Deadstream — Deadstream(Blu Ray)
Deadstream is an early 2020s found-footage film that blends YouTuber satire, haunted house horror, demonic/ gory derangement, and comedy. It regards a controversial and kooky YouTuber trying to make a comeback by spending a night in an abandoned/ meant-to-be-haunted house. Here from Arrow Video is a Blu-ray release of the film, taking both new and archive extras.
Deadstream is a joint American and British production, filmed in Utah. It was jointly written/ directed by husband and wife team Vanessa & Joseph Winter, with the latter playing the film's lead role. This is the pair's first feature-length, though they have both made shorts dating back to the early 2000s.
The film's lead/ main character, Shawn Ruddy( Joseph Winter), is a once-popular Youtuber- who has been cancelled due to some of his more risky stunts/ challenges. The theme/ impetus of his content is doing things that scare him- we get to a montage of him doing dangerous stunts, and daring/ silly encounters like throwing things at cops.
In an attempt to make a comeback/ get money from sponsors again, he comes up with the idea to livestream from a supposedly haunted house, where a lost-her-lover poet hanged herself a hundred years ago.
Winter really portrays a hypered up/ OTT YouTuber wonderfully well- managing to stay just on the right side of being both entertaining & engaging. For the first half or so of the film, aside from the chat stream, he’s the prime focus.
The house itself looks generally abandoned, with the ghosts' backstories being fairly decent. When the noises/ creepy things kick in, our lead screams like a woman, running away from the sounds like a come-to-life/ more neurotic Norville "Shaggy" Rogers from the Scooby Doo franchise.
The balance of satire, comedy, and horror is done well. It takes a little time for the horror elements to fully kick in, but from the off, there is a sense of unease. As this element kicks in, we get some neat jump scares/creepiness. We do get a few ghoulish/ back from the dead characters, which nod towards the likes of The Return Of The Living Dead, and the first two Evil Dead films.
In finishing Deadstream is an entertaining, slyly amusing, creepy, and later on, deranged and OTT ride. We also get some great nods back towards the pair influences/inspiration for making the film, with the Blair Witch one be the most notable/ amusing.
On the extras side, it’s mostly archive stuff- we have 2023 commentary with writer/ directors Vanessa & Joseph Winter. There’s an amusing short with the pair Hell And Back (1.45), a selection of eight deleted scenes, and thirteen lots of cam footage. We also have a selection of featurettes: Monsters & Makeup FX: Bringing Deadstream to Life (8.41), On the Set of Deadstream(11.57), Daystream: Test Footage and Rehearsals(17.53), The Cameras and Lighting of Deadstream(11.27), and True Scary Stories from the Set of Deadstream(5.54). The only new extra is Real-life Scares at Death Manor(3.34), which sees some folk sneaking into the building to get a scare.
The finished release comes with reversible cover art and a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Meagan Navarro and Josh Hurtado.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Deadstream- and will be keeping an eye out for future film work from the Winters. If you enjoy where haunted house horror, satire/ comedy, and demented gore meet, you’ll dig this too!