Parents' Guide to Stream

Another ultra-bloody gorefest from the team behind Terrifier, this slasher isn't as smart as it wants to be in terms of social commentary, but it works well enough as a cat-and-mouse thriller. Terrifier creator Damien Leone co-produced and helped provide makeup and gore effects for Stream, while director Michael Leavy previously served as co-producer on Leone's Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3. (Many other cast and crew members likewise worked on all three.) This movie clearly wants to say something about the cutthroat nature of the online world and how it can bring out the worst in people, but its depiction of this is pretty narrow, with little nuance. (Movies like Spree and Nerve have done it better.) But, perhaps inspired by some of the lessons that Leone learned while making his Terrifier trilogy, Leavy and his co-writers stretch out Stream's running time and use the extra to make something out of their characters—or at least make something slightly more than just fodder for a hammer or a knife.

The Keenan family, while not exactly three-dimensional, are at least recognizable; many viewers will be able to identify with their little squabbles and dramas. And death means something here. The movie is tense, making effective use of the super-creepy grinning masks (which are far scarier than the ones used in the vaguely similar Strangers series). But this is also a nostalgia-drenched movie, fond of the kind of gratuitous sex that was common in the 1980s (and which was always met with death). Various horror legends are even sprinkled throughout the cast, including Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator), Dee Wallace (E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Cujo), Harris (Halloween 4 & 5), Tony Todd (Candyman), and Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp). Stream is probably too intense for casual horror fans, but if you like this kind of thing, you'll feel at home at the Pines.