by Robert scucci
| High
Every once in a while, I fall into a low-budget movie with reviews, and I want to see if I am ready to appreciate the project for what it is, or if I go to break it as that I can do something better (SPOILER: I can’t). When Reddit User U / Iamgodhimselsa boldly stated that 2017’s The stream is the scariest movie they’ve ever seen, I had my doubts – especially when I read every comment calling the film a camera pay and low pay.
Naysayers aren’t necessarily wrong in their analysis, but you can’t watch movies made for around $3,000 by watching as many budget flicks as you want. The stream there are clear limits that you have to look past the bigger productions, and their audiences, for nothing.
If I had to describe The stream In one sentence, I would say, “It’s a vibe.”
Not many of them
The stream It spends most of its runtime in Stephanie’s (Brittany Dunk) apartment, and is given most of the revelations we need to know via a radio broadcast. As a long tracking shot follows Stephanie to her house, the radio says that her boyfriend David recently committed suicide by stabbing himself in the eyes. According to the broadcast, there was no play.
After establishing the isolated environment, The stream Introducing Sarah (Gloria Bueno), who pays a carefree visit for her best friend. Through only a few dialogues in the film, it’s obvious that Stephanie’s mourning has made her act, causing her to lose close relationships while she’s dealing with her boyfriend’s death. During this brief exchange, Stephanie tells Sarah that David started acting like a different person after imagining in a coffin someone who hadn’t died yet.
To make things even more unsettling, Stephanie reveals to Sara that she’s been getting voicemails from David despite disconnecting her phone days ago.
A seemingly endless loop
Its name is displayed, The stream Stephanie and Sara head to David’s office, where the live stream is still playing. David’s notes suggest that he can’t stop looking at the stream or the man in the coffin will come after him. Sarah has a seizure and locks herself in the bathroom in a panic after recovering. Just as the bathroom door was in the bathroom, his doorbell rang, and he found Sara at the front door as if nothing had happened.
Stephanie finds herself trapped in a terrifying time involving David’s corpse chasing her, and the archived footage from the stream leaving her deputies in the dark.
An Unnerving Bright Kids Rock
Listen, I’ll be the first person to tell you that The stream a total tarm-hour film- not counting the excruciating 15-minute post-credit sequence, the film is literally an hour long, and author Isaac Rodriguez (best known the “not sleeping” the YouTube Channel) Clearly there aren’t many resources to bring this movie to life. Despite the limitations of film, the long tracking shots of the camera that make up the film get under your skin like the color red, in the blue saturations that consume your red deer land. demon, or demons, run amok in Stephanie’s apartment.
The whole thing The stream Plays as if an unknown entity is behind the camera, following Stephanie’s every step while she is completely unaware of its presence. The feeling is like a series of terrible vignettes stitched together in an attempt to tell a MOONLIGHT ROMANCEI will call The stream A strong proof of concept from an up-and-coming horror auteur with the ability to use the “most catastrophic failure to recreate paranormal activity success even in addition to increasing production budgets with each successive installment of the series.
I didn’t say that The stream is the best horror film I’ve ever seen, but I have to give credit where it’s due because there are some scary sequences, and jump scares that make me go “ughh!” on more than one occasion.
As of this writing, you can watch The stream For YEARS free, it’s a service I keep coming back to for its catalog of silly and experimental content that I can’t find on any paid streaming service.