Deadstream: Review

14th October 2022

Shawn Ruddy (Joseph Winter) has had some troubling times and was forced to make an apology when he said something bad while he was streaming. Now he’s back though and looking for forgiveness as he hopes to start afresh.

His idea in order to save his internet career is to go into a haunted house all by himself and live stream the whole thing, so what could go wrong?

Deadstream is a horror movie written and directed by Joseph and Vanessa Winter which pokes fun at the ‘influencers’ who reveal a little too much of themselves and try to reclaim that fanbase glory. Joseph Winter seems to have found the right voice for the character as well as Shawn comes across as the kind of narcissistic, fame hungry person that you may often find hosting such channels.

However, by making Shawn such an unlikeable character, spending time with him and him alone for such a long time may become grating to the audience. There’s something to be said about watching a bad person in a horror movie get what’s coming to them, but as Shawn’s the sole victim throughout his ordeal, the audience may just want it to stop.

Winter does play his role well and the script does have some funny moments, but as Shawn never changes or grows as a person then the audience does not care about his constant torment. Shawn knows he’s been cancelled and so does the audience, so why try to pretend that they want it end well for him?

There are some good moments though and the movie is clearly meant to be a homage to The Evil Dead, so it may placate some viewers who can recognise the influences. However, even Ash J Williams had some sympathetic moments throughout the franchise.

Deadstream is one of a long line of emerging horror movies about social media personalities and this is a fun spin on the tropes of found footage. The reveal of the ultimate villain’s motives is funny when revealed as well, but it seems that the overall idea could have been executed better.

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