Games can be a fun feature of a family getaway, even when the getaway means disconnecting from everything for a weekend and going to a remote resort hotel. The Keenan family, led by father Roy (Charles Edwin Powell) and mother Elaine (Danielle Harris), embark on a trip to get a break from son Kevin’s (Wesley Holloway) budding streaming career and daughter Taylor’s (Sydney Malakeh) recent run-ins with the law. What starts off as a quiet, unplugged vacation turns into a death game operated by the hotel’s operator, Mr. Lockwood (Jeffrey Combs). The guests, however, aren’t the players, but rather four masked assailants with one directive: blood on the ground means points on the board. Add in a livestream with all sorts of over/under betting, and Stream is a recipe for a slasher with style, particularly in its effects and star-studded lineup.
In so many words, Stream is Hostel meets Most Dangerous Game, with a compelling family drama at its beating heart. It’s not easy, or even efficient, to make multiple likable characters in a slasher film, but at no point during the runtime does it feel like any of the Keenans should meet their fate. The relationships feel genuine and the actors have surprising chemistry. By the time the shit hits the fan, all of the core family have been made agreeable enough that, should anything happen to them, it would be devastating. They’re far from perfect: Sydney is too curious for her own good, Kevin is the baby of the family and therefore naive, and Elaine and Roy often question their own parenting methods.
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Given that the studio responsible for the Terrifier franchise is behind this film as well, it would follow that plenty of gore and dismemberment would follow. That in mind, the first couple of kills are offscreen, leaving the carnage to the imagination. Is this an homage to the ultimate hotel horror that is Psycho, which used clever editing to cover up the gruesome violence of the shower scene? Or is it a red herring to throw off the diehard fans? Either way, it is an interesting choice. Worry not, as when the red stuff gets going, it doesn’t let up, from arcade cabinet crushings to power tool plastic surgery.
The misdirects of the film also make this horrorshow worth tuning into. Without spoiling any major plot points, there was only one twist that I called, if for no other reason than it was blatantly obvious. For a studio whose previous films have been criticized for being gory without a story, there are plenty of measures taken here to make two hours feel like nothing at all. Helping things along is the soundtrack of the film, both in Paul Wiley’s retro-themed scoring and the diegetic music largely provided by First to Eleven.
The ending of the film utilizes several cameos from horror heavyweights, including Tony Todd, Bill Moseley, and even Tim Curry, so if this is the bar being set for a potential Stream 2, the folks at Fuzz on the Lens have done enough to warrant a sequel, if not another franchise. As stated before, there is a beating heart to this film, even if it is an anatomically correct heart that may or may not have been ripped from someone’s chest the hard way.
As of publication, Stream has just wrapped up its limited theatrical engagement. No plans for streaming or a home video release have been announced at this time.
Stream (2024) - Michael Leavy Shows That Fuzz on the Lens Is Far From A One-Trick Pony - Malevolentdark
Director: Michael Levy
Date Created: 1970-01-01 00:33
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