Spree

Review

Spree is a 2020 film starring Stranger Things golden boy Joe Keery. This has been described as a ‘modern American Psycho’ and I think loosely this fits. This movie is all about the vapidity of social media and the way social media warps our perception of self and can end up having dangerous real-life consequences due to the false distance that social media gives us.

Spree is about a streamer and YouTuber named Kurt who goes by KurtsWorld96 online who’s spent years trying to achieve fame. One day he decides that the best way to go viral is to use his ride-sharing job to kill people all while livestreaming it. The movie follows his livestream and the way he blows up once he kills a semi-famous streamer, a famous dj, and begins stalking to kill a famous comedian. The movie ends with said comedian killing Kurt and the reveal that post-mortem Kurt has become increasingly famous with the movie itself being a product of the cult-like devotion his fans habour for him.

This movie is so fun and Kurt is awkwardly endearing and everyone shits on him so much that you almost can’t help but root for him. Arguably this could be considered part of the message of the film. As the audience, we’re enjoying the carnage, we’re endeared to Kurt, we’re enjoying the content. The movie ends with a reveal that the movie was made by obsessed fans and by proxy we are part of the obsessed cult, we started liking Kurt too, maybe even rooting for him. It’s really cool I think and I love movies that create a sort of interactivity within them by making the audience part of the movie, in this case part of the problem.

It provides a commentary about the false distance of the internet where sometimes people are able to justify horrific acts because ‘no one will know if it was me doing it’. Along with that there’s the idea of how far someone will go for fame updated for the streaming era. There’s the fakeness of social media paired with the desire for ‘authenticity’ within content and what is considered authentic. This seems like a lot to tackle in one film but I think it does well overall. The script either plays on dramatic stereotypes or is awkward, juxtaposing the fake with the authetic, Kurt is played as someone loveable who just wants to make it big, and the audience continually goads Kurt on, even VOTING to kill the Jesse Adams at one point.

The acting is really well done even if the script is painful at points. I think Joe Keery absolutely killed it with this performance, he was so awkwardly endearing as I mentioned before and every other actor stuck to their guns when performing those almost caricature like characters which is really cool.

I think the found-footage style really works for this film and the reveal at the end really cemented this movie to me as a thought-out commentary on internet culture and notoriety as opposed to a bad attempt at such.

This movie shot for the stars and at the very least it made it to the moon and I ended up really enjoying it. I wouldn’t go so far to say that this is the American Psycho of the modern age but I think it’s a very close attempt at reaching the sun, closer than most who try.