Stream is a 2024 American slasher film co-produced, co-written and directed by Michael Leavy, and starring Jeffrey Combs, Charles Edwin Powell, Tim Reid, Dee Wallace, Wesley Holloway, Sydney Malakeh, Jason Leavy, David Howard Thornton, Liana Pirraglia, Mark Haynes, Daniel Roebuck, Mark Holton, Felissa Rose, Danielle Harris, and Tony Todd in his final film during his lifetime. It tells the story of a family vacationing at a small hotel as its apparent owner unleashes four masked killers on them while live-streaming the activities. Several crew members for Stream, including director Leavy, and executive producers Phil Falcone and Jason Leavy, were involved with the productions of the Terrifier films. Stream was financed in part by a crowdfunding campaign on the website Indiegogo. They raised over $180,000 from the support of horror fans around the world, using the hashtag #JoinTheStream to spread the word. The film was released theatrically on August 21, 2024, and digitally on October 15, 2024.

Plot

At a small hotel, the owner, Linda Spring, is abducted by a masked figure. Elsewhere, the Keenan family, consisting of father Roy; mother Elaine; younger son Kevin; and older daughter Taylor; is in disarray after Taylor is caught stealing alcohol. Roy and Elaine decide to go away for the weekend as a family, driving to the hotel seen earlier. The apparent owner, Mr. Lockwood, lets them know that the hotel does not have any internet connection; the family sees cameras being placed in various locations around the hotel. Taylor meets two foreign teenagers, Theo and Louis, at a bar but is caught by Elaine. In a basement, Linda is murdered by a man wearing a plague doctor costume with a power drill. At night, Taylor sneaks out to hang out with the boys. Mr. Lockwood activates a lockdown and sends out four masked killers; the enigmatic Player One; the brother-sister duo of Player Two and Player Three; and the muscular Player Four. After being caught by a security guard, Lockwood kidnaps him. Roy wakes up and begins to search the hotel for Taylor, who is on the roof along with the boys, while being accompanied by Kevin. While they are gone, Player One sneaks into their hotel room and murders Elaine. Lockwood reveals himself to be the plague doctor to the security guard, who he then stabs to death. Roy finds Elaine's body and teams up with retired police officer Bernard Davidson to figure out what's going on; leaving Kevin in a locked hotel room, they witness the players commit increasingly violent murders, all of which are live-streamed via the cameras and are watched by audience members bidding on the players. One of Player Two and Three's victims manages to escape and when Player Three follows her, she stabs Player Three in the neck with a fork before being killed by an enraged Lockwood. Kevin hacks into Lockwood's system and is discovered by him, who heads to the room to kill him, prompting Kevin to run out. Meanwhile, Theo and Taylor escape the hotel, unaware of the events that transpired, but decide to return where they are both impaled by Player Two. Player Four, who had earlier killed Louis, attacks Bernard and Roy but is shot dead by Bernard; later, Bernard betrays Roy and allows him to be seemingly killed by Player One. Bernard sneaks into Lockwood's control room, revealing himself to be a retired player who wanted to win the game his own way. However, Lockwood reveals that he knew the whole time and kills him with a power drill. Player One finds Kevin but is revealed to be Roy in disguise; together, they manage to set Player Two on fire. Returning to the lobby, they fight with Lockwood until Roy gets the upper hand, only for Taylor, revealed to be alive, fatally stabbing Roy, believing him to be Player One. She then finishes the fight with Lockwood and beheads him with his hatchet, leaving the hotel along with Kevin. Several of the paramedics are shown to be watching the livestream.

Cast

Production

Several producers and crew members for Stream were previously involved with the productions of the 2016 slasher film Terrifier and its sequel Terrifier 2. These include Stream director Michael Leavy, who appears in an acting role in Terrifier and serves as a producer and assistant director for Terrifier 2; David Howard Thornton, who played Art the Clown in the Terrifier films; Damien Leone, director of Terrifier and Terrifier 2, who served as the head of the special makeup effects department and a producer for Stream; Jason Leavy and Steven Della Salla, who played cops in the original Terrifier and Co-Producers on Terrifier 2. According to director Leavy, "We went right into production after completing Terrifier 2, with pretty much the same crew [...]". In September 2021, director Michael Leavy stated that "over 90% of the movie is already shot and in the can. It's currently in post-production, but due to the [COVID-19] pandemic there were a lot of unforeseen expenses we didn't initially plan for in order to keep everyone safe and work efficiently." Leavy went on to say that he and his team "felt that this was the perfect opportunity to offer fellow horror fans a chance to come on board with them to help create something fresh and new for the horror genre". As a result, the filmmakers launched a crowdfunding campaign on the website Indiegogo to help finance the remainder of the film. Tim Curry's involvement in the film was revealed on August 21, 2024, to coincide with the film's release.

Release

In October 2023, a teaser trailer for Stream was released that included 2024 as the set release year for the film. In April 2024, it was announced that Stream would be released theatrically on August 21, 2024. Stream was released digitally on VOD October 15, 2024, following the theatrical release of the same production team's Terrifier 3.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 15 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10. Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote, "At two full hours, Stream inevitably begins to feel overextended after a certain point — particularly when it reaches a coda that feels tacked on simply to cram in a few more guest stars. Still, this unabashedly derivative movie makes so little pretense of aiming for the qualities it lacks, you can hardly begrudge boilerplate slasher enthusiasts the fun they'll have with it."

References

External links

Stream at IMDb