by Robert Scocchi
| Published
Every now and then, I stumble upon a low-budget movie that gets polarizing reviews, and I want to see if I'm the type who wants to appreciate the project for what it is, or if I'll just do it. To tear it apart as if I could make something better (spoiler: I can't). When Reddit user u/IamGodHimself2 boldly declared that it's 2017 Stream It was the scariest movie they'd ever seen, and I had my doubts – especially when I read every comment describing the movie as a self-indulgent, low-budget college project with shoddy photography and very little payoff.
The naysayers aren't necessarily wrong in their assessment, but you can't look at films made for around $3,000 through the same lens you view bigger-budget horror films, because experimental films like… Stream You have clear limitations that need to look beyond the larger productions, which their viewers take for granted.
If I had to describe Stream In one phrase, I would say, “It's an atmosphere.”
Not so much for that
Stream It spends most of its running time in Stephanie's (Brittany Dunk) apartment, and it's through the radio broadcast that we get most of the exposition we need to know. As a long shot follows Stephanie through her house, the radio reports that her boyfriend David recently committed suicide by stabbing himself dozens of times and gouging out his eyes. According to the broadcast, no foul play is suspected.
After creating its isolated atmosphere, Stream She introduces Sarah (Gloria Bueno), who is visiting out of concern for her best friend. Through some of the film's only dialogue, it becomes clear that Stephanie's grief has left her isolated, causing her to lose her job while cutting off most of her close relationships while trying to make sense of her boyfriend's death. During this short exchange, Stephanie tells Sarah that David started acting like a completely different person after becoming obsessed with a live broadcast of a man lying in a coffin before his sudden and horrific death.
To make matters even more disturbing, Stephanie revealed to Sarah that she had been receiving voicemails from David despite the fact that she had disconnected from his phone days ago.
A seemingly endless loop
show her name, Stream He drives Stephanie and Sarah to David's office, where the live feed is still running. David notes that he can't stop watching the broadcast or the man in the coffin will come after him. Sarah had an epileptic seizure and locked herself in the bathroom in a panic after recovering. As Stephanie knocks on the bathroom door, her doorbell rings, and she finds Sarah at the front door as if nothing had happened.
Stephanie finds herself trapped in a terrifying time loop that involves her being stalked by David's corpse, and archived footage from the stream leaving her with hidden hints about her origins.
An unnerving story
Listen, I'll be the first person to tell you that Stream It's an entire hour-long film – not counting the excruciating 15-minute post-credit sequence. The film is an hour long, and writer/director Isaac Rodriguez (best known for No Sleep) YouTube Channel) clearly didn't have a lot of resources to bring this movie to life. Despite the film's limitations, the long camera shots that make up most of the film will get under your skin as the color palette constantly shifts from natural to ominous glowing red to saturated blue that consumes your field of vision like a demon. Or the demons, they explode in Stephanie's apartment.
Overall Stream It is played as if there is an unknown entity behind the camera, tracking Stephanie's every move while she is completely unaware of its presence. It feels like a series of terrifying vignettes stitched together in an attempt to tell A.J Ghost story,I will call Stream A solid proof of concept from an up-and-coming horror auteur with an innate ability to use a “less is more” approach while delivering a form of existential horror that the Paranormal Activity franchise failed to replicate after its first film became a runaway success despite increasing production budgets with each subsequent installment. In the series.
I don't say that Stream It's the best horror movie I've ever seen, but I have to give it credit where it's due because there are some truly terrifying scenes, and jump scares that made me go “Ah!” On more than one occasion.
As of this writing, you can watch Stream Free on Tubi, the one service I keep coming back to for a catalog of experimental and disruptive content that I can't find on any paid streaming service.
