by Nick Nitkowski

Horror and slasher films are an art form. Especially when the budget is small. They are almost guaranteed success. Little money in with big financial return. But there are some contributing factors in play. The story must be good or at the very least memorable. If it’s forgettable, you’re not going to see much success from the project. This is something that Hollywood hasn’t quite grasped yet. They often stumble upon success by accident and then they dish out countless sequels that don’t capture the magic simply because they think more money in makes more money back. But with less money, the team behind the project has to get creative and smart with their budget to produce the best results they can. “Stream” is one of those movies. 

“Stream” is a low-budget slasher horror film directed by Michael Leavy and is produced by the team behind “Terrifier 2” and the upcoming “Terrifier 3” and stars David Howard Thornton, Jeffery Combs, Daniel Roebuck, Danielle Harris, and Tim Reid. There are other big-name celebrities listed in the cast of this movie, but I’m excluding them because they are not major characters in the story. If anything, they have considered cameo appearances that could get bigger roles in the future should they choose to make a sequel. The story follows a disjointed family looking to bond with each other on a family weekend at a familiar hotel, but soon find themselves caught in the middle of a game of life and death as a group of killers, known as Players, are hunting down each hotel member while streaming the carnage online. 

As stated before, this is a low-budget slasher movie and you can tell the very moment the film starts. Some could see this small budget as part of the charm and there are a lot of things in this film that garners respect. But there are also a few things that do fall a little bit short. Focusing on the positives first, there is no use of CGI in the film. Everything is done practically and on camera, especially the gorey kills. No easy task in this digital age we live in. The crew behind the film used what they could to make the film and that is very admirable. 

Where the film falls a tad short for me lies in its pacing and some of the acting. For me, it felt like it took a while for the meat of the story to begin. With a runtime going over the 2-hour mark, I felt like it could have been trimmed down a bit to an hour 45. As for the acting, I noticed that a few line deliveries felt unnatural. Not sure if it fell on the direction or the actors themselves, but it is what it is. There was one scene where a character needed to cry, and unfortunately, it wasn’t convincing. Aside from that, the acting was fine. I would one day like to see David Howard Thornton do something other than play a silent killer. We already know that he does that very well as Art the Clown.

Overall, “Stream” is the kind of low-budget movie that could gain a following from horror fans, of which I am one as it was the “Terrifier” team that brought it to my attention which had me seek it out. It provides a simple concept with lots of unique kills. Any fan of low-budget horror will easily find enjoyment with “Stream.” How long it will last in theaters remains to be seen, so if you’re a fan, I would seek it out sooner rather than later. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait for it to Stream online 

3 stars