Stream (2024) (MOD) [Blu-Ray]

Director: Michael Leavy

Cast: Jeffrey Combs, Charles Edwin Powell, Danielle Harris

Release Date: July 31, 2025

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 6/10
Disc Rating: 6/10

Synopsis:

When Roy and Elaine Keenan realize their family is drifting apart, they seize the opportunity to recreate a vacation from their past. A peaceful stay in a quaint hotel is just what they need, however that is not what is in store for them. With four deranged murderers patrolling the seemingly mundane halls and competing in a twisted game, the odds are definitely not in Roy’s favor. He must fight for his life and those of his family as their simple weekend getaway truly turns into a vacation to die for.

‘Stream’ joins Roy and Elaine Keenan who after realizing their family is drifting apart decide to take a vacation at a previously visited hotel in the hope of bringing the family closer together. But as they begin to settle in and enjoy their night, they soon discover that things are off throughout the property, and their daughter has snuck out of the room in the middle of the night. When attempting to track her down they uncover a terrifying revelation; a group of masked madmen are roaming the property and killing anyone they find in the most brutal ways imaginable as part of a live streaming game that allows viewers to bet on the fates of the victims and more sinister elements while the players try to kill their way to the winning position.

Directed by Michael Leavy (Catch of the Day, Abnormal Attraction) from a screenplay written by Steven Della Salla, Jason Leavy, Michael Leavy and Robert Privitera, Michael Leavy does a capable job at the helm of ‘Stream’ guiding along the wild, brutal and enjoyable ride with a focus on the bloodshed and carnage. The film’s notable cast includes Jeffrey Combs (The Frighteners), Charles Edwin Powell (Screamboat), Danielle Harris (Hatchet II), Wesley Holloway (Terrifier 2), Sydney Malakeh (TV’s Shrinking), Tim Reid (TV’s Sister, Sister), Dee Wallace (The Howling), Jason Leavy (Nick and Nicky), David Howard Thornton (Terrifier), Tony Todd (Final Destination), Bill Moseley (The Devil’s Rejects), Mark Holton (Leprechaun), Tara Fitzgerald (TV’s The Blacklist) and Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) with the various stars offering mixed performances throughout as some are undeniably more capable and strong than others.

‘Stream’ is a wild, fairly fun and incredibly gruesome look at a vacation from hell that was clearly created by fans of the genre who know precisely what the diehard fans want to see and they do a commendable job of delivering precisely that, while also offering a few relevant timely threads and elements into the mix along the way. This is definitely a movie for a certain type of fan and casual horror fans that aren’t fond of overly excessive and impressively crafted gore and brutality will likely have some trouble stomaching the content and death sequences within, yet for those that are fans of similarly unrelenting films such as the ‘Terrifier’ franchise will appreciate the dark nature and willingness to go all out, while others that don’t mind the gore but aren’t fond of some other similar films may still have quite a bit of fun with this one. I certainly appreciate the attention ‘Terrifier’ has given brutal horror and the outstanding practical effects are indeed something special, although I have to admit that I’m not a massive fan of the series and I actually had a great deal more fun with ‘Stream’.

The familiar, yet capable story for ‘Stream’ works to at least adequately deliver the chaos and the outstanding work put into the gore and bloodshed, as well as the marvelous collection of notable stars within including a delightfully twisted and over the top performance by Jeffrey Combs all help this one to stand out, and even for a low budget slasher it looks far better than you might expect in nearly every department, even managing to throw a few twists and surprises at the audience. At the same time it’s unnecessarily long and its runtime which clocks in at just over two hours is felt throughout, with too many side stories and breaks from the brutality tending to bog it down and cause it to feel oddly uneven in its pacing. A handful of performances within also leave something to be desired, while others work nicely.

Overall, ‘Stream’ delivers a brutally graphic, tense and decently crafted low-budget horror film that has plenty of strong points in its favor including some impressive gore effects and a stellar collection of notable genre stars popping in, but at the same time does suffer from some mediocre performances and an overly long runtime that allows for a bit too much downtime in-between the chaos and bloodshed. This definitely won’t be a film for everyone, but for genre fans and those that appreciate a truly gory and wild slasher film with some occasional charm, ‘Stream’ is recommended and almost surely worth checking out when possible. It probably isn’t one I would suggest blind buying, but it’s worth taking the time to check out via a rental or other streaming option for anyone that’s intrigued and appreciates a quite decent low budget horror film that never pulls its punches.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Stream’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.00:1 Aspect Ratio on an MOD BD-R disc. The video presentation looks pretty good for the most part and it delivers a clean, sharp and nicely detailed presentation, yet unfortunately the two hour film is jammed onto a burned BD25 disc which keeps the bitrate from being able to really breathe; fortunately it doesn’t suffer too much as a result. Detail is solid throughout on characters, carnage and surroundings, while black levels hold up fairly well throughout. Overall, this is a solid high definition presentation that does its job well and may not blow viewers away but shouldn’t disappoint by any means either.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack sounds pretty decent in most respects and offers a generally clean, sharp and somewhat immersive audio presentation throughout, although it does have a few moments where the music or select effects sound almost constrained or tinny, yet for the most part holds up nicely. It utilizes all five available channels in order to send some music, effects and other tidbits throughout the various speakers and never allows any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to contradict or negatively affect anything else along the way. Overall, this is a pretty nice 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that may not be perfect but still holds up fairly well for a low budget film such as this.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Stream’ features a couple brief extras. Included on the release is a ‘Blooper Reel’ (running approximately 6 minutes in length) and a ‘STREAMers Fan Reel’ (running approximately 7 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 6/10
Disc Rating: 6/10

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‘Stream’ is Now Available to Own on MOD Blu-ray, DVD & on Digital from Fuzz on the Lens Productions

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You can purchase ‘Stream’ on MOD Blu-ray at Amazon HERE!

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