South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival – Deadstream is the latest horror film to attempt a fresh approach to the found footage sub-genre and it actually does a great job at it. Writer-director duo Joseph Winter and Vanessa Winter crafts a meta-scenario that is layered enough to keep jaded horror fans entertained with the gimmick. Winter stars as disgraced internet celebrity Shawn Ruddy who attempts to regain his validity with an overnight stay in an abandoned, supposedly haunted house. The only downside is the repetitive scares made all the more redundant by an understandably small location and the shrill, albeit funny lead. We end up with a fun and scrappy screamfest that really tries, yet falls just short of being remarkable.

We open with the relentless energy of Shawn in a video setting up his previous stunts and promoting his latest live stream. Shawn has done everything in the name of entertaining his millions of viewers including being smuggled back over the Mexico border into America and picking fights with random police officers. His most recent stunt got him in hot water with fans and sponsors alike and he announces that he will redeem himself with a stay in a haunted house. Shawn arrives at the scene, sets up his motion sensor cameras throughout the property, and explores the two floors of the abandoned house. It is here that some clever workarounds are established for the confines of found footage along with the added bonus of seeing a sarcastic stream of comments from his bitter viewers in the lower right corner of the screen.

The first third of the movie shows major promise and gets even better with the arrival of Chrissy (Melanie Stone), one of Shawn’s superfans that tracked him to his latest stunt. With his viewers all voting that Chrissy stay and be a part of the show, the two begin to provoke the menacing spirit that haunts the house. There are twists and turns. The conceit of it being an automatic multi-camera shoot with running commentary is ingeniously creative and used to full effect. The biggest problems are the redundant setups and scares, and the increasingly piercing performance that Winter delivers as Shawn. In all fairness, he IS being pursued by an army of supernatural creatures but damn.

Despite the understandable missteps, Deadstream is a pretty entertaining horror-comedy that is best when it attempts to deconstruct the confines of its trappings. The stream of sarcastic nastiness that its lead faces from his viewers is enough to keep viewers giggling. There are also some fun practical effects too that will please any fan of goopy gore that pays homage to the Evil Dead series. Did I love Deadstream? No. But I had a hell of a good time and laughed more than once at this poor creator playing slave to a spiteful audience at any cost.

7 Out of 10