Deadstream
After a public controversy left him disgraced and demonetized, a washed up internet personality tries to win back his followers by livestreaming himself spending one night alone in an abandoned haunted house. When he accidentally pisses off a vengeful spirit, his big comeback event becomes a real-time fight for his life (and social relevance) as he faces off with the sinister spirit of the house and her own powerful following.
- Released: 2022-03-11
- Runtime: 87 minutes
- Genre: Comedy, Horror
- Stars: Melanie Stone, Joseph Winter
- Director: Joseph Winter, Vanessa Winter
Comments
- deloudelouvain - 13 May 2024
Better than I expected it to be.
I'll admit I had doubts about this movie. The reason, it looked like it was going to be a homemade low budget movie, with a very small cast, just one location, and the main actor being also the writer and director. Also shot with a handycam, not really the style I normally like to watch. But Joseph Winter did a good job combining it all. Also the fact that it was about followers and an influencer, not really things or persons I have a high opinion about. But it turned out be subtle irony and that was the thing that made me laugh more than once. As for the horror, for a low budget, it was decent. Mostly jump scares but good ones. Found footage movies can be slow and ultimately boring but this one, although not really a found footage but in the same style, was good entertainment. In this genre well worth a watch. - arungeorge13 - 16 November 2023
An inventive parody of YouTube culture with solid practical FX! [+62%]
Here's the thing with found footage films. In most cases, either the central premise is done-to-death or the central characters are too cocky or uninteresting. In Deadstream, the premise is pretty straightforward but the protagonist is one of those crazy vloggers who'll go to any lengths to gather a following. While he isn't the kind whose motivations you'd instantly fall in line with, his one-liners ("let's demonetize this b*tch" had me in splits!) and quirky personality definitely hook you. So, when this guy, who was once cancelled by the internet for doing some notorious deeds on a livestream, decides to visit a "haunted house", we know he's in for a horrific treat.
The parody elements work to a large extent, especially in the entirety of the first hour. This is coupled with some disgustingly good practical effects, making the scares enjoyable (if not downright scary). Joseph Winter (one of the directors) plays Shawn (the protagonist) in a believable effort. Was he a decent scream-king? Oh yes! Melanie Stone was also fantastic in this, as a supporting character. The final act was a bit of an overkill in my books, with neither the humour nor the effects particularly standing out. The comments section on the livestream continued to be amusing even in these portions. I quite enjoyed the Winters' work in V/H/S 99 too, which I watched prior to this. - Pac-Man-7 - 14 September 2023
Scary, fun and incredibly stupid
I was genuinely scared and felt great to be at my own house, on my own bed and inside the blanket. What I just said is true. It was my experience with first half of the movie. It reminded me of "Granny" that I used to play on my phone (locks and puzzles are meh but still). There is a good chunk of mystery wasted by the childish second half. The streamer wasn't funny at all. There was no need of comedy in it, in my opinion. It may sound fake to some of you guys but this movie is comparable to the original Evil Dead movies and miles better than the disastrous remakes. Make-up, timing and location were close enough to Evil Dead. These three things are very important for a horror movie, and Deadstream... just passed. It was engaging with me. I did not like one thing about the haunted house; Graffiti. People just don't leave the wall alone. I wish the makers were serious about this project and cut out some of the unnecessary comedies, because the second half was not up to the standard. I like good found footages, paranormal investigations and honest make-up efforts; because of these elements, I'm rating it high. - Stranger_Sins - 30 December 2022
A horror comedy that tries a bit too much.
Don't expect horror, or at least a spooky, movie. Because it's not. I was watching this alone in my own little cabin in the woods (no pun intended for horror fans) and I didn't find it spooky whatsoever. But it's probably not trying too either, I guess. It's trying to be funny, and it's trying it A LOT, but it's a bit too much, the main character is a bit too much all over the place. I think they could've toned it down a bit to balance it out and still maintain the comedy.
I heard good things about this movie beforehand - yes, a friend of mine even had it on his top 10 horror movies of 2022... - but it's nowhere near my expectations.
