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Welcome to today’s daily horror digest! What’s that you say? You’d like for me to review another screenlife movie? Well, if that’s want you’d like to see, I’m happy to oblige! In all seriousness, today’s screenlife Movie of the Day isn’t the worst I’ve seen this year. It isn’t even the worst I’ve seen in the past few days. It’s actually fun except for one major issue. Read on to find out what that issue is, and keep reading for some exciting news (I think it’s exciting, anyway) and daily trivia!
Movie of the Day: Killstreak
Today’s movie is Killstreak. Out of all of the movies released on streaming yesterday, this is the one I chose to watch first. I picked it because I like movies about video games, and I enjoy screenlife movies. At least, I enjoy them in theory. Killstreak isn’t great, but it has its moments.
The setup of Killstreak is simple. Six streamers are mysteriously brought into a game (they are placed into the game automatically when most of them aren’t even at their computer). Despite not knowing what’s going on, they all go along with it because their viewer numbers are extremely high. However, they realize after the first round of play that if they lose in the game, they die in real life. The game is haunted, and their only choice is to keep playing until they can find a way out.
The movie is presented in a screenlife format, though it’s one that adds nondiegetic music at times, and it jumps to the different streamers’ perspectives continuously. I didn’t mind the cheats in the format much though. They weren’t as noticeable as the zooms and cropped screens in other recent screenlife movies like War of the Worlds, Don’t Log Off, and Bloat. I’ve written about that sort of thing a lot recently, so I’ll give it a rest here. I just want to say that as a movie that uses the screenlife format, Killstreak utilizes that format well enough.
The story in Killstreak is very basic, but it works fine for a low-budget horror movie that’s just meant to be a bit of fun. There’s a spooky mystery to be solved about the origins of the haunted game, and that is handled well even if it is pretty basic. Only one character is really developed beyond their one-note online personas, but again, it’s fine. They serve their purposes in the plot and it’s all entertaining enough for what I was expecting. It’s all very simple and straightforward stuff.
My biggest issue has to do with technical matters like editing. Actually, it’s mostly the editing. There are six streamers playing a horror game with deadly consequences, but the entire movie is strangely quiet and uneventful. Some of that has to do with uneven performances from certain cast members, but a lot of it has to do with how the performances are cut together. You’d think people would be talking over each other at a frantic pace as the danger of their situation becomes clear, but each line of dialogue is delivered with a cushion of silence surrounding it. It results in an odd, overly artificial tone and cadence that continues throughout the entire movie. I also don’t know any streamer to be as quiet as these six are.
It’s a little difficult to accurately describe through text, but the editing makes it seem like none of the actors were actually acting with each other. It’s like they each read their lines at completely different times while alone in front of a camera, then those separate performances were later chopped up and spliced together. The more I look and listen, the more I think that might be the case. This is my biggest problem with Killstreak, but it’s a significant and ever-present issue.
Star Rating: 2 out of 5 (pretty bad)
Most of the elements in Killstreak are fine. There are a few jump scares in the movie, and one of them got me a little. The story is okay, most of the characters are likable enough, and the death scenes are mostly fun. But the strange editing is a huge obstacle to try to get around. It undermines every aspect of the movie, especially the actors. I enjoyed the movie fine, but I’d recommend that most people wait until it’s cheaper as a rental, or until it hopefully hits one of the free streaming services. If you want to watch, you can rent Killstreak on Prime Video.
In the News
- The trailer for Do Not Enter was released yesterday. The movie is based on the 2005 novel Creepers by David Morrell, though a few significant changes seem to have been made when adapting it to live-action.
- Indie filmmaker Larry Fessenden is making his own version of a Universal-style “monster mash” with his upcoming film Larry Fessenden’s Trauma or, Monsters All. The movie will feature characters from his 1995 vampire movie Habit, the modern Frankenstein tale Depraved (2019), and the excellent werewolf movie Blackout (2023). Shooting for the crossover sequel recently wrapped. (Variety)
Birthdays
M. Night Shyamalan was born on August 6th, 1970. Shyamalan became a filmmaker to watch in 1999 when The Sixth Sense became a box office sensation. He followed that up with Unbreakable (2000) and Signs (2002), but his popularity started to waver upon the release of The Village (2004) and subsequent films. After dabbling in big studio movies with The Last Airbender (2010) and After Earth (2013), he returned to his darker roots with The Visit (2015) and has consistently put out movies in his distinctive style since then.
Vera Farmiga was also born on August 6th, in 1973. Vera is best known to horror fans for playing Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring franchise. She also starred in Orphan (2009), and as Norma Bates in the Bates Motel television series.
Melissa George is also celebrating a birthday today. Born on August 6th, 1976, Melissa’s horror resume isn’t extensive, but it is memorable. She co-starred in The Amityville Horror (2005) as Kathy Lutz, as Stella in 30 Days of Night (2007), and as Pru in Turistas (2006). My favorite movie of hers is Triangle (2009) in which she plays a woman trapped on a ship with a killer, but with a reality-bending twist.
More filmmakers born on August 6th:
- Umberto Lenzi (1931) – director of Cannibal Ferox (1981), Nightmare City (1980), Eaten Alive (1980)
- Megumi Okina (1979) – star of Ju-On: The Grudge (2002), St. John’s Wort (2001), Shutter (2008)
- Ty Simpkins (2001) – Dalton in the Insidious franchise
Events on This Day
The Sixth Sense was released in theaters on August 6th, 1999. That date was also M. Night Shyamalan’s 29th birthday. He celebrated with an $8 million opening day, and a $26.6 million first weekend (according to Box Office Mojo).
On this day in 1983, A Blade in the Dark was released in Italian theaters. Directed by Lamberto Bava, A Blade in the Dark was originally intended as a television movie. It was too gruesome for TV, so it was cut into a feature-length film and distributed on the big screen. If you’ve ever seen the movie, its TV origins are still very apparent with the episodic nature of the plot progression.
More movies released on August 6th:
- Munster, Go Home (1966)
- The Great Yokai War (Japan, 2005)
- Death Bell (South Korea, 2008)
- 2 Lava 2 Lantula (Syfy, 2016)
Thank you as always for reading. I think I’m going to give the screenlife movies a rest for a little while if I can help it. I need to rebuild my enthusiasm for them.
