By Robert Scucci
| Published
Every once in a while, I stumble across a low-budget movie that has polarizing reviews, and I want to see if I’m the kind of person who’s willing to appreciate the project for what it is, or if I’m just going to tear it apart as if I could make something better (spoiler: I can’t). When Reddit user u/IamGodHimself2 boldly proclaimed that 2017’s The Stream was the scariest movie they’ve ever seen, I had my doubts– especially when I read every single comment calling the movie a self-indulgent, low-budget college project with shoddy camerawork and very little payoff.
The naysayers aren’t necessarily wrong in their assessment, but you can’t look at movies that are made for an estimated $3,000 through the same lens that you watch bigger budget horror flicks through, because experimental films like The Stream have obvious limitations you need to look past that bigger productions, and their viewers, take for granted.
If I had to describe The Stream in a single phrase, I would say, “It’s a vibe.”
Not Much To It
The Stream spends most of its runtime in Stephanie’s (Brittany Dunk) apartment, and through a radio broadcast we’re given most of the exposition we need to know. As a long tracking shot follows Stephanie through her home, the radio states that her boyfriend David recently committed suicide by stabbing himself dozens of times and gouging his own eyes out. According to the broadcast, no foul play is suspected.
After establishing its isolated atmosphere, The Stream introduces Sarah (Gloria Bueno), who pays a visit out of concern for her best friend. Through some of the only dialogue in the film, it’s made apparent that Stephanie’s grieving has made her a recluse, causing her to lose her job while severing most of her close relationships as she tries to make sense of her boyfriend’s death. During this brief exchange, Stephanie tells Sarah that David started acting like a totally different person after becoming obsessed with a live stream of a man lying in a coffin before his untimely and grisly death.
To make matters more unsettling, Stephanie reveals to Sarah that she’s been receiving voicemails from David despite the fact that she disconnected his phone days ago.
A Seemingly Infinite Loop
Showing its namesake, The Stream leads Stephanie and Sarah to David’s office, where the live stream is still playing. David’s notes suggest that he can’t stop watching the stream or the man in the coffin will come after him. Sarah has a seizure and locks herself in the bathroom in a panic after recovering. As Stephanie bangs on the bathroom door, her doorbell rings, and she finds Sarah at the front door as if nothing had happened.
Stephanie finds herself trapped in an terrifying time loop involving David’s corpse chasing her, and archived footage from the stream leaving her subtle hints as to its origin.
An Unnerving Bare-Bones Story
Listen, I’ll be the first person to tell you that The Stream is a total amateur-hour film– not counting the agonizingly long 15-minute post-credit sequence, the film is literally an hour long, and writer/director Isaac Rodriguez (best known for his “No Sleep” YouTube channel) clearly didn’t have a lot of resources to bring this movie to life. Despite the film’s limitations, the long tracking camera shots that make up most of the film will get under your skin as the color palette continually shifts from normal, to an ominous glowing red, to blue saturations that consume your field of vision as a demon, or demons, run amok in Stephanie’s apartment.
The entirety of The Stream plays out as if an unknown entity is behind the camera, following Stephanie’s every move while she’s completely unaware of its presence. Feeling more like a series of terrifying vignettes stitched together in an attempt to tell a ghost story, I’d call The Stream a solid proof of concept from an up-and-coming horror auteur who has the innate ability to use the “less is more” approach while delivering a form of existential terror that the Paranormal Activity franchise failed to replicate after its first film became a runaway success despite the increased production budgets with each subsequent installment in the series.
I’m not saying that The Stream is the best horror movie I’ve ever seen, but I have to give credit where it’s due because there are some truly terrifying sequences, and jump scares that actually made me go “ughh!” on more than one occasion.
As of this writing, you can watch The Stream for free on Tubi, the one service I keep coming back to for its catalog of unhinged and experimental content that I can’t find on any paid streaming service.
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