Deadstream – Film Review

A disgraced internet personality tries to win back his followers by livestreaming himself at an abandoned haunted house. When he accidentally unleashes a vengeful spirit, his comeback event becomes a fight for his life.

One thing’s for sure – Joseph Winter‘s Deadstream is an eerily accurate depiction of what a horror YouTuber is like. It’s almost scary how much they nail the depiction of these kinds of content creators. Urban explorer channels are so predictable sometimes that they can be a little hilarious, and the script from Joseph and Vanessa Winter nails this.

This is a comedy-horror film that essentially takes place in one location for most of the movie – an extremely old, abandoned, haunted house with quite a checkered past. The man filming just so happens to be a massive sensation on the livestreaming platform Livvid, who streams the entire investigation to his several million followers.

Sadly, the first twenty minutes or so of this movie are a little frustrating because it’s quite unclear as to what exactly the film is going for. It will surely have you scratching your head for a while, but once you fully get a grasp on what this is trying to be, the film picks the pace up considerably, and it never lets up.

After that first initial stretch, Deadstream is chalked full of strange, creepy, thrilling, and outrageously funny moments that will render it a movie that’s impossible to forget. And at the end of the day, we all want to make a movie that nobody will forget, right? Winter did exactly that.

There are some scenes in this film that are going to be in my nightmares for sure. The visual effects and prop department here also deserves some major praise for some of the elements that are incorporated during the third act in particular. It’s there in which the film takes a considerably bizarre and macabre turn, and it’s all the better for it.

I also have to talk about Winter’s lead performance here as Shawn Ruddy, because it may be one of my favorites of the entire year. He really does a phenomenal job at portraying a typical loud and excitable internet personality who will do absolutely everything for some money.

There’s an amazing scene in the film in the first thirty or so minutes in which Shawn is getting uncomfortable while exploring the old house, but when someone mentions just how many views he will end up getting, he ends up staying simply because of that. It’s a hilarious performance and one of the most memorable of the year.

This was such a delightful watch, and one that took me by complete surprise if I’m honest. Don’t watch any sort of trailer before going into this movie. You should go in as blind as possible, because if you do, you’re most likely going to have an absolute blast just like I did.

Deadstream is a devilishly funny, creepy, and sometimes downright terrifying found-footage-style horror film written, directed, and acted excellently by Joseph Winter.