I would say avoid, even if you're into horror comedy. - jamesmcconnon - 18 November 2022
Much better then I was expecting.
You know how most horror comedies are light on the horror, heavy on the comedy, this is the other way around. I wouldn't really call it a horror comedy at all.
It starts a bit slow, and the main character is very annoying, but after about the first fifteen minutes it really kicks into gear. The story is about a live stream from a haunted house that turns out to be more demonic then expected.
The comparisons with Blair Witch are obvious, and the house is the same as you've seen in a million low budget found footage movies, but as the story progresses you get more involved. Shaun almost grows as a human being a few times as he faces his fears, but always manages to pull himself back to his shadow self.
There are some genuinely scary moments, and the use of Internet chat from those watching the live streams is well fine, providing most of the humour.
I'd say the film it reminds me most of its the Evil Dead. Obviously, it's not the classic that one is, but it's worth a watch. - bardattack - 3 November 2022
A decent attempt
The genrously high reviews convinced me this might be a movie worth watching. I must say, I have to disagree with all those who are calling the movie "perfect" and "brilliant." The lost footage idea has been done to death, but it still holds up, so I have no complaints there. The main actor was way over the top with trying to be as feminine as a man can be. It got annoying really fast. Imagine watching 2 hours of Dylan Mulvaney! When a new character came in, the one who plays Chrissy, I decided to stick with it because she actually has some acting chops. She was the best character in the movie, and they ended up making her participation really limited. The story's good. The acting will get on your nerves. - nicolasroop - 28 October 2022
Second rate special FX, predictability and another one of the most annoying main character of all time ruin what could've been great
Let me start off by saying, this movie is nothing new. It did nothing to reinvent the wheel on haunted house flicks, or found footage flicks. Not completely surprising as I feel the majority of haunted house or found footage films have overdone it and there is really nothing new to explore in that arena.
This film also does nothing to mask it's predictability. I saw everything coming from a mile away and the film gets stale from about 30 minutes onward. Any experienced horror fan is going to see this and, in all probability, feel the same way. As soon as "Chrissy" shows up, I knew exactly what I was in for, I knew exactly who she was going to turn out to be and I knew exactly how this movie was going to play out. All the way up to the credits actually. Not one single surprise scare, nor one single surprise story beat. Utterly predictable in every sense of the word.
Now that's out of the way, lets get into the acting. The actress that plays "Chrissy" did a good job at keeping things ghostly. However, the main character is one of the most obnoxious film characters I've seen on screen. He was worse than the main character from Dashcam. If you've seen it, you know exactly who I'm talking about. The film wants us to root for this guy, but I wanted him to die from beginning to end and the pay off from that was much, MUCH less than satisfying. The actors who played the various ghosts you see did a servicable job, but their appearance for the film needed a lot more work and probably more money, which brings me into my next paragraph.
Why on Earth would they make these prosthetics for this movie. They looked so bad and cheesy, like something you'd see at a carnival attraction rather than a ghost you'd see in a haunted house. They were not scary and none of them seemed to be a threat to me. The amount of times the main character kills them just to have them come back on him is ridiculous. The main character must be moronic to have not seen all of this coming.
The only good things I can honestly say about this film is the location is suitably creepy. It helped with building tension throughout the first 30 or so minutes. They really could have done something good here with this location but from the moment the "scary" stuff starts happening, the tension gets killed immediately and I almost started laughing at everything. The main character does not help this at all, with his near constant moments of having to say something stupid or his annoyingly whiny voice screaming or crying. It was just a bit too much on the comedic side of things to really care about any of what follows the first part of the film. The only other good thing I could say about the scares is the baby ghost under the blanket was a good gag. That one almost got me, and would've had the writers/directors been able to set and stick with a scary atmosphere for the whole film. But, alas, that was too much to ask for from this movie.
Overall, it's on Shudder, so if you have Shudder, watch at your own peril. Not the worst 90 or so minutes I've wasted, but definitely not 90 or so minutes I would ever waste again. 1.5 ghost children out of 5.
