Spree

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🎙️ EPISODE 690: 04.11.23 What's most striking about Spree — another insanely overt satire in a recent wave of them — is how Kurt's decision to start killing people feels like the most nonchalant thing in the world. There's something beyond detachment in his casual demeanor. The question of "Why shouldn't he go on a little murder rampage if it helps him go viral?" is completely impervious to him. While at first I thought the movie stumbled a bit trying to find its footing, what with the cavalcade of stereotypes that enter Kurt's rideshare — every buzzy bit of name-calling is referenced, from snowflake to intel, and beta to libtard (although I think they maybe missed "cuck"?) — I now see those characters as completely appropriate: avatars for the kind of gross people we suspect are out there, lurking, behind their computer, even if they rarely act like that IRL; the message of the film is clear and that's fine. This way of life is bad, real bad, and there's probably no way to reverse course.

This is a screenlife movie (the first I've reviewed, though I've seen a few of them here and there), and while I don't love that monicker, it's appropriate enough. The action is displayed as if resurrected from its source: Instagram and Twitch live-feeds, YouTube vlogs and even CCTV footage. The medium is the message and so on. This was by far the best use of the technique I've ever seen, both because of how it fits the content perfectly and simply because of how it's rendered/edited on a technical level. The inclusion of streaming contents, eventually coming in impossible-to-digest waves when Kurt's stream tops 50K viewers, was such a fantastic touch. I want to rewatch the movie and just focus on them, honestly.

What makes this an instant classic are the questions it raises beyond the hilarious and psychotic action. Kurt states, "if you're not documenting yourself, you just don't exist." This is, naturally, untrue. But its the core ethos of Kurt's entire existence, and perhaps the better part of a generation's in reality. (Whether or not that's even remotely true is besides the point; the generalization is in service of the message.) So the follow-up query is obvious: what happens when nobody pays attention to said documentation?

At the comedy show before the batshit conclusion, Sasheer Zamata — as stand-up Jessie Adams, a burgeoning pop culture star and social media master — asks the audience to film the end of her set. We're then introduced to a host of random feeds, on various platforms (none of them branded but you can tell from the fake UX design which ones they're imitating). Most of the live-streams are doing shit numbers — a dozen, maybe forty, etc. — and some are just filming it on their native camera app to upload later (to most likely even fewer eyeballs). The point being that this is the NORMAL experience. This is just a sampling of more Kurts in an ocean of them. Everybody willfully uses these services made by evil companies (who are well aware that they're ruining lives) to near zero R.O.I. Why? Why do we do this? What's the fucking point? The obvious "tree in the woods" metaphor is plainly laid out by a successful content creator named "Bobby Basecamp," a kid Kurt used to babysit turned vlogger/streamer who interacts with him out of pity. Kurt violently murders him.

The film doesn't provide any answers. It's blissfully nihilistic in its response, seeming to say that "this is the way things are now." And there's something perfect about that when you step back and look. It never tries to preach; it never moralizes. The ending is impeccable, a postscript for the ages (Jessie becomes a huge mainstream success and Kurt becomes a Reddit/4chan legend).

And every actor is game for this insanity, fully buying into the premise and the mission. Stranger Things' Joe Keery obviously shines as Kurt, funny and awkward, sympathetic and believable, and coldly menacing and detached. And Zamata is excellent as the flip-side foil. But all the supporting roles are great too: from David Arquette as the stunted father, embarrassingly addicted to this shit too (but somehow better at it than his son), to Kyle Mooney as a loser comic/promoter who's WAY closer to being a Kurt than a Jessie, among others.

I loved this movie. Anyone suggesting that it's fodder for future real world atrocities is just doing the type of sermonizing this film thankfully avoids. It's too late, idiots. Art is imitating life, and not vice versa. Sorry to break it to you.

Still, even with all that being said, I think there's a hopeful directive tucked away in all the pessimism and violence. Its sheer existence as a document of these incredibly stupid times feels very nice in a fittingly strange way.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 689 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 691 ⫸

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Spree is a 2020 American satirical horror thriller film directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko. The gonzo-style satire follows a social media obsessed rideshare driver played by Joe Keery who, in an attempt to become viral, livestreams himself murdering passengers. The film also stars Sasheer Zamata, David Arquette, Kyle Mooney and Mischa Barton. It was executive-produced by Drake. It was released on January 24, 2020.