Gleefully Sadistic, Favors Gore Over Suspense 

The world has Terrifier fever right now. In light of that, there’s perhaps no better time for Stream, the new film from Terrifier 3 producer Michael Leavy, to land on VOD.  Leavy co-wrote, co-produced, and directed Stream. And he brought more members of the Terrifier team with him. Terrifier series creator Damien Leone produced Stream and worked on the makeup effects. Additionally, David Howard Thornton has a cameo in the picture. In case the name doesn’t ring a bell right away, Thornton plays Art the Clown in all three Terrifier movies. 

The setup for Stream is this:

The film follows the Keenans, a family of four, as they set off on an adventure to reconnect and draw closer. Little do the Keenans know, the hotel they’ve booked has been taken over by homicidal maniacs who are intent on killing each and every registered guest and anyone else who stands in their way. What’s more, the entire ordeal is being live-streamed for an audience. If the Keenans have any hope of escaping, they will have to think on their feet and stay one step ahead of the masked maniacs hunting them for sport.  

With so much Terrifier talent involved, I suspected that Stream would be plenty gruesome. I was not wrong. Not even a little bit. Stream places its kills above all else. The picture is a series of visceral, inventive death sequences, and there is barely any character development. That’s a bold choice. But I don’t think it will matter to the film’s target audience. I don’t imagine most extreme gore-hounds will necessarily write off a film without meaningful exchanges between fleshed-out characters. However, if they are looking for such, they won’t find it here. Now, if it’s viscera-soaked celluloid they seek, they will find that in spades in Stream.   

This kills, though:

Though I have some qualms with other aspects of the film, I have to admit that the kills are pretty epic. They are gross, ultra-violent, drawn-out depictions of brutality. The camera lingers on the aftermath, forcing the audience to confront the outcome of the antagonists’ handiwork. If that isn’t enough to sustain you for the duration, you may find yourself honing in on some of Stream’s flaws. But the level of viscera is definitely not one of them.  

The shock value associated with the grisly sendoffs was enough to sustain my interest for a single viewing. But it’s probably not enough to warrant a rewatch. Not for me, anyway. I wanted a little more than what I got. Or perhaps a little less. I can’t come up with a single reason why the film needed to be 2 hours long, especially with nearly no character development. 

The cast is …. a lot.

Speaking of characters, Stream is bogged down with too many key players. More people introduced to the narrative means more potential kills. I certainly understand that math. But when very few of said characters add anything of value to the proceedings, it becomes tedious to spend time with people who are little more than glorified cannon fodder. 

Despite being overstuffed with numerous storylines and superfluous characters, I do have to give a level of credit to Leavy for assembling a series of killer cameos from familiar faces in the horror genre. Aside from the kills, that was my favorite aspect of the flick.  We get to see Dee Wallace, Tim Curry, Tony Todd, Bill Moseley, Felissa, Rose, and more. Very cool.

Less cool, some of the scares are a little anticlimactic. Case in point: Instead of malevolent characters creeping up out of the corner of a shot, they often materialize in the center of the frame without a lot of buildup or fanfare. That doesn’t have the same impact.

My final nitpick is that Roy (Charles Edwin Powell) and Elaine (Danielle Harris) Keenan (the parental half of the family of four) do not feel like a real couple. They have no chemistry and look like a total mismatch, physically speaking. That took me out of the picture a couple of times. They both turn in fine performances. It’s nothing against either actor. But one of them needed to be recast to establish any level of believability regarding their marital union. 

All things considered, Stream is…

a watchable film. It features a great cast of familiar faces popping up in cameo roles and the kills are as brutal as anyone could want. Your appreciation for the picture will depend largely on how much you like or dislike graphic kills. The entire flick is framed around visceral sendoffs. So, if that excites you, I suspect you’ll have plenty of fun. Stream is now on VOD.

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