Deadstream (2022)

October 6, 2022 10:52 AM

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 a haunted house. When he accidentally pisses off a vengeful spirit, his 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.

Starring Joseph Winter, Melanie Stone, Jason K. Wixom, Pat Barnett Carr, Marty Collins, and Perla Lacayo.

Written & directed by Joseph Winter and Vanessa Winter.

93% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Currently streaming in the US as a Shudder original.JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (14 comments total)

I have heard nothing but absolute glowing reviews of this, frequently comparing it to Evil Dead 2.

We're gonna watch it tonight or tomorrow and I'll report back.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:05 AM on October 6, 2022

I'm watching it now and finally loving it but I found the first 30 minutes a slog because wow is this dude annoying. I know that is exactly the point, but still makes challenging to watch. But I stayed with it for the pay off and it is absolutely worth it. So much fun! Can't wait to see what you, DOT, and other think!
posted by miss-lapin at 3:03 PM on October 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Unfortunately, I get Shudder through Amazon. Which means that this is not available for me yet . . .
posted by anansi at 4:50 PM on October 6, 2022

I recommend going with the standalone app. There is always something missing, not working, or hard to find on the Prime version. Plus, the curated aspect of Shudder is one of the best things about it and that gets muted.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:50 PM on October 6, 2022

As for this movie, I watched the first half solo tonight (until the horror kicks in) and was having a BLAST, so much so that I am opting to wait and watch the whole thing with kiddo tomorrow night.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:51 PM on October 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

The words "found footage" give me hives, so this is probably not happening for me, but I am here to say that anyone thinking of getting Shudder should really just get AMC+, which has Shudder, and IFC, and AMC, and...I don't know what else? But it's pretty great. I'm watching it more than HBO Max.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:35 PM on October 6, 2022

I am very much over found footage, but this was definitely worth it.
posted by miss-lapin at 10:01 PM on October 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

This is technically found footage, but the setup is actually "Livestream gone horribly wrong" and it has multiple cameras, so the feel is fairly different.

Many people will compare this to Dashcam, which I get, because they're both about terrible people on livestreams getting caught up in horror. I would say that this one was a more constructed story and much more enjoyable, even as I would be careful to note that Dashcam had a challenging, chaotic quality to it behond this and was sneakier in getting actually good camera setups out of ostensibly impromptu footage.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:44 AM on October 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

The gags about how some of the cameras were labeled was great.
posted by miss-lapin at 9:51 AM on October 7, 2022

Just ninety minutes of laughing. So great and fun.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:56 PM on October 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

I finally watched this, and while I don't think I enjoyed it as much as you guys did, I had a lot of fun with it. I spent the first act of the movie presuming this was a build-up to a darker, more serious film; when Chrissy arrived, I figured it would take a turn toward psychological horror, with an obsessed (and maybe vengeful, since we spend most of the movie not knowing what Shawn did to piss off everybody) fan as the real menace. Imagine my surprise!! For a little while, I thought Chrissy must be part of a hoax Shawn was engineering, but at a certain point it becomes obvious he's Ash in Evil Dead 2, period. I'll be a bit of a wet blanket and say that the logic (and logistics!) of Mildred and the other ghosts appearing in modern day costume eludes me altogether; so much so that it took me out of the movie a lot toward the end. I guess a wizard did it and I should just relax.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 11:17 AM on November 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Shawn being such a dumb asshole really works and for all that Evil Dead 2 is a great comparison (albeit this is not nearly as gory), there's a difference in the dynamic simply because Shawn's such an asshole that you're being swerved back and forth between rooting for him and enjoying seeing bad things happen to him. I had such a blast watching this- the true mark of horror comedy success is a film that can not only be a horror-themed comedy but deliver on both scares and laughter.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:36 AM on November 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Pretty enjoyable.

Somehow I think the funniest thing was when he went for the fireplace tools and the only thing there was a brush. Reading chat was kinda funny too, and I liked him dying apologizing to chat, just the weirdness of the relationship between streamer and chat, played pretty straight, was amusing.
posted by fleacircus at 5:15 AM on November 3, 2022 [2 favorites]

For some reason I thought he rejected a poker in favor of the brush- I briefly thought he was going to try the Supernatural thing of disrupting a ghost with iron.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:44 AM on November 4, 2022 [1 favorite]