch of its purposeful gimmick, where the more ruthlessly innovative the better for these masked psychopaths. On that gimmick, the lack of delving too deep within a two hour run time does leave some unforeseen plot and logic holes in the way this online death game is summoned, but there’s just enough information in the exposition of the way the operation runs to see the potential in the ambition for here and possible future installments, all the while enacting a frenetic fun factor throughout the engagement that continuously keeps audiences guessing, especially with some meticulously measured twists that reshaped the circumstances to how our protagonists fought back against this untimely onslaught. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of ‘The Purge’ for how it depicts such a blood-thirsty society vicariously thriving through trauma used as a means for entertainment, and while the setting here doesn’t exactly feel like it’s necessarily bordering apocalyptic, the extensive outline for how this game is funded by outsiders makes it feel like everybody has a hand towards its prominence, leaving it all the easier to see how a deadly game like this one continues to exist on the dark web. As for budgetary concerns, Leavy and the production miraculously makes the most of every cent of the rumored 2 million dollar budget, with stimulating style in everything from the production designs pertaining to costume, sets and lighting, to surprisingly professional levels of cinematography in presentation, that make this film feel every bit as cinematic as anything shown on the silver screen. Typically within a film this cheaply manufactured, signs of creative limitations tend to feel apparent in ways that compromise the integrity of what we’re experiencing, but Leavy’s direction never feels overwhelmed in the magnitude of those attached, or underwhelming in the ways he captures so many riveting angles that add to these unforgiving physical conflicts, with iconography among shadow play that inscribes an aura of mystique to these menacingly unpredictable killers. Their costume designs are simplistic enough, with slight deviations on their masks and wardrobe to give each of them palpable personalities, without the use of dialogue, and though their humanity doesn’t necessarily make them the kind of unstoppable antagonists that you would expect, the numbers game always gives them an overwhelming advantage against their prey, forcing the audience to stay invested to the stakes and circumstances that could change in the drop of a hat. The production has also assembled a dream team of iconic familiar faces in the world of horror, with some being glorified one-off cameos, and others proving why they’ve provided such an unshakeable legacy to roles that live in immortality. Jeffrey Combs definitely deserves the high praise here, having the time of his life while committing to such on-the-nose dialogue that make it all the easier to forgive how one-dimensionally that these characters are written. Combs oozes slithering seediness in the ways he provides showmanship towards this blood sport, but never in ways that sacrifice the dry charisma of his proven appeal, and if you’re going to have one person reside over these hunts as a visible narrator, it might as well be the Re-Animator himself. Combs is joined by Sleepaway Camp’s Felissa Rose, Tim Reid, Bill Mosely, Art the clown’s David Howard Thornton, Danielle Harris, and even Tim Curry making his long awaited return to cinema, post-stroke, to round out a star-studded dream team of an affair that each of them seem to be having a blast through, with unique manners to how they’re unloaded to the film, which is only missing an overhead applause to score my giddy glee as a longtime horror enthusiast, whenever each of them arrived.
NEGATIVES
Despite ‘Stream’ being a devilishly delightful engagement, it does have some legitimate issues that keep it from reaching the truest extent of its potential, beginning with a two hour run time that it doesn’t earn in the slightest of regards. Beyond a set-up that takes far too long to properly execute, the script is stuffed with insignificant scenes amid an abundance of characters that not only soils the isolation factor of the setting, but also distances the focus of the film from primary protagonists without any semblance of an arc to enhance their appeal in proper characterization, leaving what is easily a half hour of deleted scenes in the finished cut, which plagues it with the kind of inconsistent pacing amid such an over-indulgent reach that has it feeling every inch of its run time. If this isn’t enough, the film just downright refuses to end throughout three different endings, one of which halfway through the post-movie credits, which feel like additional scenes from an already shot sequel, instead of feeling creatively cohesive with this particular installment. With a couple of cameos in the post-movie credit scene, it’s like they attained these stars at the zero hour, long after the film’s production wrapped, but Leavy still wanted to put them somewhere in the film, so he wrote additional scenes that not only contradict what was previously shown at the end of the film, but also has ‘Stream’ feeling like it never knows when to satisfyingly end. In addition, the script is simply nothing special, as gaping plot holes, horror-heavy tropes, and meandered foreshadowing often conflict with my complete investment, leaving just as many leaps in logic as there was predictable outcomes, as a result of the film too often showing its hand too early. These noteworthy instances stand out like a sore thumb during the opening act, where something seemingly insignificant about a character’s capabilities, or even a hotel’s design flaws, feel intentionally conjured to add significant influence somewhere down the line, and almost as if by clockwork, it always materializes into something convenient to the integrity of the scene that it pops into again, with far too many instances giving away key details about where the plot eventually heads. Finally, I previously mentioned how insignificant the characterization feels to the integrity of the product, and that’s mostly because our primary protagonist, a teenage daughter within this family (Played by Sydney Malakeh) is a character who I downright loathed spending so much time with, primarily during the movie’s first act, which goes deliberately out of its way towards showing the selfish ignorance of a teenage girl. One scene certainly could’ve accomplished this, but when this girl goes out of her way to alienate herself from the audience, it leaves me wishing that the script would save its time to use on any of the supporting characters who deserved it so much more, but they’re all blandly lifeless in the depths of their designs, which often leaves the masked and voiceless antagonists feeling like the noteworthy spike that this film so frequently required.
OVERALL
‘Stream’ is a mostly fun and serviceable diversion from contemporary horror with ten times its budget, and half of its entertainment value. Despite some noticeable flaws in the fleshing out of its creative plot, with enough room for growth to field a franchise, the film’s appeal is enhanced by cameos of a dream team of horror royalty, as well as Damien Leone’s gut-wrenching believability for practical effects, connecting it to a faithful audience that will undoubtedly do for it on home release what studios couldn’t do for it in theaters.
My Grade: 6/10 or C+