Michael Leavy’s Stream is heavily advertising itself as a film from the producers of Terrifier 2 and as a comparative title, this film certainly doesn’t disappoint on the gruesome kills with Damien Leone supervising the F/X. A newly reopened hotel becomes the home of a deadly game of cat and mouse where four anonymous players, marked with only the number they represent, hunt down the guests one by one. The catch, every kill racks up points for the executing player as every slaughter is captured over livestream. 

 

Now with that notion of live-streaming in mind, from the perspective of the initial release (hints have been made at more expansion in future installments) it leaves its titular concept a little too open for interpretation and relatively unexplored. There’s one kill that perfectly reflects what the film could’ve been able to capture as it is purely depicted through the lens of the stream, where most others reflect this idea as seemingly an afterthought. 

 

But the chaos of it all makes this almost be forgiven as after the game begins, the blood sure does starts to pour. The film wonderfully utilizes the hotel setting and it truly feels like an active hotel albeit with very few check-ins. There is one kill that rivals the likes of what’s been seen in the Terrifier films with how disturbingly clever it was. While the players don’t have dialogue, their body language does more than words could ever, especially from Player 2 played by the expressive David Howard Thornton. 

 

At the forefront lies a story of a family fighting for survival and a father looking for a way out. The guests of the hotel are merely NPCs for the Players to pick off one by one, they were never meant to survive and there is no winning for those who check in. 

 

The team behind Stream have brought on board quite the ensemble of recognizable faces from the horror genre; most of whom become easy fodder for the game. Danielle Harris, Bill Moseley, Tony Todd, Felissa Rose and Dee Wallace are just a few of the iconic names attached. 

 

The film is a slasher through and through, heightened with a clever twist, one that could’ve been propelled further with execution that delivered more on the titular concept. Nevertheless, Stream manages to be a gory delight and deliver the right amount of outrageous camp to appease indie horror fans through this 123 minute massacre.