Spree

Not gonna lie, I have aged out of the live-streaming demographic; so this out-of-the-woodwork film was a genuinely pleasant surprise.

"Spree" is going for satire on the empty pursuit of followers and the movie nails it. Joe Keery really brings this goofy kid to life; his desperation echoes that of Patrick Bateman (with some nice "Nightcrawler" sociopathy thrown in), clearly trying too hard to build that social media brand. His performance here is an eye-grabber, and I do hope that it helps broaden his appeal.

I quite enjoyed myself and found something much deeper than the marketing had implied. Keery's great in the role and it's evident that that plenty of thought and effort went into this. It's darkly funny, it's twisted and I absolutely had to see how all of this would end.

I've been watching movies based around social media, and Spree does a lot of things right in that regard. Characters are on a livestream for half the movie. The comments from those livestreams are HILARIOUS and spot on. The language is contemporary ("incel", "beta", etc.) The director is 34, so this all makes sense. I like how characters weee introduced too.

Still, Spree is a bit of a mess. I can't really find the reason why. But the movie is only an hour and a half, and I took a nap midway through. It's missing something, but that's kind of the point. Really Spree deserves a 4.5, but in context with the kind of movie it is, I give it a bit of leeway.

I don't get all the negative reviews here. The movie is bashed for being shallow, but I think that it covers several issues with the influencer culture well, and does that in a fun and over-the-top manner the way a satire should. It doesn't try to be some extensive and encompassing analysis. It isn't even preachy like a lot of these movies are.

It takes some inspiration from a few real godawful social media influencers who have done some quite unethical and even downright obscene things, and tunes it up a notch to present how detached from the real world all these people are. And that is exactly the vibe that the whole movie presents, detachment from reality and lack of social awareness.

Keery really carries the film. His acting is fantastic, and he's been given a lot of great lines to deal with. This isn't some extremely artistic project with deep metaphors and whatnot. The movie does just what it's supposed to. The format it uses it spot on, it takes the YouTube/Instagram/Reddit realm and makes it into a movie that really works. People have mentioned the Unfriended movies. Those movies are dumb and take themselves way too seriously for being so painfully bad.

So, my advice, don't listen to the bad reviews and see it for yourself. In fact, at the time I'm writing this, the written user reviews are all 7+. For me, the movie is maybe 7.5, but I'm giving it an 8 cause it really deserves to get a better rating on here and be seen. Some of the garbage I've seen on here with significantly higher ratings is just ridiculous.

If you want an hour and a half of witty dark humor and fun at the expense of the emotionally-detached social media culture, this is the film for you.

The dialog and acting is corny and amateur at times, but the premise alone is enough to make this one watchable. "Found footage" has always been my genre, and the idea of dash-cam footage mixed with video streaming is a pretty fresh idea for the genre. The acting isn't going to win any Oscars, but our lead Joe Keery does a decent job, David Arquette's presence is a welcome addition and also sort of kitschy within the horror genre, but Sasheer Zamata really steals the show here. The film is sort of confined to it's medium at times, and the middle of the film drags just a bit, but there are some notable scenes, memorable kills, and fun to be had. Not really "horror" at all; but a fun direction for this sort of social commentary. Watchable.

SPREE ----- 6/10.

So much more than a social media parody of the desire to be popular and quite likely just mimicking events in the future that will become increasingly gruesome in this disposable and voyeuristic world.

Fact and fiction spiralled and entwined within shades of black and white from zenith to nadir, switched on to off, between one and zero, from beginning to end - there's no black and white, only shades.