Top 10 film of 2022
Deadstream review.
Deadstream has been referred to as found footage meets Evil Dead. That sets an impossibly high standard to live up to. Thankfully, Joseph and Vanessa Winters movie is up to the challenge. Combining effective comedy with a spooky house and practical gore, Shudder has another winner on its hands.
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Deadstream
Directed by Joseph Winter and Vanessa Winter
Written by Joseph Winter and Vanessa Winter
Starring Joseph Winter and Melanie Stone
Deadstream Review
Found footage can be a difficult subgenre to recommend. Even done well it can be too chaotic or suffer from too much camera movement. Deadstream isn’t totally immune to these things…but its winning premise, great script, practical effects and fun lead performance overcome all of it. I don’t know if Deadstream would be the movie that would change the mind of people dead set against watching found footage movies…but I do know it’s the one I’d show them to find out.
Shawn (Joseph Winters) is a disgraced internet who is desperate to regain his followers. His insensitive stunts and obnoxious attitude saw him taken offline for six months. Now back, he devises the ultimate stunt to get viewers. He’s going to spend the night in an allegedly haunted house.
While Shawn is alone on screen for most of the movie, he is never without someone to talk to since he’s live broadcasting to an audience. A chat is occasionally seen in the corner of the screen for Shawn to react to. These simple devices do wonders to liven up an experience that could have easily been monotonous or boring.
The first half of the movie sees Shawn walking around the house telling his viewers about the history of the house and its ghosts. The second half pays off all that build up. Deadstream is, essentially, watching the most easily scared person in the world walk into a house that is, in fact, haunted. That could work as a straight horror movie, but the addition of some good comedy makes the first half of the movie work. The second half works because it plays with that concept and adds a different kind of humor. This is where its Evil Dead influence comes in.
You’d be forgiven for confusing the things Shawn comes across with the Deadites from the Evil Dead movies. That is very a good thing. They have personality and fight scenes are played for all the fun practical gore effects they can fit in the first-person frame.
Fun is the operative word when discussing Deadstream. Whether confronting a monster, being challenged by his viewers in the chat, or retreating from the slightest noise…Shawn’s character brings the fun in. The performance must carry every frame of the movie. Whether it’s eerily quiet or he’s loudly on the run, Shawn’s running, terrified, commentary feels incredibly authentic. There are points where you will be annoyed by him. It would be hard for anyone to talk to themselves for an hour and a half and not be annoying…but this feels purposeful.
Shawn tries to uncover the mysteries of the house, with occasional video help from viewers (and one particularly overzealous fan), to try and find a way out of his predicament. These interludes are clever. They give Shawn information that he both needs and would never figure out on his own. Especially while he is hiding in a closet under a blanket.
The one aspect of the movie that misses the mark is in handling Shawn’s backstory. It doesn’t do a great job making him feel like the reviled personality he is made out to be. He’s called sexist and racist and a horrible person by his viewers. While some of the referenced previous stunts do point to insensitivities…they are far more likely chalked up to a person who will do anything for fame rather than a person doing them to be insensitive. Whether he’s sorry for what he’s apologized for is a theme in the movie, but it really didn’t need it. There’s no clean payoff even though it does try for one. This isn’t a big negative since it mostly plays in the background to point to character. It’s just a bit more sloppily handled compared to how on point every other choice is.
Saying any more would be a disservice to a clever, wildly fun ride that everyone should sign up for. With Sissy and Deadstream, Shudder is off to an incredible start to their spooky season original offerings.
Scare Value
Deadstream combines much of what makes a good horror movie. It’s spooky enough, while being funny and clever. Some nice practical effects and gore add to the fun. And that’s exactly what Deadstream aims to be. It succeeds at delivering a fun ride through a haunted house with enough twists and turns to never feel repetitive.
4/5
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