Stream (2024) by Michael Leavy

Director: Michael Leavy

Year: 2024

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Slasher

Plot:

Preparing for an upcoming event, a family arrives at a remote hotel for a vacation that will hopefully return to a sense of normality which soon alerts them to a demented game where a group of serial killers arrive and livestream their creative kills on victims around the world.

Review:

This was a rather troubling if still enjoyable enough genre effort. Among its brighter elements is the rather strong build-up throughout here as the series of encounters to set everything up. With the idea of the family going on vacation to the hotel where they’re in the process of setting up the guests in a demented survival game with hints about the down internet connections, the series of disappearances to the workers or guests around the hotel, and the personal issues between everyone that keeps them just missing the obvious following them, and the first hints of everything happening taking out the random stragglers in the outer reaches of the hotel leaving the main players left to undergo a massively entertaining series of stalking sequences featuring the brutal torture and death of the various performers which gives this a great dose of solid and effective deaths. All in all, it’s enough to hold this one up for most out there.

There are some big issues to this one that hold it down. One of the main factors with this one is the obviously egregious and grossly exaggerated running time that piles on plenty of useless and unnecessary aspects to pad this one out to this running time. From the family issues that try to highlight how they’re desperately in need of a vacation with the self-absorbed son and trouble-making daughter, the interactions at the hotel that point to getting extended cameos on-screen for the numerous side characters featured here, or just trying to plant doubt in the allegiance of others where the true nature of what’s going on makes for some sluggish moments here waiting around for this one to get going. As well, the brutality in the stalking scenes with the focus on torturing the victim to get the most carnage possible means they’re also exaggeratedly overlong and overstay their usefulness so it feels much longer than it really should.

The other issue to be had with this one is the simplistic story that never really explains itself as much as it should. The whole idea of the game makes little sense with a rudimentary explanation made towards the end about wanting to indulge in the perverse thrill of letting go and employing your baser instincts for others to enjoy as if they’re the ones going through the actual killing themselves with everything kept to such speculative formats that the concept of the game itself is only given away since the focus is on other factors instead of the more important storyline. With the scale and scope of the storyline depicted here involving global gambling over the stream and how it all plays out, there’s not much given about how it goes down so everything takes on a rather lacking tone that never quite comes together, all holding this down overall.

Overview: **.5/5

An excessively overlong and troubling slasher, there are some issues with this one that hold it back for the few positives present that this one has, leaving it a watchable if disappointing effort. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of the style or don’t mind the negatives too much and just looking for a gruesome bloodsoaked slasher effort while most others out there should heed caution.